vielchop

I need to spend more time here. The last strength exercise I did was over a month ago and I'm starting to feel weak and unhealthy. During the past few months I've struggled to maintain a consistent gym schedule. I've tried to justify the lack of routine by redefining what exercise means where I've considered short bike rides and walks with P as a workout. Moving in any way is better than not moving and these activities were super helpful during my recovery, but for me to live an active lifestyle in the long-term I need to build strength.

Two years ago I felt the best physically since I was in college. I had a lot of momuntum heading into 2022 that all came to a crushing halt. I had to reset my expectations last year to focus on recovery and rehabilitation. My goal was to get to a place where I could get through a day without pain or crippling muscle fatigue. I was largely successful on that front and was feeling optimistic about this year. 2023 was going to be when I got back to my pre-diagnosis physical condition (or as close as possible.) My goal was to get back to my 2021 level of activity. After a few months I fell off that pace and now I'm going to struggle to match last year's output.

Workout Minutes by Year

• 2021: 7,300
• 2022: 5,200
• 2023: 3,700

The last time I ran was at the Turkey Trot in 2021. A goal for this year was to be in a position where I felt confident enough that I could run the Turky Trot this year to celebrate getting back to my old lifestyle. I'm not totally writing off running the race this year, but I don't want to force myself to do something that could cause greater harm.

Instead I'm going to rebuild the foundation to get into more of a habit in the gym. I'm going to do strength work at least twice a week. On off days I'll try to engage in some kind low impact movement and stretching. The objective is to not burn myself out while steadily building my strength.

So maybe the Turkey Trot will be in play? We'll see. More importantly I want to safely build strength and set myself up for success next year.

Pizza night is Friday in our house so when friends and family come over for football on Sunday I'm always looking to make something other than pizza and wings. I try to find recipes that are easy to make, easy to eat and still have the gluttinous feel of a gameday meal. These Pull Apart Italian Sub Sliders were so perfect for watching football on a cool fall afternoon.

I skipped the fig preserves because I don't have those in the pantry and would never use them again. Instead of the roasted red pepper sauce I added some hot crushed pepper sauce like you get from a deli for some kick and I like my Italian sandwiches to have a little bit of a vinegar taste.

Even though I put them in the oven for the minimum 20 minutes the tops of the rolls were a little browned on top so maybe check in after the foil is removed to make sure these don't burn.

Despite being slightly overcooked these went over well and are definitely going to be in the gameday food rotation.

Or what I'm not playing? What I'm done playing? A couple years ago I started playing the 2K series. I liked the MyTeam mode where I could build a team with players I watched when I was kid. The card collecting aspect was also fun. The problem is the game mode is littered with gameification. You can see where calculations have been made to maximize your engagement and in-game spend. There is always sme challenge with a reward attached that is attainable if you play a couple more games.

Of course the gameification piece is not new. The difference is I'm no longer willing to invest money or time to play the game. My time is limited and more valuable that I can't spend it grinding through the levels. There also isn't another objective in the game outside of achieving higher levels or completing the never ending challenges. Sure, I could play for fun an ignore all of the gameification, but I know it's there and despite my best efforts I'll eventually succomb. The best course of action is to let it be.

Also the latest version is very buggy. I know the Switch isn't the target system for 2k, but at times it's unplayable. I mean literally it's a 50/50 chance the game opens without crashing.

There's an opportunity cost as well. With limited time available to play video games choosing to play one means not playing another. After dealing with 2k crashing again I went back to TOTK and it was immediately clear the game was more enjoyable and rewarding than 2k.

So for now it's a goodbye to 2k and I'm not sure I'll be coming back.

Last week I discovered Scope of Work and since then I've enjoyed reading through the archives. They cover so many interesting topics! The post about knife sharpening was particularly timely.

Recently I bought a whetstone to sharpen my knives at home. I have a decent set of knives that I've largely neglected maintaining. As a part of a renewed focus of taking care of myself and the things around me I decided I'd try to bring some life back to the blades.

I've had a few sharpening sessions and I have enjoyed the process of knife sharpening. I've struggled to find the factory edge of the knife to sharpen. The whetstone came with a guide that is about a 20 angle, but I haven't been able to make that widget work well. After reading the post I've reduced the angle to sharpen more of the face and that seems to have helped.

I think there's been an improvement in the knives. At least C said she noticed a difference. I'm planning to do a chive test with the two 10 inch chef knives I have that are identical in all aspects expect that one has been my sharpening test subject. These knives are so old I'm going to have to work on them some more.

