Much Ado About Everything

Sapphire's 2nd Birthday

2010-08-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

A wonderful party for a wonderful girl at Bounce U

Posted via email from Chris and Eden's Posterous

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future

2010-08-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

I know better than anyone that statistics are easily manipulated to help prove an author's point. But these graphs are very damning to anyone trying to argue that public sector employees are sharing in any type of reasonable sacrifice during these tough economic times.

Posted via email from chris westergaard's posterous

A Look at the Reading Habits of E-Reader Owners

2010-08-24T20:07:00.001-07:00

By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER And MARIE C. BACA
People who buy e-readers tend to spend more time than ever with their nose in a book, preliminary research shows.

Radim Malnic;

A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58% said they read about the same as before while 2% said they read less than before. And 55% of the respondents in the May study, paid for by e-reader maker Sony Corp., thought they'd use the device to read even more books in the future. The study looked at owners of three devices: Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, Apple Inc.'s iPad and the Sony Reader.
While e-readers are still a niche product just beginning to spread beyond early adopters, these new reading experiences are a big departure from the direction U.S. reading habits have been heading. A 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts caused a furor when it reported Americans are spending less time reading books. About half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure, it found.
Some 11 million Americans are expected to own at least one digital reading gadget by the end of September, estimates Forrester Research. U.S. e-book sales grew 183% in the first half of this year compared with the year-earlier period, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Comparing the E-Readers

Take a closer look at the Kindle, Nook and iPad

View Interactive

Among early adopters, e-books aren't replacing their old book habits, but adding to them. Amazon, the biggest seller of e-books, says its customers buy 3.3 times as many books after buying a Kindle, a figure that has accelerated in the past year as prices for the device fell.
It's too early to tell the reading lift will sustain after the novelty of the gadgets wears off, and the devices go mass market. But because e-book gadgets are portable, people report they're reading more and at times when a book isn't normally an option: on a smartphone in the doctor's waiting room; through a Ziploc-bag-clad Kindle in a hot tub, or on a treadmill with a Sony Reader's fonts set to jumbo. Among commuters, e-readers are starting to catch up with BlackBerrys as the preferred companions on trains and buses.
Since getting her Kindle last year, Leslie Johnson has been reading more often and in more places—like on a kayak. On a recent trip, the 34-year-old engineer from Albany, N.Y., settled into a science-fiction novel while her husband fished. "I put it in a waterproof cover," she says.
A Writer's View
Mystery and thriller author Michael Connelly says he has about 30 e-books on his Kindle, Sony Reader and iPad, though he also still reads print books because he gets so many samples from his publisher.
"I will never stop loving the printed book," Mr. Connelly says. Yet, "I am very interested in this world. E-books are here to stay." He adds, "There is the advantage of being able to carry multiple things. I travel a lot—believe me, I notice the weight."
The first consumer e-books, which were released in the 1990s, failed to catch on among consumers who were stuck reading them on computers or tiny cellphone screens.
The Pace of Reading
Earlier this summer, Jakob Nielsen, a Silicon Valley researcher who has studied how people interact with technology for more than two decades, recruited 32 volunteers and asked them to read short stories by Ernest Hemingway in print, on an iPad and the Kindle. Mr. Nielsen timed how long it took them to read a story on each device. Compared with print, iPad readers were 6.2% slower and Kindle readers were 10.7% slower, though the difference between the iPad and Kindle results wasn't statistically significant. Mr. Nielsen suspects the slowdown is caused by the screen technology in the devices, which is still less sharp than print.
"Both devices give you a more relaxed feeling as opposed to a computer," said Mr. Nielsen, who runs research firm Nielsen Norman Group along with former Apple researcher Donald Norman.

The Future of the Book

51% of e-reader owners increased their purchases of e-books in the past year. Source: Book Industry Study Group survey
9% of consumers increased their purchases of hardcover books in the past year. Source: Book Industry Study Group survey.
2.6 Average number of books read by e-reader owners in a month. Source: Marketing and Research Resources
1.9 Average number of books read by print-book readers in a month. Source: Marketing and Research Resources
176% Increase in U.S. electronic-book sales in 2009. Source: Association of American Publishers
1.8% Decrease in U.S. book sales in 2009 from a year earlier. Source: Association of American Publishers
86% of e-reader owners read on their device more than once a week. Source: Marketing and Research Resources
51% of e-reader owners read on their device on a daily basis. Source: Marketing and Research Resources

In creating the Kindle, Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive, says he set out to develop technology that could encourage long-form reading, instead of just snippets.
"Everything is about getting the device to disappear so that you can enter the author's world," he said in a recent interview. "A nightmare scenario for me would be if this device would ever beep at me while I'm reading."
Gender Gap Narrows
E-readers also appear to be narrowing the gap in how men and women read. A study, released this month by the Book Industry Study Group Inc. found that men are bigger consumers of e-books than women by a narrow margin. Among e-book buyers, 52% were men compared with 48% for women—a reversal of print books, where women buy more.
E-reader users also say that 52% of their e-books were ones they purchased, while 48% of their e-books were free because they were sample giveaways or out-of-copyright.
Libraries are expanding services that let patrons virtually "check out" an e-book through the Internet, with e-book files that automatically lock down after the end of the loan period. According to the American Library Association, 66% of libraries offered e-book loans, up from just 38% in 2005.
The most checked-out adult fiction e-book at libraries is Stieg Larsson's bestseller, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," according to Overdrive, a company that provides e-book loans for more than 11,000 libraries. The same is true at Amazon, the largest e-bookstore online, where Mr. Larsson also tops e-book bestseller lists.
There are some aspects of reading a print book that e-readers still haven't been able to re-create. Digital locks on e-books make it harder to lend a book to a friend, though free works are being shared much more rapidly online than ever before. Scribd.com, a social publishing and reading website, is used to share books and documents about 10 million times each month, the company says.
Page numbers are a problem for e-books, since the number of words on a virtual page depends on the size of the screen and type. Pages may be antiquated, but they're very helpful for making sure reading-club participants or students in a classroom are all on the same page. No page numbers also means there's no skipping ahead to sneak a peek at a page near the end of a book. Most e-readers have tried to replace page numbers by showing the percentage of the book read.
Range of Features
Technology has brought a range of features to books that wouldn't be possible in print. Children's author Lynley Dodd sells a title from her "Hairy Maclary" series as an app for the iPad. It lets parents or kids record themselves reading the book aloud, and a paint function lets kids color the original drawings themselves.
With an e-reader, readers can hold and turn pages with just one hand. Some readers hail how the devices can become large-type books with the click of a few buttons—and back-lit devices like the iPad work in bed even when the lights are off. Free sample chapters, common on most online stores, make it easier to try out—and potentially give up on—books before committing to a 400-page tome.
But paper pages do have one benefit that electronic devices don't have: They don't need to be put away during takeoff and landing on airplanes. On a recent trip to Seattle, 64-year-old Jamie McKenzie, a Bellingham, Wash.-based writer, said he felt a sense of superiority when his seatmate was asked to turn off his Kindle to prepare for takeoff.
"That guy may have had access to 10,000 books, but I was the one who was able to keep reading," he says.
Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com

