Matt's blog

I'm still on the level 3 track. Today was 16-13-11-11-20. Not bad. I feel like doing these at the end of the day means doing a little less, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I'm excited by the progress but nervous when I sneak a peek at week 5. That's gonna be a doozy.

That's right dudes, I'm doing 100 pushups and I just finished my first workout. I actually ended up skipping the initial test because I'm lazy and it's already Wednesday of week 1. I think I'm all right though because day 1 was fine. Despite that, I'm cautiously pessimistic about being able to do 100 pushups by July 30th, six weeks from today. Of course if it works, at thee end my pecs will be this awesome:

Last night as I got on the A train at 42nd, a C train was leaving at the same time. For a few stops the two trains rode side by side, but my train was going slightly faster. Watching the faces in the adjacent C train pass by was completely mesmerizing. There was nothing particularly exciting, but it was beautiful all the same.

It's only happened a handful of times in my 5½ years here, but it stops me flat every time.

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Make sure to send me yours so I can add you back.  

This is my roommate's cat Herman. He isn't terribly bright, but he's cute. Oh, and he loves freshly warn socks.

Papa

My papa had been fighting pancreatitis for the last month, but after a unsuccessful procedure last week, he decided to go home and go out on his own terms.

Eight years ago he had a severe stroke. Before that he had more energy than most 30 year olds, which made losing most of the control on his right side incredibly difficult. On the bright side, he became a much gentler, more loving person. Our fishing trips stand out as some of his happiest times (the emails would start 8 months before the trip). While he didn't lose his competitive edge, wanting to best us all and catch the biggest fish, he cared most about having fun with us.

We had a chance to see him over the holidays, when he was in the hospital. Each day when we left we would say "Love you papa, see you soon." The last day we saw him, one of his better days, after my sister said her usual goodbye, he became intensely alert, looked us right in the eye and said, "I love you too and don't you forget it."

Don't worry papa, we won't.

Family iChat

For her anniversary and birthday, my mom got her first mac. The biggest selling point (just ahead of a virus-free computing environment) was iChat Video. She's had it for a couple weeks and my sister and I have both given her lessons, but she still was having trouble understanding why this was better.

"My friend Vicki asked why Mac's are better, but I didn't know what to say."

Tonight, as we did our first family video-chat, she definitely got it. The excitement of seeing us both was great, I'm sure, but I think she understands that Mac stuff just works™.

I'm happy that there's a good chance my mom will no longer dread sitting down to wrestle with the computer. Even if she only understands email, chat and web browsing, she's starting to feel comfortable and it'll open up some new doors for her.

As an aside, the quote from my mom led to a hilarious exchange. Here's how the conversation played out:

"For one, it is much easier to use. Secondly, it is much more secure. There has yet to be a virus that's effected Mac users."
"I see. Why is that?"
"Primarily, there are more Windows users and therefore more Windows hackers. Also, Mac is built on a flavor of Unix, which has a history of being very stable. Have you heard of Unix before?
[pause]
"The people who don't have sex?"
[much laughter]
"No mom, not eunuchs, Unix."
[more laughter]

What words, for the life of you, can you never spell correctly?
Submitted by Byrne.

Oh man, my spelling has been awful in the last couple months.  Anyway, the word that always drives me batty is separate. Hell, I even misspelled it just now. It's just that both separate and seperate both look wrong to me. Sigh, the slow degrading of my brain has begun...

Yay

I'm currently in the middle of my second trip in two weeks. For Passover I went to Tucson with Jori.  It was wonderful being in 85 degree weather for four days. Obviously, spending Passover with Jori's family was also wonderful.  Her dad's a huge wine connoisseur,  which meant delicious wine the entire time. Amazingly, he managed to find SIX tasty kosher wines.  Well done.

Yesterday, I arrived in Colorado for a four day skiing trip in Breckenridge. I was nervous about coming so late in the season, but they've gotten 10 inches of snow in the last two days and are expected to get up to another foot of snow tonight. The skiing today was excellent. Originally, I was supposed to go with my dad, but he had to back out. So, the second best option, my best friend Will from home, took his place.

Unfortunately, I've come down with a nasty, nasty cold. I was fine skiing, but I'm feeling pretty crappy right now. That being said, I'm not gonna stop skiing. My birthday is on Saturday and this is a pretty awesome way to spend it.

Be honest, over the last three days you've been wondering if I had been sequestered and, thus, could not post a followup about my jury service.  Sadly, you were mistaken; I was not chosen for a jury and I was promptly discharged after only a single day of service.

I was chosen to be a member of the jury pool for a gun possession case just after our break for lunch.  About sixty of us went into the courtroom and listened to the judge say his piece.  While he did seem like a genuinely nice guy, I did enjoy his fear-mongering comments about our need to respect the judicial process lest we be compared to terrorists.

He invited people up to try and talk their way out of service if they felt they be impartial or couldn't handle sitting politely for five days. I read the about Snack Culture in Wired as half of the people tried to weasel their way out. With everyone in their seats, the clerk called up sixteen people, myself included, into the jury box to be addressed by the litigators. We were handed a list of questions we were expected to answer in front of those present in the courtroom. Hearing where people were from and how long they'd been in Brooklyn was interesting, but I most enjoyed learning what paper everyone read on a daily basis.  The first time someone proudly proclaimed the bible, you could see several others smiling and nodding, reminding those of us who preferred the NY Times that we should be thankful if we make it to purgatory.

Each of the lawyers tried to turn their questions into opening statements and the judge lost his patience quickly,  quashing their attempts every time. After they'd be sustained several times in a row, their question usually boiled down to, "Do you promise to throw out all of your biases and judge the evidence as it's presented (and keep this guy in/out of jail)?"

When they had finished and we were asked to leave the room while they make their choices, I was pondering my fate. Were my responses ambiguous enough for both sides to let me through? While the process would be interesting, could I tolerate five days of two guys hoping to gain my favor while they trotted out police officers and character witnesses?  Sure, missing five days of work would be difficult but it would be an interesting change of pace. As I said in the beginning of this post, I never found as only three of the sixteen were chosen. The rest of the jury pool had to come back on Tuesday to be asked about their favorite hobbies and their highest level of education.

Jury duty may be a pain in the ass, but I wouldn't have minded performing this civic duty.  With a trial scheduled to last five days, I would have learned plenty about my fellow jurors, people who I would never encounter in my day-to-day life, and seen beyond what I learned in the handful of law classes I took in college. Instead, I shall continue with my attempt to rid the world of all Movable Type template inefficiencies. If only carpenters from Crown Heights needed blogs, then I could kill two birds with one stone.