Mac Update

3 posts in one day. Lots going on today. The picture shows Cyclone in relation to the rest of the boats in their section. It would seem that they are not as far along as they would like to be, but it aint over 'til it's over. And there are still handicap corrections to take into account. I'm sure whatever the final result, they will all be exhilarated for having competed in the 100th running of the Mac.

Bipartite Birthdays

Janet and Mom share this day as their birthday. As the family has grown, it seems surprising how many shared birthdays there are, but actually

P(N) = [365 × 364 × · · · × (365−N+1)] / 365^N

shows that you only need 23 people to have a greater than 50% chance of a shared birthday.

So Happy Birthday to Janet, and to Mom, the two people who have had the greatest impact on me. Mom guided me from diapers through dating with unconditional love that is still evident today. Janet who enabled me to be where I am today, stuck with me when I made bad choices, and continues to make dreams come true for me. I wish you both a birthday filled with love.

Measure Up Monday

Last week I saw an unexpected increase in weight. Not totally unexpected, but maybe more than I thought I'd see. This week I got back on the wagon hoping to at least trim off some of the increase. But the scale surprised me once again with an unexpected loss. Not totally unexpected, but maybe more than I thought I'd see. (Is there an echo in here?) I actually started to wonder if the battery in the scale needs to be changed. It never has been since we've owned the scale, but when I turned it over I couldn't figure out how to change it. So for now I'm just going to continue to trust the scale and report what it says. Which this morning was 212 lbs. Actually nearly 213 (212.8) but consistant with my reporting policy, I'm still calling it 212.

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
6/16/08	219	---	45.0	41.0
6/23/08	216	-3	45.0	41.0
7/7/08	214	-2	45.0	41.0
7/14/08	218	+4	44.0	41.0
7/21/08	212	-6	43.0	40.5

Mac Race Update

Correction
In yesterday's "How're They Doin'?" post, I mixed up the "same as" boats with the "slower than" boats. Drumbeat and Sociable are the boats that have a rating similar to Cyclone. Foray and Celerity are the slowest boats in Danny's section. So I estimated Cyclone's relative race position wrong.

Today's Status as of 12:30pm
I have 2 pictures. Click on them for a clearer view. The first one shows Cyclone's position relative to the 6 boats I measured against yesterday. Today, Windrunner & Madcap appear to be ahead of Cyclone. They are faster boats, so this is expected. The same rated boats Drumbeat and Sociable also appear to be ahead of Cyclone (though Drumbeat only slightly). Even the slower rated Celerity appears to be ahead. Only the slower rated Foray seems behind. But the race is far from over.


This second picture compares Cyclone with some of their rival boats. I think these are boats they race regularly, and would like to beat in the Mac. They seem to be about even with Most Wanted, but behind Vayu and Dos Aguilas. I haven't checked the ORR ratings to see if this is their expected positions.

How're They Doin'?

Not too badly. The first picture below shows the position of the Cyclone relative to the entire race. You can see they have a long way to go. The second picture is zoomed in, and shows the Cyclone in relation to several of the boats they are competing directly with. (Click on the pictures for a larger, clearer view)




According to Danny, MadCap and Windrunner are 2 boats that should be faster and therefore ahead of them. You can see that Windrunner is ahead, but Madcap actually appears to be behind.

Foray and Celerity are 2 boats rated very much the same as Cyclone. They should all be equal at this point. Foray is about equal with Cyclone, but Celerity is behind, near Madcap.

Finally, Drumbeat and Sociable are 2 boats rated slower than Cyclone. They should be behind. Drumbeat seems slightly behind, and Sociable is being anything but. He seems to have elected to head east while everyone else seems headed mostly north.

2008 Mackinac Race Start

Today was the start of the 2008 Chicago to Mackinac sailboat race. While the 100th anniversary of the race happened 10 years ago in 1998, this is the 100th actual running of the 333 mile race from Chicago to Mackinac. Danny has been wanting to participate in this race since even before he started sailing on a racing team 5 years ago. One of his dreams is coming true today.

Some of us were fortunate enough to see him off this morning. Janet and I drove down to Navy Pier along with my mom. It was raining and breezy but the temperature was mild. Colleen joined us later, running the 3 miles from her south loop condo to Navy Pier. The weather wasn't great for spectators, but Danny said he didn't care about the rain as long as there was wind.