via online.wsj.com

As a Kindle owner, I have to say that this article matches my experiences fairly closely. I can definitely read faster on my Kindle (and I was already a fast reader), and I enjoy reading long books much more with my device. I do still love going to the library and checking out books, after all, nothing beats free Though again, to be fair, I've downloaded a bunch of free 'classic' books online such as Sherlock Holmes, Wizard of Oz, and The Prince. Lots of great stuff both places.

Posted via email from chris westergaard's posterous

Fresno State students return to school with budget frustrations

2010-08-23T22:26:00.001-07:00

via abclocal.go.com

The classroom filmed in this story is my Geography 167 section. Yes, it looks like I'm wearing headphones, but they're actually the microphones for my Livescribe Smartpen.

Posted via email from chris westergaard's posterous

Frog Hunters

2010-08-22T12:22:00.001-07:00

Jade and Sapphire love finding frogs in the meadows near the cabin!

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See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Chris and Eden's Posterous

Our first trip to the cabin

2010-08-07T07:25:00.001-07:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Chris and Eden's Posterous

Jade feeds the giraffe

2010-06-22T20:44:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

Just one small part of our wonderful Fathers Day trip to Chaffee Zoo.

Posted via web from chris westergaard's posterous

News Corp. Buys Skiff, a Provider of Digital-Reader Know-How

2010-06-14T12:14:00.001-07:00

By SHIRA OVIDE
News Corp. announced the purchase of Hearst Corp.'s electronic reading firm Skiff LLC and an investment in a firm that lets publishers charge readers for online news.
The twin deals underscore News Corp.'s recent focus on preparing itself for new reading technologies, and on tapping new revenue streams for digital payments from readers. Terms of the deals weren't disclosed.
Skiff operates as a standalone company, and offers technologies to produce digital publications for a range of tablet computers, smart phones and other gadgets.
News Corp., which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, plans to fold Skiff into the rest of the company, rather than let it continue operating independently, according to people familiar with the matter. Skiff and the new investment in online-payment firm, Journalism Online, also could become a backbone of News Corp.'s emerging project for news outlets to collaborate on strategies and sales of digital subscriptions and advertising.
News Corp. for months has been talking to other media companies about that project, internally dubbed "Alesia," after a city in Gaul conquered by the Romans. Last month, News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said he expected announcements within weeks related to an "innovative subscription model" for digital content.
Journalism Online, unveiled last year, was started by a trio of media-company executives to help publishers set up an e-commerce platform and business strategies to charge consumer fees for online news and information.
Hearst introduced Skiff last December, after the media company had quietly backed the company for more than two years under the name FirstPaper LLC.
Skiff has pitched itself as more friendly to publishers than either Apple Inc.'s iPad or Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, by giving them more control over the appearance and business model of their digital offerings. Skiff also has been working on its own electronic-reading tablet, but a person familiar with the matter said News Corp. is not interested in that piece of Skiff.

via online.wsj.com

I hope this starts a stampede for a model where consumers can purchase content once, and read it on any of their devices (Kindle, iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, and whatever else lies in the future). I'm okay with paying for content, but not locked to a single device.

Posted via web from chris westergaard's posterous

Pool time in Davis

2010-06-05T13:07:00.001-07:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Jade, Grace, and Jack-Jack cooling down in Nana's backyard.

Posted via web from chris westergaard's posterous

A special report on water: For want of a drink | The Economist

2010-05-20T13:10:00.001-07:00

via economist.com

An interesting world view of a problem that we see in the news locally on an almost daily basis.

