Posted 10:47 PM by Leslie Turek
Alex and I went to see Monsoon Wedding today - a delightful movie I highly recommend. It portrays the four days of family interaction leading up to an arranged wedding between the daughter of an upper-class Indian family and a "non-resident Indian", a computer programmer living in the United States. Although set in a foreign culture, the film is very accessible, since the dialog is partly in English and the various family interactions showed that families are the same everywhere. I particularly liked the actor who played the father; the way he showed his love for his daughter and his niece was very moving. There were comic bits as well, and lots of exuberant singing and dancing. Overall, it was sort of a cross between Gosford Park (with its interweaving story lines) and Moulin Rouge (which itself was influenced by the Indian "Bollywood" movie style). It's one of those movies that might be hard to find, but if you get a chance to see it, you'll be glad you did.

Posted 10:27 AM by Leslie Turek
Weight loss department: I'm down another pound this week, for a total of 3 pounds with 5 to go. At the suggestion of my DPP coach, I tried wearing a step counter this week. This is a good way to judge your total activity, including all the little things you do as part of your daily life, not just the half hour you set aside for "exercise". This week I registered a total of just under 32,000 steps, which is a little above sedentary (which would be around 20,000), but not especially active. When I was working at this previously, I could do 50,000 - 55,000 weeks. Of course, that was when I was working part-time and had a little more free time. It will be interesting to see what I log the week I go to Florida.

Posted 5:49 PM by Leslie Turek
From my diary:

March 31, 1997: "We're having the biggest snowfall of the season - it's still snowing as I'm going to bed, but so far we've gotten 8 inches or more of heavy wet snow that's sticking in huge high piles to everything. I expect to see many branches down tomorrow."

March 31, 1998: [after the temperature hit 81 degrees on the 27th] "Hot again. This is so weird. Records are being set all through New England - 30-40 degrees above normal!"

Welcome to weather in New England.

Posted 3:36 PM by Leslie Turek
Garden report: It's clouding up, but warm, so I managed to get out today to do some garden work before the rain set in. Lots of bending and lifting and stooping - I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I planted two 6-foot rows of peas. One row is Sugar Snap, which tastes the best, but needs a 6-foot trellis to grow on, which is a nuisance. The other row is Sugar Bon, a variety that doesn't taste quite as good, but which grows smaller and matures more quickly. Of course, I'll probably miss one or the other if I take my planned trip to England in May/June - that's the trouble with travelling when you have a garden at home. Also did lots of pruning and cleanup. The crocus and squill are now in full bloom.

Posted 1:57 AM by Leslie Turek
I spent entirely too much time playing Magic Online today. They seem to have fixed the problems that were causing frequent server crashes, so it's a lot less frustrating these days. I am doing well in one of the Leagues (I'm currently 45th in one league of 1024 players, not all of whom are active), and today tried playing a little constructed Magic in the casual room and did quite well. Playing in the casual room was great because you could test your deck against quite a variety of players, just playing one right after another, something that's not so easy to do in real life. I don't know if I will keep playing so much when they start charging for it, but right now I'm taking full advantage of the free beta test period.

Posted 12:45 PM by Leslie Turek
An expert panel, convened by the government and the American Diabetes Association, has issued a press release advising that people at risk be screened for "pre-diabetes" (which is their new term for impaired glucose tolerance). The announcement refers to the Diabetes Prevention Program I have been participating in, which showed that modest changes in lifestyle can prevent people with pre-diabetes from progressing to diabetes. (Without these changes, most people with pre-diabetes go on to develop diabetes within the next 10 years.) It's nice to see some specific recommendations coming out of the study.

Posted 12:20 PM by Leslie Turek
Dept. of guilty pleasures: Survivor has taken some twists and turns I did not predict. When the team swap happened, the three people I had identified as bad apples (Sean, Rob, and Sara) got split up, with Sean and Rob going to the stronger team that appeared to have a very good bond established, and Sara going to the weaker team. Right after the split, the weaker team lost the immunity challenge and Sara was ousted. I thought the next logical thing would be that the stronger team would get rid of Sean and Rob.

