Archive for the 'personal news' Category

I’ve made up my mind: I’m going to buy an iPhone.  Of course, I need to wait until it’s actually released.  However, in the meantime, I traded in my 60GB iPod w/ Video for a green Shuffle.  I need a small iPod for exercising, and I want to sell my full sized iPod before the iPhone is released so I can hopefully get a good price.

So far the Shuffle is working great, and even though I have a music library in the tens of gigabytes, the one gigabyte size works well.  iTunes automatically chooses songs from a playlist I designate, giving slight preference to songs I have rated higher.  My playlist is all of my songs minus those that I uncheck and those that have only one or two stars.

When I was in high school I went rock climbing a few times. I did not enjoy myself. Even though I had lots of exercise from walking, riding a bike (didn’t drive a car for much of high school), hiking, etc., I never really enjoyed any sports that took a great amount of dedication and control. While downhill skiing and kneeboarding took some fine control, they could easily be dropped for several months and started up again without any problem. I was quite a nerd, keeping mostly to academics, class and club offices, and playing with my computer.

The past few years I have lived in the suburbs, and have grown rather sedentary. I do go to the gym at least once a week, sometimes more, but I find it to be mind numbing and claustrophobic. That’s where the phrase ‘running in place’ comes from. After a short while, I can’t exercise anymore. Not because I can’t physically handle it, but because I am bored to tears. I started copying television shows to my iPod to take with me, so I have something to pass the time. It just causes me to find the shows extremely boring. It backfired like my own little Clockwork Orange therapy.

I’ve been getting the itch lately to get out and do stuff again – skiing, hiking, wind surfing. The past few months my cousin Alison has been rock climbing, and a few days ago I thought “hey, why not try again?” So last night after work I went with her. I think I fared rather well. I climbed up a 5.5 first (I think that’s the easiest they have). No problem at all. I must have reached the top in less then thirty seconds. So next I tried a 5.6. I made it nearly to the top twice, but I couldn’t finish. I tried a 5.6 at another location and managed to touch the top whatever-it’s-called but not grab it with both hands. My forearms hurt from gripping and I had to quit. Only so much grip is required with a computer mouse.

The entire experience was thoroughly humiliating, but it was still fun. I think the biggest difference between now and high school is that now I’m not scared of humiliation. I am going to go back on Monday. A few more times and I’ll have the hang of it.

Our cosing was Friday, so we are official homeowners. Our bed was delivered this weekend, and we are effectively moved. We just have a few things to purchase or move yet. In particular, we need to get a sofa bed ordered very soon.

Our view is incredible. Each morning I wake up and open the blinds, just to look out the window over the entire District of Columbia. I can even see the Capitol Building while lying in bed. From our living room, you can see the Capitol Building, Washington Monument, National Cathedral, and I just discovered that if you stick your head out the window you can see the Mormon Temple. From our height on the 11th floor, you can look down on the tops of trees with trunks about 5 feet in diameter. Just hold on tight.

It was a pretty good deal considering the first level units were the same price.

Attached photos not taken from my actual living room.