Posted via web from chris westergaard's posterous

I think we can all agree, our State is in a sad state

2009-09-29T14:37:00.001-07:00

I've seen lots of stories in the news recently (especially on the Fresno Bee website) about the California legislature. Most of the local stories lament the 2/3 requirement for tax increases, I think that most journalists have never met a tax increase they don't like, but that's not what I want to talk about. I think that most people across the spectrum can agree that our government is failing us. I do think the overall tax system needs to be repaired, but that's a thought for another day.
I haven't done any real research on the subject, but here is my simple, three part solution to solving the problems of our statewide elected representatives (these should go for Constitutional officers as well as the Legislature), who seem to have more loyalty to party and self than to the people they supposedly serve.
First, eliminate all income, reimbursements and benefits outside salary. Does anyone really think that more days in session equals better lawmaking? It only equals more per diem payments to everyone involved. I also think that term limits should be repealed in conjunction with removing any and all retirement benefits for elected officials. Service to the public should be a calling, not a lifestyle. Salaries would need to be raised by a substantial amount, doubling or tripling the base salary, but that would still result in a net decrease in outlays for the State. Also the staffs should be reduced by 50% across the board. We should be paying for elected officials to do the work, not unaccountable hired help.
Second would be the move to a part time legislature on a two year cycle. One year would be devoted only to a two year budget, the second to all other legislation. That would provide them less time to ruin our lives with unnecessary legislation that contributes to what was reported as a $500 billion hit to the State's economy EVERY YEAR. Each session would be of a limited time, to allow the elected officials more time to spend in their districts.
Finally, any elected official should be barred from employment by any State entity (except another elected office) for life (removing the gravy train of serving on unelected boards and commissions), and barred from employment by any lobbying entity for 4 years once they leave office. Again, public service should not be a means to an end. There should also be similar restrictions for legislative staff as well, to eliminate the idea that there are only a small portion of the population that are professional 'governors' of the State's affairs, and that they should just move from one position to another, helping 'run' all the different parts of government. This smacks of the inbreeding problems of the European monarchies of the 17th - 18th centuries. New blood is a good thing!
Citizen legislators should be just that. This would bring people from all walks of life to Sacramento for a while, then, hopefully, they would go back to their old career once their elected term ended.

What, exactly, am I running from?

2009-09-27T18:09:00.001-07:00

I bought a new pair of running shoes this week. Even better, I actually used them last night for the second time. I'm not sure second time is really accurate. I mean, I wore them on the treadmill at the gym for 45 minutes, so that should count for something, right? I broke them in on the actual open road tonight for another 45 minute run. Again, perhaps run isn't the correct term for what happened out there. Maybe a little background is in order.
About 18 months ago I was given an opportunity to join a wellness program sponsored by my then employer. I jumped in with unbridled enthusiasm, mostly because the program was so darned easy! Simple, calorie balancing meals throughout the day, mixed with a 6 day per week, 30 minutes per day workout program. I was desperate to lose weight, at that time I weighed over 150 Kilos (I'm so embarrassed about the actual number that I'm daring you to do the conversion to find out the number in pounds), and had tried and failed at a number of diets. Long story short, the program worked. I lost about 65 pounds in 5 months, and then slowly lost another 20 pounds over the next 7. Then in February, I got laid off. And I held firm for a few weeks with the exercise and diet, but slowly pulled away. Part of my weight problem is probably recognizable to 90% of people out there who have one too: I eat because I'm unhappy, then I'm more unhappy because I don't like the way I look and feel after overeating. That cycle is almost perpetual motion, someone should figure out a way to harness that energy, it could solve the world's energy demand for years to come. But I digress. I fell back into my old ways and realized that I have put back on 15 pounds. And it's not like I feel good about the food that I've been eating. To the contrary, I've been sliding into eating, well, not to put too fine a coat of lipstick onto this pig, but I've been eating crap.
I needed a new goal. So I set one. My cardio workouts (which are 3 per week, the other 3 days are weight workouts) have consisted of time on the treadmill at a fast walking pace with a medium incline. This gets me to a specific heart rate during exercise (I use a Polar monitor for accuracy) that is supposed to maximize my fat burning potential. Which sounds good, but I actually want to do two different things with my workouts moving forward. I want to get out of the gym and into the real world. I'm doing that with this so-called running. Second is that I want to participate in a real world athletic event by the end of the year. My first thought was an event in my home town called the 'Turkey Trot,' however, they have moved that 10K run from Thankgiving Day proper to the Saturday prior, and I won't be able to attend.
But somehow I will participate in some run, more likely around Christmas, I am even more determined than ever. I don't want to be concerned about a scale reading, I want to celebrate an accomplishment out in the real world! Eventually, I hope those real world accomplishments will give me the confidence to get back to my real love, in terms of working out, swimming (there's no way I'm going to put on a swim suit in front of people right now!) So finally to finish my story about last night: my first run in the wild was more a mix of fast walking and what can only generously be called jogging, but as I've heard too many times, every journey begins with the first step, or attempted stride as the case may be.