Boy, was I wrong. What actually happened this past week was that the weaker team, once they'd dropped Sara, formed a really tight bond and finally managed to win an immunity challenge. At the same time, Sean and Rob managed to bring discord among the the (previously) stronger team, which caused them to vote out one of their own, rather than either Sean or Rob. And it really wasn't due to any clever conniving on their part, either.

What happened was that Gabriel, who had stated that he was there to "learn how to form a community" rather than "play the game", spent a lot of time bonding with the new tribe members. So much so that John started getting really paranoid about whether he could trust Gabe to continue to vote with him. John tried to press Gabe to say what his intentions were, but the more John pressed, the more Gabe refused to commit. So John convinced everyone to vote against Gabe.

This may not be too bad a mistake, as I think John still has a 4-3 majority of the team on his side, but we shall see.

The producers also did an interesting thing. At the first reward challenge after the team swap, they allowed the winning team to "raid" the losing team's camp and take whatever they wanted. What a perfect way to break the old team ties and make people feel a part of the new team! The expressions on the faces of the team that was being raided made it pretty clear they weren't too happy with their erstwhile teammates who were doing the raiding. I can't help but wonder if a better tactical move would have been to have taken a bit less and not aroused quite some much resentment. Dunno...

Posted 7:25 PM by Leslie Turek
Two warm sunny days in a row - how nice! I walked in the Prospect Hill park both days; even in the winter it's a pleasant walk because there is a lot of green from the pine trees, but now you can tell it's starting to come back to life. There's this incredible high-pitched chirping coming from the low swampy area at the north end which is the spring peepers announcing their appearance. I also saw a robin and a butterfly today. I hope we get at least one good day this weekend so I can start doing some garden work.

Posted 12:30 PM by Leslie Turek
I read in this morning's Boston Globe that The West Wing is going to tackle the subject of land mines tonight. Unfortunately, President Barlett is going to decide against signing the treaty to ban land mines. I think this is really too bad. I feel that land mines are truly evil and it really upsets me that my country is not willing to make that statement. Land mines poison the very earth itself, and linger long after any particular conflict is over, causing huge amounts of suffering among ordinary people struggling to recover from the other devastations of war. I'm ashamed to see the United States on the list of non-signatories to the treaty, right up there with Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North and South Korea, Libya, Russia, and Vietnam.

Posted 10:04 AM by Leslie Turek
Similar Minds offers an Enneagram Personality Test. My top three results pretty accurately reflected my current personality. (The numbers in parentheses are the number of points I scored in each category.)

(16) Fives are basically on some level estranged from the rest of the world, consequently, their mind is usually their best friend. They like to analyze things and make sense of them (that is their anchor), this makes them great inventors and philosophers. The immense inner world of fives can cause them to lose touch or interest in reality.

(15) Nines are open minded optimists. They are able to see everyones point of view, and have a natural desire for making peace. Consequently, they are skilled mediators. They often live by the 'go along to get along' creed. However their openness to other people can cause them to lose site of themselves and their own happiness.

(13) Sixes are defined by anxiety. They are gifted in their ability to see the dark and light sides of life (and of people and situations around them). This insight into possible outcomes makes them useful planners. However since they are never sure what will prevail they are always on edge and cling to predictable structures/systems for peace of mind.

Posted 10:01 AM by Leslie Turek
If you like trivia contests, here's a site that will let you play trivia from any email address. I blush to admit that I've been playing for a few weeks and have already hit their Top Ten List.

Posted 5:16 PM by Leslie Turek
Reality Not Found

Posted 9:19 AM by Leslie Turek
My weight was down 2 pounds for the week, with 6 pounds to go. Let's see if I can continue this trend next week instead of bouncing back up.

Unfortunately, this was the week I got the annual survey from the National Weight Control Registry. The NWCR is a research study that is attempting to characterize the behaviors that are associated with successful weight loss by studying people who have actual lost weight. I joined the NWCR two years ago, as soon as I had met their criteria of losing 30 pounds and keeping it off for one year. When I joined, they sent me pages of forms to fill out, but the annual surveys are shorter and a lot more manageable. I was sorry, though, that I had to report a gain this year.