I'm certainly not going to put them under an electron microscope anytime soon, but this is a new process I'm enjoying and will continuing practicing at.

Cooking your own meals is an important step to readjusting to life as a new parent (or adding to the existing family). Since L was born we've been fortunate to largely get by on the generosity of friends and family who have cooked / ordered meals for us. We're incredibly grateful for the help (if you know someone having a baby offering to take care of a meal is a huge help!). Cooking for ourselves is getting reintroduced into our new routine.

These Garlic Noodles from Spoon Fork Bacon were a perfect first meal to establish the new routine. These are quick and tasty. Even P can't get enough of them. I love recipes like this. All of the ingredients are generally things we have on hand so if we want something quick this is going to be an option. No need to go shopping for a bunch of ingredients. The recipe is also easily extensible. The base recipe is for noodles and a garlic sauce, but you can just as easily add a protein and veggies to round out a meal. I added some frozen green beans we had hanging out in the freezer.

These are definitely going into our rotation for either a quick lunch or even as the base for a dinner.

The Wager is the latest from David Grann. He tells the story of an eighteenth century shipwreck and its crew on the coast of Patagonia. I started this one morning and proceeded to volunteer to cover every nap that day so I could finish this book.

Grann is a masterful story teller. Once again his abiltiy to create a gripping narrative from the source materials is on full display. Grann doesn't just string together all the fact he's uncovered during his meticulous research, he weaves them together to make a compelling story based on facts, but more accessible and entertaining for the reader.

I'm looking forward to his next project.

Wow. Just wow. Definitely going to be rereading this series in the near future. Maybe brush up on my physics a little bit first!

Even after reading more than a thousand pages the series continues to deliver. The opening segment of Part V in Book 3 bluntly showcasing the insignificance of humanity in the context of the universe was fantastic. Maybe let's not broadcast our presence to unknown galatic entities?

Netflix has a series based on these books coming out next year. I'll watch, but I'm keeping expectations to a minimum. The scale of this story is so grand I'm skeptical it could be translated by Netflix into a visual medium.

"The invention of the wheel is often put forward as a pinnacle of human ingenuity, but it strikes me that the defining characteristic of modern transportation systems is not the wheel but the pneumatic tire."

From a brief history about pneumatic tires by Scope of Work. Nearly all of today's wheeled transportation depends on the pneumatic tire. How would transportation be different if the pneumatic tire had not been invented?

Also interesting that the initial invention was before it's time. Originally the pneumatic tire was created for horse drawn carraiges, but never caught on. Only until humans were responsible for propelling themselves on bikes did the pneumatic tire gain traction as a means of providing a smoother and more efficient ride.

Recently I became a father again to another beautiful daughter. Nothing is more amazing than bringing a new human you're responsible for into the world. Even though this is the second time around there are still new learnings. We quickly figured out that what worked our first daughter P doesn't necessarily work for our second daughter L. For example, P hated pacifiers. We tried them with P on a number of occassions, but she preferred to suck her thumb. L loves her paci. When she's fussy at night the paci soothes her. L also enjoys being rocked in a chair where P liked to be walked around (we would track the miles we walked inside each night!) Even though this is the second child the experience has been different and it's been fun to see how L is different from her sister.

An extra challenge with the second kid is that we're being sensitive to not disrupt some of the routine we had established with P. We don't want P to feel neglected, so we're continuing to do things like bringing her to music class at the library, walking to the farmer's market and bike rides for Stroopwafels at the coffee shop. P feels so much bigger now that L is here. She's not even two yet, but she already feels and acts like a full kid, which underscores how quickly kids grow up.

I'm so grateful for have P and L in my life. I'm looking forward to seeing them grow up and become their own people being present for every moment along the way.

I'd love to read more about LLM use cases in eduction like this:

In both cases, I was blown away by student engagement and creativity. Here’s a brief list of what some of my students did in their medieval simulations:

• ran away from home to become an apprentice to a traveling spice merchant

• developed various treatments for the plague, some historically accurate (like theriac) others much less so (like vaccines)

• negotiated complex legal settlements between the warring guilds of Pistoia

• fled to the forest and became an itinerant hermit

• attempt to purchase “dragons blood,” a genuine medieval and early modern remedy, to cure their fast-worsening plague

• made heroic efforts as an Italian physician named Guilbert to stop the spread of plague with perfume

• became leaders of both successful and unsuccessful peasant revolts

This is from Benjamin Breen. I'm incredibly bullish around the potential for LLMs to transform education. The conversation around LLMs in education needs to move beyond the hysteria around students using LLMs for cheating. The opportunity to leverage LLMs to create engaging and immersive learning experiences is huge.