Eight years and counting

2009-09-11T17:24:00.001-07:00

I started following an interesting Twitter account a couple of weeks ago. This account (@WWIIToday) is sending updates around the 70th anniversary of events from World War II. While there are arguments around the official start date of the war, there is some consensus around September 1, 1939. This is the date that Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and plunged Europe into devastation. Just over two years later, the span of the war spilled onto the global stage with the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese forces. December 7, 1941, "a date that will live in infamy" changed our nation. The politics of the Great Depression had already put its stamp on America. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal established our first real social services safety net to ensure that all citizens would not slip through the cracks. But Pearl Harbor united the country for a singular purpose, and no sacrifice was too great, no innovation too small. The war was over in less than 4 years after America entered the fray. We were brought in against our will, but ended it with the two biggest bangs ever unleashed on humanity to force our enemy into surrender.
My roommate woke me up 8 years ago stammering about a horrendous plane crash in New York. I was watching live when the second tower was struck, instantly realizing that this was no accident. 9/11 became a rallying event for my generation, just as Pearl Harbor was for my grandparents. But 9/11 didn't last. It didn't take long after the initial shock wore off that we went back to our hyper-partisanship that had been the norm for the prior 10 years. (Incidentally, I don't mean to speak ill of the recently deceased, but in my opinion the spiral into the current state of name calling and invective from both sides of the aisle can be traced back directly to Ted Kennedy's treatment of Robert Bork during his Senate committee hearing for confirmation to the Supreme Court.) Now to be clear, I would probably be classified as a conservative Republican, but I am completely against the war in Iraq. To be sure, Saddam Hussein was an evil man, but we should have had all of our ducks in a row after taking care of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we had focused our energies there, maybe we would have already captured Osama bin Laden, and wouldn't be seeing a resurgance of the Taliban in those countries. But we were attacked, and I do support declaring war on those who did us grievous harm.
But we didn't really go to war. We were told to go shopping. The old Vietnam era quandary of 'Guns and Butter' has reared its ugly head upon us 8 years later, and we are now experiencing a major recession. I'm guilty of some glutteounous consumerism during this time, but I'm definitely trying to change. My question is simple: why weren't we asked to sacrifice for our country? I think we squandered an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we subsidize various sectors of the economy that end up forcing us to depend on imported fossil fuels.
We have had brave Americans in harm's way for 8 years now. That is twice the length of time we spent in World War II. It's time to get our act together, pull together, and defeat our enemies around the world. 9/11 is not a day to try to push a new plan for National Service, that diminishes the memory of the victims that made the ultimate sacrifice. 9/11 should be a day for a new plan to win the war on Terrorism. And it's disappointing that the current administration has begun to change it's terminology in an attempt at revisionist history. It's also no surprise that the news headlines today also mention the Senate approving massive military budget cuts requested by the administration. I do not approve of speeches asking us to try to understand the mindset of the hijackers, equating their desolate upbringing to the despicable acts they inflicted upon our nation. The only reason I want to understand their mindset is so we can figure out a way to use it against them while hunting them down.
No nation is perfect, especially ours. But taken in its entirety, America is the greatest nation on Earth. The millions of people attempting (and succeeding) in migrating to our shores proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt. We have flaws, but that's simple to explain. We are a nation of human beings, and humans are flawed. But in the neighborhood of nations, ours is the house where all the other kids want to come to play, and everybody wants to be friends with the parents. We don't need to apologize for every single one of our little mistakes, we should be focusing on all of our successes. So let's succeed against our enemies, be good neighbors and friends for those who are willing, and move forward into the rest of the 21st century. But never forget those 3000 victims from 8 years ago, and the only service we should be looking into when remembering is service that would help our nation's military finish this war as soon as possible. And history shows that once we've defeated our enemies, we do everything we can to turn them into our friends. Because that's the American Way. Anything less, and any other plans for commemorating today cheapens their memory.

Do words even matter?

2009-07-08T19:19:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to see the movie, but I heard an ad on the radio for the new 'Final Destination' film. I'm going to save for another day the post about how three sequels were made for a tremendously bad movie, but that's not the point here. Apparently, the newest version of the film was done in 3D, which as someone with a couple of specific eye problems, I cannot enjoy, but the ad sure played up the benefits of an extra dimension.

But then at the end of the ad, the disclaimer came on and said something to the effect of "film will be shown in 2D at select theaters." Wow! Select theaters will be showing the film in 2D, instead of 3D! Where do I find those 'select' theaters, let me log on to Fandango right now. Mr. Webster says that select means to choose in preference to others, so does this mean that the 2D is better than the 3D, I mean where's the common sense? Or are the film makers telling us that even though they pimped the 3D throughout the entire ad, the 2D is really where we should watch the movie.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but I'm afraid sometimes that the ease of publishing with social media and blogs are both good and bad. Editorial direction is not necessarily a bad thing. I really try not to contribute to a big race to mediocrity, and I would like to invite you along on my journey to select only worthwhile material to both watch and read. I'm not above calling people out when they deserve a quick finger wag.

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!

2009-06-22T17:31:00.001-07:00

So I've had two interesting interactions with former co-workers over the past couple of weeks. First, I had lunch with the office administrator before I took my trip to LA. She caught me up on all the company gossip, including the fact (later confirmed) that the office would be closing in the near future. When I first took my job position out of the stores, I worked from home, and really enjoyed it. Too bad I didn't survive the purge so that I could have taken advantage of going back to that situation. Working from home while going to school really would have been ideal. That being said, I'm really hoping nothing happens to her and that her job is okay.

Second, I stopped into my neighborhood Starbucks today, and got to chat up the store manager for a few minutes. My biggest complaint about this store, and the reason I usually stay away, is that they have a nice patio in front that is inevitably run over by smokers. I feel like I've smoked half a cigarette just walking through the cloud to get to the front door. I know they get customer complaints about the smokers, and I've attempted to put my two cents in on more than one occasion. The store had a visit from a temporary VP during a tour, and he expressed his dismay about the situation, and now they're going to ban smoking on the patio starting the beginning of next month!

It's funny how much has changed at Starbucks since my layoff. If anything, it definitely looks more like the company as I would have liked it to look when I was there. After I had finally gotten over losing my job after 12 1/2 years, now for the first time I am feeling like I want to be back in the Siren's fold. Oh well, I don't want to look back, I need to be like a shark, swimming forward. But I will be a customer at my neighborhood store more often now, so that's a nice change.

Love, Part I

2009-06-02T17:01:00.001-07:00

As I approach my birthday in a couple of weeks, I've been mulling over some thoughts in my head. The biggest regret that I have is that I am not a parent. I'm at that point in my life where age, life situation, and other factors are starting my own personal biological clock ticking down to zero.

I mention this because I've been able to see some amazing things recently. I spent Memorial Day weekend at my brother's house, and got to spend a lot of time with my niece and nephew. My other brother spent the weekend with my parents, and so all the grand kids were in the same town for the long weekend, and I (among others), had a wonderful time. My niece is the oldest of the three (she turns 6 in August), and her unconditional love for me created a feeling that is hard to recreate. Now I know this is because I'm the favorite uncle, but I can't help but wonder just how much love exists for her from her parents and grandparents because of that direct connection. I have to say that I am jealous.