Posted 12:26 AM by Leslie Turek
Stephen King has two great talents. The one everyone knows about is his skill as a horror writer. But the talent that appeals to me more is his uncanny ability to capture the texture of everyday life, especially from the point of view of a child coming of age in the 1950's and 60's. With Hearts in Atlantis, the moviemakers have chosen to emphasize the latter aspect. In fact, the title refers to memories of a lost childhood, when the world seemed brighter and more full of possibility. I grew up in a time much like the one shown, where friends hung out together and played in the woods and went for ice cream and played games on a sunlit porch. A time when the days were long and lazy and soda came in glass bottles that clinked and mothers hung their washing out on the line and the Lone Ranger galloped across the small TV screen to the strains of the William Tell Overture. The choice of music from the period really added to the nostalgia. Every single selection was familiar to me and brought back memories.

The disappointing thing about the movie was that it didn't have much more than was shown in the preview. The preview was intriguing - hinting at all sorts of mysterious secrets, but the movie itself really didn't add particularly to what had already been divulged. The performances by Anthony Hopkins and the Anton Yelchin as the boy, Bobby Garfield, were excellent, however, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't seen the preview.

Posted 2:58 PM by Leslie Turek
It's sunny, but a bit brisk out there today. Went for a walk after a rather tense meeting, and the iPod oracle came through with Life in the Fast Lane (The Eagles), Seasons of Love (from Rent), and the Slavyanka Russian Men's Chorus singing For the Mercy of Peace. Here are a few lines from Seasons of Love:

525,600 minutes, 525,600 moments so dear
525,600 minutes
How do you measure - measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee,
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
525,600 minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?

Posted 12:54 PM by Leslie Turek
Here's another idea out of science fiction that may become real: Lab-grown fish chunks could feed space travelers. I used to have nightmares about a story I read once, I think it was called "Chicken Little", where a giant chicken blob was propagated in a laboratory, fed by tubes of nutrient, and harvested to feed the hungry masses. Although that wasn't as bad as the one about the guy who raised giant cockroaches in his apartment so he could have meat ("tasted like chicken") in an overcrowded meat-deprived society.

Posted 12:05 PM by Leslie Turek
The "Gutsy Grannies" got eliminated on the third episode of The Amazing Race, after making a bad route choice (trying to go from Sao Paulo to Capetown via New York and London). Turbulence delayed the flight to London, so they got to Capetown about a day late. This was after they had earned their nickname by hang gliding off a spectacular height in Rio de Janeiro. I was rooting for them to stay in a bit longer.

Survivor did a random team swap, which now puts the two guys I can't stand (Sean and Rob) into the minority on the stronger team. It will be interesting to see if that team chooses to purposely lose an immunity challenge just so they can vote them out.

Posted 10:57 PM by Leslie Turek
In spite of all the furor that's been happening at work this week, I actually have had a rather enjoyable and productive week. I recently got assigned to test a particular system component that has had major changes made since the previous release. It's a nice piece of work - complicated and challenging, but not out of my range of abilities. I've spent a couple of weeks studying the specs and writing test plans, but this week is the first time I've actually got my hands on running code. And I've particularly been enjoying working with the developers on this project, Jay and Seth, because they are really nice guys, very sharp, and very helpful and cooperative to work with. So things have been going very smoothly. During the past few days, I've been running some initial tests and smoking out some early bugs, and Jay and Seth promptly investigate each thing I find and usually have revised code with a fix ready for me in less than an hour. So I've really been able to make a lot of progress (in the little time I have to work in between the tension-fraught company meetings). Next week should be even better.

Posted 9:51 AM by Leslie Turek
My manager agreed to the May/June vacation, so I signed the salary reduction form. It will be interesting to see what percentage cooperation they get across the company, and what, if any, layoffs ensue.

Posted 12:46 PM by Leslie Turek
An interesting review of Rebecca Blood's new book about blogging.

Posted 12:39 PM by Leslie Turek
Here's an interesting site, Literary Locales, more than 500 picture links to the places that figure in the lives and writings of famous authors.

Posted 10:23 AM by Leslie Turek
Happy first day of Spring! I'm wearing a bright yellow sweater today to try to get in the mood. But it's a challenge, as it's snowing out. So it goes in New England.