I don't see LLMs as a technology that will disappear. Knowing how to interact with LLMs is a hugely marketable skill. Incorporating LLMs in the classroom has the potential to not just create engaging learning experiences, but also teaches students a skill they can use outside the classroom.

Finally, LLMs can make learning more engaging. Students are in a constant battle for their attention at all times. Lectures too often are boring and make it easy for students to put an AirPod under their hoodie and tune out. LLMs can make learning more interactive and boost engagement.

Student engagement in the spring quarter, when I began these trials, was unlike anything I’ve seen. The first time I tested the idea out informally (asking students to simulate their home town via an up-ended general purpose simulation prompt) I realized that we had gone 5 minutes past the end of class without anyone noticing!

Really exciting! During my upcoming paternity leave I'm looking forward to spend some time playing with some of these prompts.

The latest trailer for Scorsese's adaptation for Killers of the Flow Moon dropped this week. I cannot wait for the release. Every aspect of this film looks incredible.

If you have time read David Grann's book. He has done a tremendous amount of research that is presented in a way that is accessible to the reader. The story itself is diabolical. Another evil chapter in the history of the United States. Similar to the Tulsa Race Massacre I can't believe this is a story that has not been widely known for nearly a century.

On the train this week I listened to a recent episode Daniele Bolelli's podcast where he covered the source material. Obviously a bunch of spoilers in the episode, but it's a good listen if you want to have some background on the story before watching the movie.

Today I also noticed David Grann wrote The Lost City of Z, which is a book I really enjoyed. I went through a Percy Fawcett phase reading any material I could including his journals after I read Grann's book.

Grann's latest book The Wager is next in my queue.

I went for a bike ride with my two year old daughter to our local coffee shop the other day. Inside there was a table with two older men who were waving and said hello to my daughter. Then one of them asked:

"Can I take a picture of your daughter?"

Uhhhh no. Do parents actually allow strangers to take random pictures of their kids? I don't think there was any malicious intent. And I'm grateful he asked permission before getting out his phone to take a picture on his own. I was so taken aback by the request because taking pictures of random kids is not something I'd even remotely consider as being a socially acceptable thing to do. Is this a common thing? Do parents actually allow strangers to take pictures of their kids?

Am I the asshole here for not wanting a complete stranger to have pictures of my toddler daughter?

Not those kinds of memories! I've always struggled with social anxiety and making friends. The one time in my life I didn't feel I particularly struggled with that anxiety were the few years I lived in Rochester. There was a core group of guys around the neighborhood. Being the 90s we'd go outside and knock on doors to see was home to hang out that day. We'd do typical guy stuff for the time period play Goldeneye, backyard wrestling (D-Generation X was huge at the time), driveway basketball and all kinds of other shenanigans.

After a few years it was time to move and start anew.

We left early on a July morning before the sun was up. As we were getting in the car all the guys from the neighborhood Russ, TJ, Mohsin, John, and Bobby all came for one last goodbye. I loved movies back then so as a goodbye present they gave me copies of Airplane (maybe the only PG movie with nudity?) and American Pie. I cried in the car for most of the drive to my new home.

That morning really was a goodbye in the truest sense. We still chatted on AIM. At first there were periodic weekend visits, but with time those ended. Hours apart and moving into a new phase of our lives we lost touch. Now and then I hear an update through some random channels, but we haven't seen each other all together since that morning when I was leaving town.

So yeah, seeing that today is Shannon Elizabeth's birthday reminded me of that day and period of my life. I hope all the guys are doing well. You never really know when you're going to say goodbye to someone for the last time.

I love dumplings in all forms. Give me dumplings in a soup, pan fried, steamed, filled with soup it doesn't matter. Having dumplings in a salad had never even occurred to me as an option until I saw this recipe for a Cold Dumpling Salad.

Every Saturday I walk down to the farmers market and get everything I need for this salad for a light and refreshing weekend lunch. One stand at the market has these beautiful juicy heirloom tomatoes that are perfect for this dish. Definitely a recipe worth splurging and going for the higher quality ingredients.