Which is probably why I have volunteered to fill in for my other brother's nanny for a week. She had a family emergency, and has to leave the country for two weeks. So I am going to LA (one benefit of unemployment is the ability to drop everything on the spur of the moment) for a week to be the fill in for my 5 month old nephew Sean. I really do love him to death, and am looking forward to trading the Fresno heat for some trips to the beach in Santa Monica. To repeat my theme, Sean's parents just love that little guy like crazy. Which makes visiting them an absolute treat, because it gives me a glimpse of possibilities in my own life, I just need to get busy and start dating, become boyfriend / girlfriend, ask her to marry me, make sure no one chickens out before the big day, and finally start a family. Whew, it's tiring just thinking about it.

The thing that really made me think about unconditional love was something I saw at the food court at Costco this week. Now let me just say that cruising Costco for the food samples, plus a Polish Dog at checkout makes a very filling lunch, but I digress. There was a lady there, about my age, with her mother. It was evident to me that the daughter was mentally disabled in some fashion, and the mother expressed so much love in the conversation, and was constantly giving feedback without getting frustrated, I just sat back in awe. To just have that type of love, knowing that it will never really be reciprocated in the same way is the definition of unconditional. You hear stories about parents who would do anything for their children, and it is an abstract thought until you see it in person. That random act really touched me in a way that strangers don't usually do. I had to sit there for a few minutes just to take it all in.

So I really need to get my act together, my life straightened out, and back on track. Whatever it is, I think I'm pushing myself in a direction that I've never really been serious about, but has been sitting in the back of my mind. Time to bring it front and center.

A great Mother's Day present.....for me!

2009-05-10T10:55:00.001-07:00

My Mom is coming to town! Not really just to see me, although she will see me when she's here, but she is coming to town. Wait a minute, this is getting too complicated. Let me slow down and explain.

I come from an aquatic family. My Mom and all her brothers and sisters were competitive swimmers when they were growing up. I'm sure it was a very primal reaction to growing up in the Fresno area, where summer temperatures easily soar into the 110 degree range, and a pool is a very easy way to cool down a gaggle of children. My Mom instilled that same swimming pedigree upon her children. We were all competitive swimmers for some period of time. As the oldest, I wasn't the most talented, but I was probably the hardest working and most determined of the lot. But I gave up swimming after a couple of failed attempts to get back into a fitness routine as a young adult, and the pool just faded away.

My Mom on the other hand, jumped back into the pool after all of her children left the nest. She started up with the Davis Aquatic Masters (which is still the largest, single city, Masters swim team in the country, which is pretty incredible for a small university city of under 100k in population) and has been working out almost every day for a long while. And now, she's coming to Fresno to compete in the US Masters Swimming National Championships. Why Fresno you might ask. Again, I point you to the weather page of your paper, where you can see that the temperature is already into the 90's here, which has a direct link to the large number of Olympic pool complexes here in the Fresno area.

So on this Mother's Day weekend I've had the honor of attending my Mom's swim meet as a spectator and fan. In some small way, I can only hope that my efforts honor all the times she did the same for me growing up. But I can't come even close. Not only was my Mom a spectator and fan during my meets, but she also was the following: meet organizer, chauffeur, volunteer, banker, shoulder to cry on, and number one cheerleader. For every hour I spent in the pool, I'm sure she put in an equal number as a club official, meet official, and many more that I'm sure I've forgotten and left off the list.

But there's one more thing that my Mom has done with her participation in this swim meet: she's inspired me to get back into the pool. As I get closer to my 100 pound weight loss goal, I feel comfortable enough with myself to be seen in public in a swimsuit. So sometime next week, I will find a workout location, and jump back into the pool on the following Monday. Watching all the goings on at the meet reminded me about the social part of swimming, and how much fun it can be once you get past the hard part of the workout!

So Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, I hope you realize that my progress in improving my health, along with my commitment to get back into the pool, is one of my gift to you. Because you are definitely one of my biggest inspirations, and I love you.

How did this happen?!?

2009-05-07T01:27:00.001-07:00

They say the two things you should never talk about are politics and religion, because an argument is bound to occur. But I like to go against the norm, so I'll talk about both of them here. I'm a registered Republican. But I would classify myself as a Teddy Roosevelt type Republican, in that I'm pro environment. To make the discussion simple though, I don't think demonizing business, and making the discussion into an either / or proposition is the right thing. And finally, I am a Catholic, so I am pro life, anti death penalty, and believe in most of the Church's teachings. But again, on the matter of gay marriage, I'm somewhere in the middle of the argument. To make the argument simple again, I don't think government should be in the marriage business. But that's a simplistic explanation for my view, which isn't going to get much traction, so I am stuck at the ballot box voting for the side that least troubles me, which is true on most things.

Let's be honest. The State of California has been, and continues to be moving solidly into the Democratic camp. But even people I know (including family members) who are Democrats, aren't as left leaning as the Democratic party would like everyone to believe. Most of the citizens of the State are close to the middle, yet the political system usually only rewards candidates from both parties at the extremes. I'm writing this because I went to see Gavin Newsom at an event last week here in Fresno. I took some pictures and a video that I put on YouTube, and posted on my Posterous Blog. Now I have nothing against Democrats as people, but I don't think they should count me as one of their party's prime supporters.

So imagine my surprise this week when I got a lovely email from the mayor's wife, asking me to start a fundraising page called 'ActBlue,' raising money for Gavin's campaign. Now I'm sure this is boiler plate, but I thought we were trying to get past the whole Red / Blue divide in politics, and come together. In fact, at the event, I was surprised to hear Newsom's answer on some of the topics, because they are sure to anger some of the core voters in the Democratic Party. But he's advertising himself as that type of candidate. So the email from his wife isn't giving the same message, and was actually very off putting to me after taking the time to go out and see him. I know he's got to do some pandering to his Party to get the nomination, but still.