Posted 11:25 PM by Leslie Turek
Much excitement at work today. Instead of the usual quarterly layoff, the new approach seems to be "voluntary" 6-month pay cuts. The original announcement by the CEO was rather attractive: the offer of a voluntary 10%, 15%, or 20% pay cut in return for stock options (probably worthless), or extra time off (wonderful!). But by the time the offer got through to the manager of development it was translated to "everybody better 'volunteer' for at least 10%" and "don't expect to take time off if it will impact our schedules" (and how could it not)? My manager's take on it was a bit more humane. He had to support the 10% quota, but he was willing to split it half and half between time off and stock options. This may allow me to take at least part of that British trip I was talking about a few weeks ago. It still falls in what appears (at the moment) to be a busy period for us, and at a time when other members of the group are taking time off due to birthing babies, but my manager is willing to consider giving me a week or 10 days.

We're supposed to decide all of this by tomorrow. And the form we're supposed to sign has a paragraph stating that we are doing this voluntarily, without coercion from management. Not sure if I can sign that with a straight face.

Posted 2:29 PM by Leslie Turek
Here's Julius Caesar's web log: Bloggus Caesari.

Posted 2:04 PM by Leslie Turek
Speaking of the Oscars, I finally got around to seeing Shrek, which is apparently a shoo-in for best animated film (and even a potential nominee for best picture if the animated category hadn't been created). I enjoyed it. The animation was technically quite impressive - the facial expressions were very expressive, and the handling of lighting, textures, flowing water and fire were all state-of-the-art. The Disney parodies weren't really pervasive to the story - they just came in a bit at the beginning and the end - although they were quite funny. The story itself was a pretty typical "fractured fairy tale" type of saga, complete with rescuing a princess from a fire-breathing dragon's castle, but with a twist. And Eddie Murphy as the wise-cracking donkey sidekick was funny, but in a way that it would be easy to overdose on. I will probably want to see the sequel, if only to admire the animation.

Posted 1:57 PM by Leslie Turek
Roger Ebert predicts the Oscar winners - not what should win, but what probably will win. Sample quote: "Possible dark horse [for Best Director]: Robert Altman, who on Oscar night will be the best filmmaker in the house, nominated or not. But he's an outsider, a maverick, and worst of all, a truly great director. Voters will wonder, if they honor him, who'll be next? Martin Scorsese?"

Posted 9:52 AM by Leslie Turek
I had a Diabetes Prevention Program quarterly check-in on Monday morning. The quarterly appointments are short; there's no blood test, just a weigh-in and a couple of questions. The weigh-in was not great - in the past week I'd gained back nearly everything I'd lost in the previous two weeks. I had been eating fairly well, but I think I just didn't get enough exercise. I'll try to do better this week, although it's hard when things are busy at work.

I also learned that the DPP has been renewed for another 5 years, starting in June. I'll probably sign up, since now that I can't donate blood (because I'm taking Tamoxifen), it's nice to have some way to contribute.

Posted 12:18 AM by Leslie Turek
Hooray - just made plane reservations for a trip to Orlando in April! Last year Alex signed up for a deal where we get a 5 nights in a Marriott time-sharing condominium for a reasonable rate (plus the obligation to attend a 90-minute sales pitch). But it wasn't until tonight that we finally got organized enough to book the plane tickets. Unfortunately, we waited a little too late, as we were unable to get a really good fare. Apparently April 12-17 is still in the "spring break" period. We ended up having to go down a day early to avoid Friday travel and get a rate we could be comfortable with.

Since the condo has plenty of room, we also invited Nancy Atherton to come down and join us. She just turned her latest book in to the publisher, so she is feeling great and is free to go. Nancy is a lot of fun to be with, so hitting the parks with her will be great. Another advantage of having Nancy with us is that she likes roller coasters, so Alex will have someone to go on the scary rides with.

Now I just have to figure out how to do all the stuff I have to do at work and at home in the next 4 weeks.

Posted 10:40 AM by Leslie Turek
Machinka usually spends the day outdoors, and then comes back in for dinner when I get home in the evening. She is very timid when she's outside (a good thing!) and has learned to stay up on top of the retaining wall as I drive my car into the garage. Then she jumps down and stands with her nose pressed against where the door will open as I fumble with the house keys. When the door opens, she darts inside, usually startling Katisha, who has come down to sit on the steps to see what is happening. Katisha gives her a sardonic, "Kids, such energy!" type of look as Machinka streaks past her up the stairs.

