Tvindy

State of the Weight Address

I thought I'd update everyone on my weight loss status, since it's such an interesting topic. My goal was to lose 32 pounds over the summer to get my weight down from 197 pounds to 165 pounds. A few weeks back, I was down to 169, meaning I had lost 28 and only needed to take off another 4 to reach my goal. Then something horrendous happened. I put on 3 more pounds! And there was no reason for it. My diet hadn't (and hasn't) changed at all. I'm mystified as to where the extra fat came from. My best guess is that, since I had quit jogging a couple months earlier, my muscles atrophied a bit, slowing down my metabolism. Anyway, weeks later I'm finally back to 169. Let's hope this time that it sticks.

On a completely unrelated note, did anyone catch the season premiere of Smallville? What's Spike doing there? Doesn't he know he's outside of the Whedon universe? If he shows up anywhere, it should be on Serenity which starts tomorrow.

It's podcast city, baby

Ever since Apple's iTunes embraced podcasting, I've been immersing myself in a plethora of programming. In fact, that's all I've been using my iPod for lately. In case you're curious about podcasts and want some recommendations, I'll list a few of my favorite episodes for you to check out. You can find all of these in iTunes.

This Week in Tech episode 18: Every episode is great, but the best ones have John C. Dvorak, who is the only one who can really hold his own against Leo Laporte.

The Signal episode 6: This podcast is helping to hype the upcoming release of the movie Serenity on September 30th. (If you're a fan of Joss Whedon, you'll no doubt be checking it out.) I chose this episode, because I really liked the interview with Ron Glass.

The Nate & Di Show episode 5: Besides being absolutely hilarious (unless you're someone who takes your churchgoing with deadly seriousness), this episode will go down in history as a podcasting classic. It marks the very first podcast that got its author fired from his job. Poor Nate.

Skepticality: Unfortunately, Skepticality doesn't number it's episodes, so look for the one entitled "Interview: Tom Flynn (Free Inquiry)", which has a good guest and a great conversation, one which I think best epitomizes what their program is about. Sadly, Derek (one of the hosts) is currently hospitalized, recovering from an aneurysm, so the the show is on hiatus. But there are dozens of episodes to download.

Soccer Girl episode 1: I didn't think I'd like this podcast, since all indications were that it was highly pornographic, but, when I kept seeing it come up in top ten lists, I decided to check it out. Soccer Girl and her guests are really quite entertaining. The first episode is a good place to start. I always love a good travel story.

And the Possum Moves Down

I'm thinking it's high time I got back to blogging on a more regular basis. Possum pics tend to get a bit old after the first couple of weeks, and I really do need to update my readers on some significant developments in my life. The big thing for me right now is that I won't be returning to Oregon in the fall. There's actually a long story behind this, which I will now tell.

Back when I first applied to the university there in 2003, I began the application process too late to be able to have it completed before the deadline. As a result, I was declined admittance. However, since it was still possible to enroll as a non-degree graduate student, that's what I did. I figured that would help to show my seriousness when I reapplied as well as allow me to start earning academic credit, which I could apply to my degree. Unfortunately, when I submitted my application at the beginning of this year, I was again declined. The frustrating part is that when I spoke to someone there about my situation, I could see that it was more that I had fallen through the cracks and been forgotten about than that there was anything specifically wrong with my credentials. I really don't want to go into too much detail about this in a blog, but it certainly was an eye-opener to me about how disorganized the selection process is.

I do still intend to get a masters degree at that university, but it struck me mid-summer that it just doesn't make sense financially for me to go back there this year. Paying out-of-state tuition and housing for another year on top of my mortgage here in Muncie is just crazy, especially since only a maximum of fifteen hours of classes can be transferred to once I get into a program, and I already have more than that.

It's taken me a several weeks to fully commit to staying in Muncie, but I've finally canceled my fall classes, and withdrawn my housing reservation. It wasn't an easy decision at all. I have to go a full year without trampolining, making stained glass, attending a weblogger meetup, or, most significantly, teaching Portuguese. And it's kind of depressing feeling that I've wasted all that time. More troubling still is the fact that a great deal of my stuff (including my winter clothes and computer) is still in storage in Oregon, meaning that I will eventually have to drive back there and pick it up. I don't know exactly when I'll be returning, but I'll try to organize my trip, so that it corresponds with a weblogger meetup and includes a visit to snowball.

Possum!

More New Orleans Links

As I read up on the devastation in New Orleans, I keep coming across related pages that I want to share. Here's what I found this week:

This is probably the single greatest (and appalling) firsthand survival account online. Assuming all the details are true, everyone should read it.

Bush is kind of dumb.

Clearly he takes after his momma (from bakerina).

Has Katrina saved US media? asks the BBC.

Here's a great photo. (It's just too bad it reinforces about half a dozen horrendous stereotypes.) More good photos here.

Also, check out this zoomable satellite view of the flooding from August 31.

Katrina Aftermath

Like most people, I've been following the news on the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I thought I'd share some of the more interesting material I've come across online. (Most of it deals with New Orleans, but I'm well aware that that was not the only affected area.)

Making Light has an interesting entry pointing out how the media tends to portray black people foraging for supplies as looters while whites are not. Yahoo! has since removed the offending photos, but you can view them here.

I really don't understand all the fuss about looting. If people who are poor to begin with lose their homes and possessions to flooding have to forage for food and bottled water in nearby stores, I think they are entitled, especially the people who have not yet received any aid. Bush's zero tolerance remark was reprehensible. While starving families try to feed themselves, New Orleans' finest forage for DVDs.

In October 2001 Drowning New Orleans appeared in Scientific American, warning that "New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen" and "Scientists at LSU . . . predict that more than 100,000 people could die."

Bush had other priorities. Here is the chronology.

A lot of people have pointed out that all the buses and rental cars, now partly submerged, could have been used to evacuate scores of people from the city, in the process also saving the vehicles themselves.

The Washington Post has a very interesting account of what conditions are like in the Superdome. It really boggles the mind that people staying behind in New Orleans were sent there, yet they can't even bring in adequate water for them. Isn't the purpose of getting everyone together into a central location to make it possible to care for them en masse? Couldn't they use helicopters to fly in tanks of water (as well as food and medicine)?

MoveOn.org has set up Hurricane Housing, allowing people within 300 miles of the area affected by Hurricane Katrina to offer temporary housing to those who have been displaced from their homes. Sounds like a great idea.

The Interdictor is a blog and video feed being maintained and updated in New Orleans. I haven't actually been following it. (I skimmed it a bit and then stopped reading when I came to the entry that referred to looters as "monkeys".)

Another New Orleans blog has as its most recent entry an account of how the blogger was trying to leave the city before the hurricane hit but could not, because "All car rentals, airlines, bus lines and the train station are now closed until further notice. . . . It's only after they are all closed that the Mayor orders evacuation -- then he orders incoming roads closed so no one can come get me out." I hope she's okay.

And of course there's schmed, who is one of the the oldest additions to my blogroll. Thankfully, he and his family are all okay, as is their home.