The other thing that was very surreal, was the fact that my video took on a life of its own. An independent organization catering to promoting a progressive agenda embedded my video onto their blog. Now I'm a little bit in awe of myself because this is the first ever video I posted to YouTube, and it seems to have found a minor audience. The group is using the video to point to the fact that maybe there is a candidate for change out there within the Democratic Party. I made the video to jump on the fact that maybe there is a candidate out there who once elected won't bow and scrape to the traditional Democratic interest groups. To each his own.

My grandmother, who really helped form my political beliefs, is quite possibly rolling over in her grave knowing that I'm talking about a Democrat from San Francisco for Governor. But right now, I'm a pragmatist, not an idealogue, and I think it's a good thing to explore all the options.

Saturday Night Live: Update: Madonna & Angelina Jolie

2009-04-30T21:22:00.001-07:00

via hulu.com

This is funny and a little disturbing.

Posted via web from chriswestergaard's posterous

Gavin Newsom's Fresno Townhall

2009-04-30T01:48:00.001-07:00

Honestly, one of the main reasons I am paying attention to Gavin Newsom's gubernatorial run is the fact that his Communications Director is a childhood acquaintance of mine. But I've got to admit, even though I'm a Republican, Newsom is definitely the candidate that intrigues me the most. I don't agree with him on the Prop 8 / Gay Marriage (he prefers the PC term 'Marriage Equality'), I like the way he handles himself. He has beliefs, and listens to those who disagree with him, but sticks to his beliefs. He even answered a very serious question with an honest 'I don't know.' I think he played to the audience a little too much, by going back to the Marriage issue again and again, but he's probably in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation with that. It's his most identifiable issue, and he really can't dance around it. This statewide office election is a tricky dance, you've got to get the nomination by pandering to those who agree with you first, then once that's in hand, you can reach out to those who don't.

I also felt like he was a little condacending about the issue towards those who disagree with him. A continuing answer of saying that he respects people of faith doesn't mean much when the unspoken continuation of that answer is that he thinks they are wrong about the issue, and should move aside and change their minds, because his can't be changed. Now I disagree with both sides of the issue. Or perhaps I should say that I agree with parts of both sides of the argument. And it is an issue that highlights the extreme polarization of our political system. The same people who demonized George Bush's statement to the world that you're either with us or against us, use the same language in this battle. And don't get me wrong, there is hypocrisy on both sides of the aisle. Though I do think the left has a little stronger claim on the double speak, with the simultaneous demands for tolerance and the attacks (not to mention Homeland Security led investigations) against those who disagree with their message.

I went to this event hoping to hear one thing from Newsom not about Gay Marriage, and not about Health Care, as I consider those his stock expert subjects. And he didn't disappoint. The last question was about water (posed by a very nervous young lady who nonetheless was very articulate with her question). And his answers were very impressive. Mostly because he didn't try to simplify his way out of a complicated question. But also because he acknowledged that many people on his side of the aisle would not be happy with his solutions (see Jim Boren's article), but that they were solutions that would benefit the entire State, and therefore he would push them forward. The entire event was worth that answer.

Take a look. I agree with the estimate of 250 people at the event, though at least 25 were campaign folks. I don't know if they were local.

Honesty is definitely a nice thing to hear from a politician.

Not the biggest or the best, but enough....

2009-04-29T12:50:00.001-07:00

I've been derelict with my posting, but I want to talk about my week. I was watching the Biggest Loser tonight. By the way, this is a great show to TiVo. Two hours worth of show can be boiled down to about 20 minutes of worthwhile footage. I used to dream about getting on that show, and dropping half my body weight. Unfortunately, I would be so depressed in general that I would sit down to a marathon of the show with a bag of potato chips wondering why I couldn't have that kind of success. I mean, it couldn't be as simple as maybe I should get up out of my chair and get active, could it? Or instead of eating potato chips, eat something healthy? No, I wanted a sitcom ending to my problem, and wasn't willing to do it myself.

Well, there are no sitcom endings in the real world. Instead, you have to work hard to achieve results. And I have. Eleven months after starting my diet (and I'm using the word diet to make the discussion easier, it's really a change in lifestyle), I've lost about 90 pounds, and I can actually say I'm an active person who goes to the gym 5-6 times per week. And it's not just going to the gym that makes me active. I go out of my way to NOT use my car now. When I visited my parents recently, I rode my bike everywhere instead of driving (thanks Mother Nature for cooperating with the nice weather). But my point is this, I used to think those people on the Biggest Loser were inspirational. And maybe in a sense they are. But really they are more lucky than anything. Sure you have to take advantage of your luck and perform once you are picked for something like that, but the real victory is getting picked. You get to consult with physicians and get 24/7 support for nutrition and workout, you hit the weight loss jackpot.

I had my annual physical last week, and my doctor's jaw practically dropped when he walked into the exam room and caught his first glimpse of a much smaller me. He first made sure that I hadn't done anything crazy by asking if I had gotten a gastric bypass, and I told him no, I did it the right way. At the end of the visit, he told me that the two things that made him happiest as a doctor were getting people to quit smoking and lose weight. His suggestions at my last visit were very simple, he told me I was eating too much and exercising too little. And he was right, and I changed those habits, and made big changes in my body.

My blood test results came back in the mail yesterday. I already knew my Blood Pressure was back to normal, it had been pushing the point where I needed medication. My glucose level was at the low end of the normal range (which is especially important since my Dad has Type 2 Diabetes), my cholesterol was really low, and everything else came out great. I feel like I'm back to where my actual age is equal or less than my chronological age, where a couple of years ago I was probably 10-15 years older. All of this doesn't even address my eye doctor's visit where my Ophthalmologist told me that my usual vision deterioration was definitely stemmed by the huge weight loss, and the corresponding effects on my vascular system. So yay me!