Topped off with the dumpling sauce and some chili crisp for texture this is a simple and delightful dish for a summer afternoon!

A couple years ago I read The Backyard Adventurer. Since reading the book I've been on the lookout for places to explore around the community. Especially with a kid there's always a need for new places to take them out to expel some of their energy.

Over the weekend we discovered a farm nearby maintains a large field of sunflowers you can walk through (and for free!) The kid was able to run through the field. She was awed at how the flowers towered over her. It was a lovely beautiful late summer afternoon.

While these excursions are planned to get the kid out of the house I find them calming and relaxing to disconnect and explore something different. Now I'm feeling reenergized heading into autumn after a hectic end to the summer. The best part was on the drive to the sunflowers I noticed a couple other new areas to explore that I'm looking forward this fall!

10 in a row for Max! What an absolutly incredible run for Red Bull and Max. I've never been a Max fan, but during the past few months I've been able to sit down on a Grand Prix Sunday and appreciate what a talent he is.

For a couple moments I thought Ferrari was going to end that race without any points. Both cars were definitely on the limits towards the end of the race. For a team very much in the mix for second place in the constructors championship the risks seemed unnecessary, but luckily any damage was avoided. Carlos deserved the podium for his efforts all race holding off the Red Bulls.

After a summer sports hiatus I'm so glad to have Grand Prix Sundays back. Looking forward to Singapore in a couple weeks!

Death row didn’t offer any of the educational or mental-health programs available in regular prisons; rehabilitation isn’t the goal for those on death row, and special programming is not always logistically feasible for people held in solitary confinement. For these players, the games served as their life-skills course, anger-management class and drug counseling, too.

Great piece from Keri Blakinger. The whole story is soul crushing. I'll never understand the obsession of the American prison system with extracting the maximum amount of retribution from those who are incarcerated.

I love baked goods in the morning. When I saw these Raspberry Streusel Muffins I had to make them right away. I'm not a great baker, but these were easy to make and turned out to be delightful in the morning.

The frozen raspberries I used from Trader Joe's were a little too tart for this recipe. I was expecting these to be a favorite with my daughter, but she took a bite of a raspberry and said "no" to the whole muffin (more for me!) so maybe I'll get my berries from somewhere else next time. I might also experiment with a lemon glaze or a cream cheese frosting to offset some of the tartness of the berries for her. I'm not giving up after one attempt!

All in all these were a great success. I got to practice my baking skills and got a delicious breakfast as a result. These are definitely making their way into my cookbook. Especially with fall approach I can't wait for more mornings with warm muffins and a cup of coffee!

I was familiar with the main plot points of this story. ESPN aired a high school football game between one of the premier teams in the country and a team no one had ever heard of. The game was a dangerous embarrassment for everyone involved. Quickly people realized that Bishop Sycamore was not even a real school and the story went viral wondering how ESPN had been duped into airing the game.

Behind the headlines was the human element of the kids involved that I didn't know about. The documentary does a great job covering that angle. The adults exploited kids with dreams of playing higher level football and then failed them in spectacular fashion. In no form were these kids set up to succeed in either becoming better football players or to improve academically.

Watching this made me upset that there was no one to protect these kids. Even the investigator for the state athletic association who identified the fraud seems to have done little to prevent it. Likewise despite tough words from Mike DeWine when it came to taking action his administration punted, opting for a strongly worded report instead of any real action.

And of course, where the NCAA is involved in this story their incompetence is on full display. Zero critical thinking is applied to understand the kids were duped by a charlatan. Once again the NCAA proves they don't care about their athletes as humans only sources of revenue.

The lack of accountability and understanding from all levels is infuriating. Bishop Sycamore is an extreme example, but the whole industry around pre-collegiate athletics is full of charlatans exploiting kids for their own advantage. Hopefully this documentary makes other families be more critical about coaches making promises about their kids futures.

Sometimes a random thought serves up a memory of something I've long forgotten. Today the thought "what a random happenstance" popped in my head. After a pause I identified that phrase as something Dr. Horrible says and I immediately transported to 15 years ago when I adored this series. It was released just as I was graduating college so rewatching today has a heavy dose of nostalgia packed in.

I love having these nostalgia moments. This is still delightful to watch. I'm also surprised how other than the appearence of a flip phone the series doesn't feel that dated. There's been talk of a sequel since the release 15 years ago. Maybe the current writers strike is the environment to make a sequel happen?