When I go to bed, Machinka usually spends about 10 minutes curled up against me or snuggled into my armpit doing a sort of nursing routine, complete with the purring and the kneading paws. Then she curls up at the bottom of the bed to spend part of the night. At this point, she's so relaxed that I can pet her anywhere, and she never reacts with teeth or claws (even if I touch her belly, which is usually a sensitive spot in cats). At some point in the night she will go out again. Often she comes to be let back in when I go out for the newspaper in the morning or raise the garage door to go to work, but sometimes she doesn't come back again until the following night.

After owning Machinka, I begin to understand the superstitions surrounding black cats. She is sweet and loving but you just can't take a photograph of her - there's something about her shiny blackness that just seems to absorb light and elude the camera.

Posted 9:00 AM by Leslie Turek
Netflix turned up in Time magazine this week ("The Movie Is In the Mail"). Once again I adopt a new technology about a month before it appears in the mainstream press. I'm not an early adopter, I'm a "just a little bit ahead of time" adopter.

Posted 6:58 PM by Leslie Turek
Heard on the radio while driving home that Andrea Yates was convicted of capital murder after the jury spent all of 4 hours deliberating. I think that's too bad. It seems so clear to me that the woman is mentally ill and was not given the help she should have been given. The legal standard for mental illness just seems a little too restrictive. And even so, I'm not convinced that she actually knew right from wrong; she may have known that other people might think she was doing something wrong, but that's not the same as really believing yourself that something is wrong. I just hope she doesn't get a death sentence.

Posted 4:42 PM by Leslie Turek
I wish more of my friends had weblogs. Right now there are just two - Becky, my friend who got me started weblogging, and Matt and Amy, who started a weblog after their daughter Samantha was born. I love reading these logs because it makes me feel that I am a part of their lives, even though I don't get to see them as often as I would like. It would be wonderful if I could have this level of contact with all of my friends, especially old friends who have moved out of town and are now far away.

Posted 10:05 AM by Leslie Turek
A Rand Institute study mentioned in The Boston Globe today showed that obesity causes more health problems than smoking or drinking. I love reading items like this - it helps my motivation.

Posted 1:07 PM by Leslie Turek
Isaac Asimov died of AIDS contracted from a blood transfusion during open heart surgery in 1983, according to this note in Charlie's Diary. If true, I think this may be the first person I knew personally who I know died of AIDS.

I met Isaac back in the 60's when he lived in Newton and regularly attended the annual MITSFS picnic and other local fan events. I never really knew him well, but he knew who I was and we would sometimes chat when we encountered each other at science fiction conventions after his move to New York. The information apparently came out in a recently-published biography written by his second wife, Janet Jeppson.

Posted 8:54 AM by Leslie Turek
Weight loss report: down 3 pounds; 5 to go. This past week, I started recording everything I ate, something that is an incredible pain in the neck, but a behavior that studies have shown to have a very high correlation with successful weight loss. (It's a little like quantum physics - the act of observing how you eat inevitably changes how you eat.) I've also been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, although the vegetables can be a challenge when you don't cook much. In fact, weight loss in general can be a challenge if you don't cook - so much of what is generally available in restaurants, etc., is really not very healthy. I rely a lot on frozen meals, usually Stouffer's Lean Cuisine line. I recently also found a line of Indian frozen meals from Ethnic Gourmet that are quite tasty, as well as being low fat and high fiber. The cafeteria at work sometimes serves low-fat wraps; you have to be careful because they rotate items on a daily basis, and some of their offerings are more healthful than others. Beyond that, I have to rely on salads with low-fat dressing and turkey and tuna sandwiches with low-fat mayo. It can get a little boring.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a scrumptious meal at the "Low-Fat No-Fat Gourmet Cafe and Juice Bar" on Arsenal Street here in Watertown. This has an extensive menu of low fat items, and is frequented by quite a diverse crowd, from bodybuilders with bulging biceps to middle-aged ladies trying to lose weight. They have come up with a way to make low-fat french fries that are pretty good, so I go there whenever the urge for fries strikes me. I wish that there were more places like this, in particular, one near work where I could eat lunch every day.