As the old saying goes, to make a long story short (too late!), the folks on the Biggest Loser aren't as inspirational as me. I'm not trying to be vain, because Lord knows, I'm not finished with my journey of weight loss and fitness, but that's not the point. I've been sticking with my personal journey for almost one year. My goal is to lose exactly 100 pounds by my birthday in June (about 3 weeks after my one year fitness plan anniversary), but I might even surprise myself and make it by the actual anniversary. A slow and steady excising of weight makes me a role model in my own mind. And even though I still have a ways to go to meet my ultimate goal weight and fitness level, the journey deserves a few occasional minor pauses for celebrations. It's been a long year, but I am now more understanding than ever of the John Burroughs quote, "For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service." In this case, the service is to myself.

Do you know the way?

2009-04-11T15:49:00.001-07:00

Blogging on the train. No that's not code for something. Especially something dirty, you need to get your mind out of the gutter. I am on my way to Los Angeles for a visit with my 3 month old nephew (who according to his parents is growing hair, all photographic evidence to the contrary) and his parents. My sister in law is back to work already, granted it is part time, but I am so happy that they are taking to the family thing like ducks to water. And now that I am living a life of leisure (at least until the unemployment checks run out), and travel time is not the most important factor in my trip planning, I decided to travel via rail.

I don't have the heart to tell them, but I actually have an ulterior motive for my visit. I have been somewhat remiss in my job search efforts this last week. Part of it was the school factor. I've enjoyed the freedom of purpose that acting like a college student brings. Having two very easy classes provides a slim illusion that I am actually requiring my brain to actually activate for some advanced work, but like I said, it's nice to pretend. I did have that psychological epiphany that I am better suited to study than work, but that's not a realistic long term plan.

I am going to scout the possibilities of moving to LA in the near future. That is my big secret. 75% of all job opportunities in my current field seem to be located in the greater LA area. So I'm going to see if the anecdotal evidence about reduced housing costs are true. If I can afford to live there, I might actually take the plunge. So do you know the way to LA? My way is on this lovely combination bus and train trip. I wonder if it will lead to my next big lifestyle change?

Is it possible that I'm cuter than I think I am?

2009-03-29T09:44:00.001-07:00

One of the reasons that I'm not harboring a grudge against Starbucks for laying me off is the fact that they gave me an opportunity of a lifetime, and I was smart enough to grab onto it. A year ago, I was still very unhealthy. Even though I had taken care of my Sleep Apnea with a series of surgeries (which is a story for another day), I still topped the scales at a wonderful 330 pounds. Although I like to say 150kg, because it sounds better.

I'd been trying to lose weight for a long time, I just could not summon up the willpower to make a difference. Then last year, in April, I had a conversation with my brother and sister in law during a visit. It was my first time getting to see my (at the time) 7 week old nephew, and something about the visit shocked me into the reality that I had to get my act together. This is not a forum for my observations on faith, but I try to be a faithful Catholic. And there were some messages that I recieved that I hadn't been acting as a good steward of my body. Whatever it was, me, family, friends, or faith, it doesn't matter, I had finally built up the willpower to make a change.

I received an email from Starbucks offering me a chance to participate in a health and wellness plan run by a company called Kinetix. This program offered remote coaching and support for a very simple diet and exercise program that had been limited previously to Starbucks employees at the headquarters in Seattle. I started the program in late May of 2008, and I was able to commit and make it work for me right from the start. I lost 32 pounds over the official 8 weeks of the program. To date, in about 10 months of sticking to the program, I've lost over 90 pounds, and I really do feel great. I still want to lose another 50 pounds, and get down to a weight under 200 pounds, which would put me at my high school fighting weight. Getting this opportunity was worth all the pain of job loss, after all I have started to get past the point of having my job define me. Having my health is much more important.

So even before my layoff, I have been going back to school part time, with the ultimate goal of getting my Accounting Degree and CPA. Up till now, most of my classes have been in the evenings, so I occasionally get to see some of the same students who are on my same general schedule. This week, I saw someone walking across campus who was in a class with me last Summer, and he was literally stopped in his tracks by my appearance. It is these types of situations that reinforce my general good feelings about myself, because I've seen the weight come off over time, but for him, it was like seeing a before and after picture.

Finally, to the point of my story, I live a few blocks away from my school, so I always walk to class. Now I'll usually be listening to something on my headphones, because I don't like to waste any time that could be made productive. I tease people, mostly trying to deflect my true feelings, by saying that when I was heavy (okay I really say fat, but that's funny because I still think I'm fat, even after making almost 1/3 of my body weight disappear), I was virtually invisible. People don't like to acknowledge heavy people, just like a homeless person, they look past them instead of at them. I know this, because it happened to me every day. I was the biggest person in the room, and people pretended like I didn't even exist, so you'll have to excuse me if I savor the occasions now when I do get noticed.

I also hadn't put much stock in the charisma theory either. Probably because you can only project charisma when you feel good about yourself. So how could I believe in something that I couldn't ever remember feeling? But that's the great thing about getting healthy, you actually do feel really good about yourself. I walk with my head held high, because I do feel great! And people are noticing. Nobody in particular, but I sure have been on the receiving end of a lot of hellos. And when I'm walking across campus, with headphones in my ears, and a cute girl (and I mean no disrespect by the term, it's just what I grew up saying) goes out of her way to greet me, it's a good day. And it sure seems like I'm having a lot of good days. Since I haven't had many of those over the past few years, it gives me hope that there are many more to come.

So while I've always known I'm no leading man, maybe I can be the perfectly serviceable character actor whose face you always recognize, though you just can't remember his name. I mean that guy at least gets into the film, and that's all I want to do, get into the film.

Why is the internet broken?

2009-03-25T00:18:00.001-07:00

I am a gadget guy. I can't tell you how everything works, but I do enjoy using most everything cool. But I'm not a first adopter. I am a little gun shy. While I still use the first gen. iPhone, I wasn't one of those people who waited in line the first day to pick one up. But after I saw it in action, I did pretty much rush to the Apple store and plunk down my money.

So, about the internet. Number one. Now that I'm unemployed, I find myself with plenty of time to listen to content. So instead of buying bunches of music (although in the interest of full disclosure, I have been picking up things here and there on Amazon's MP3 store, I mean a Cars EP for $.99? Come on!), I've been downloading tons of podcasts, and using Last.fm to stream music. And for some reason it's not working! This better not be a trick to get me to pay money for 'prime access' to your servers during busy times. Chris don't play that game, I'll jump back to Pandora so fast you'll think I was never on your stupid site. I mean you're owned by CBS now (even though you still like to play like you're that cute British site with all your words with extra U's like 'favourite'), pony up some cash and upgrade your infrastructure.

Second thing is that I have a web meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning with the employment outplacement service company that my former employer provided in my oh so generous severance package. Sending me an email with instructions to test my connection 12 hours prior to the event is cutting it a little close. Especially when it's telling me that it won't work, because my browser isn't set to accept cookies. Well guess what WebEx, you don't know what the heck you're talking about. Not only is browser set to accept cookies, it has always been set that way, so there.

Now instead of just being ready at 7:40am for an 8am meeting, I'm going to need to call tech support at about 7:15am to see why they can't use a more stable product that works for the general public. Maybe they're trying to scare me off before I start? They still get their money from Starbucks either way. No, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. This time. They can't scare me off, I need this more than they need to get rid of me. I think this part of my job hunting journey is going to prove to be very challenging, but that's okay, I like a good challenge, but it shouldn't be the internet. I mean it's not like I just started using this thing yesterday, it has been around for a while, hasn't it?

The third rail

2009-03-22T04:15:00.001-07:00

This is not a political blog. I have very specific views, I'm willing to change them if you can convince me that I'm wrong, but I'm here to tell you, that usually doesn't happen. Politics, like religion, is a dangerous subject, you are likely to lose friends over seemingly simple topics. Finally, there are enough talking heads on television, and as for bloggers, well, lets just say if you can come up with a theory, there's a group of crazies discussing it online. But I started this page just to post about my thoughts of the day, and this middle of the night rant is political, so here goes nothing.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a registered Republican. That being said, I am also an independent thinker, and not a candidate for public office affiliated with the Republican Party. So many of my personal beliefs run counter to what would be lumped into a vast overgeneralization of what a 'Republican' would think. My personal preferences for politicians run more towards those who stick with their convictions, rather than compromise them for political expediency. In fact, the candidate for Governor that most intrigues me right now is Gavin Newsom, who would probably be considered the most liberal of all the Democrats who have been touted as possibilities. So imagine my delight in the last election, where the two candidates fought over who was more likely to give away the farm to embrace bi-partisanship.

I do not defend people to the death, just because they have an R by their name, nor do I attack those with D's just out of a sense of partisan duties. I have plenty to complain about with all politicians from both parties. And in the end, this is not really about politics, it's about newspapers and why they are disappearing faster than a bonus check on Wall Street. The internet is a wonderful thing. When asked to name the 7 people who had the biggest impact on history up to now, the first person I thought of before doing any research was Johannes Gutenberg. The printing press started the first information revolution, by decreasing the cost of printing to the point that it was available to the masses. The internet has started a second information revolution, though we're not quite through it yet.

Newspapers and the networks used to take their news gathering seriously, no matter their beliefs, they treated their positions as a matter of public trust. Today it seems like they are more interested in making news, and pushing their beliefs over performing the watchdog function that they had been respected for. And the consumers are partly to blame, we say we don't want to see the latest celebrity train wreck, and the paparazzi are invading their privacy, all the while buying the magazine with those pictures in the Supermarket check out lane.

I don't agree with much of the policies of the new administration. But I also know that I'm in the minority currently with my opinions. But more and more people are moving away from blind acceptance and enthusiasm with the new administration, and starting to delve into what is being suggested. The continual gaffes by the President and Vice President aren't helping them either, though I would ask how in the world is President Obama making any mistakes when he's being fed information on a telepromter for every public speaking event. Why isn't anyone criticizing him for not being able to think on his feet? What's left of the print media seems to have thrown all their working capital behind the success of this administration.

Witness the editorial in today's New York Times titled, "The Rule of Law." It seems that the Times isn't satisfied with the pace of change brought by the new administration, but to me that's simply because they are shooting themselves in the foot every day with their own mistakes. The easy way to keep people from looking at the stupidity of the incumbents? Bring on the 'Truth Commission' to start holding hearings on the big bad Bushies. That ought to provide fodder for the front pages, and distract the people from what's going on today. If you are the Times' friend, and you make a mistake, they want you to forgive, forget, and move on. If you are an enemy, you are fair game for life. This thinly disguised political partisanship is bad for everyone.

I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. But the attacks on him for his statements that he wanted Obama's policies to fail were shrouded in the veil of patriotism. No real American would want their President to fail! Except they conveniently left out the part where James Carville and other Democratic strategists were conducting a focus group on 9/11/2001, and were quoted before the Twin Towers were hit that they hoped that President Bush would fail miserably. I guess attacks are okay on a Republican President in his first year in office, just not a Democrat.

I don't like hypocrites. Which is why I don't subscribe to any newspaper anymore. I read all my news online without paying for it (I know I pay for my internet access, but I'm not paying the newspaper directly), and I don't feel bad at all. Because if the big Gray Lady is the standard that all other papers strive to achieve, it's a bunch of, well since this is a family friendly page, I'll say junk. I will finish off with a simple statement. News providers, please stick to providing me useful relevant information. If you are going to be an investigative journalist, hold everyone to the same standard, in fact, I would be more inclined to read you if you were harder on those you agreed with. And if you're going to provide an editorial position, don't let it be so extreme and partisan that you alienate the majority of your potential audience. But don't listen to me, it's not like if you don't change the way you operate you're going to go broke, right?