The boats all go right by the end of Navy Pier, and you can get a good look at them from there. Janet announced the boat over the loudspeakers, and we all cheered and waved as they went by. After they parade by, the boats head out past the breakwater to the starting area. On a good day, you might be able to make out the boats in the starting area with some binoculars, but today the best you could see was some sail outline through the fog. Here's a few pictures we snapped.

Wet weather at the end of Navy Pier
When you've just run 3 miles in the rain, an umbrella is pointless
Danny waving from the Cyclone
Headed out to the starting line

I also put together a short video using pictures and video taken this morning:

Joke Friday

Happy sails to you Danny.

Measure Up Monday - Paying the Piper

I have to admit that for the past week I have been behaving like I was not on a weight loss plan. We were staying at Colleen's condo for the week and acting like we were on vacation. We tried some new restaurants and returned to a few favorites, and I put my calorie counting aside. So now I must pay the piper, face the music, take my lumps, etc.

It could be that I'm experiencing one of those temporary weight fluctuations, or that Colleen's scale was in fact weighing me less than my home scale, or that the moon was on the opposite side of the earth this morning and the extra gravitational pull increased my weight on the scale :). But the sad news is that I'm 4 pounds heavier this Monday than I was last week. I'm not discouraged though. I'm ready to get serious again and make the necessary effort to progess toward my goal. Next week will be better, I promise.

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
6/16/08	219	---	45.0	41.0
6/23/08	216	-3	45.0	41.0
7/7/08	214	-2	45.0	41.0
7/14/08	218	+4	44.0	41.0

Joke Friday

Before a cat will condescend
To treat you as a trusted friend,
Some little token of esteem
Is needed, like a dish of cream.
~ T. S. Eliot ~

Rules for Cats to Live By

BATHROOMS:
Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything. Just sit and stare.

DOORS:
Do not allow any closed doors in any room. To get door open, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws. Once door is opened, it is not necessary to use it. After you have ordered an "outside" door opened, stand halfway in and out and think about several things. This is particularly important during very cold weather, rain, snow, or mosquito season.

CHAIRS AND RUGS:
If you have to throw up, get to a chair or bed quickly. If you cannot manage in time, get to an Oriental rug. If there is no Oriental rug, any quality carpeting is good. When throwing up on the carpet, make sure you back up so it is as long as a human's bare foot.

HAMPERING:
If one of your humans is engaged in some activity and the other is idle, stay with the busy one. This is called "helping," otherwise known as "hampering." Following are the rules for "hampering:"

1) When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then picked up and comforted.

2) For book readers, get in close under the chin, between eyes and book, unless you can lie across the book itself.

3) For paperwork, lie on the paper in the most appropriate manner so as to obscure as much of the work as possible. Or pretend to doze, but occasionally reach out and slap the pencil or pen.

4) For people paying bills or working on income taxes or Christmas cards, keep in mind the aim: to hamper! First, sit on the paper being worked on. When dislodged, watch sadly from the side of the table. When activity proceeds nicely, roll around on the papers, scattering them to the best of your ability. When being removed for the second time, make all four legs flail around wildly in order to push pens, pencils, and erasers off the table.

5) When a human is holding the newspaper in front of him/her, be sure to jump on the back of the paper. Humans love surprises.

6) When a human is working at the computer, jump up on the desk, walk across the keyboard, bat at the mouse pointer on the screen and then lay in the human's lap across arms if possible to hamper typing in progress.

WALKING:
As often as possible, dart quickly and as close as possible in front of the human, especially on stairs, when they have something in their arms, in the dark, and when they first get up in the morning. This will help their coordination skills.

BEDTIME:
Always sleep on the human at night so he/she doesn't move around too much.

LITTER BOX:
When using the litter box, be sure to kick as much litter out of the box as possible. Humans love the feel of kitty litter between their toes.

HIDING:
Every now and then, hide in a place where the humans cannot find you. Do not come out for three to four hours under any circumstances. This will cause the humans to panic (which they love) thinking that you have run away or are lost. Once you do come out, the humans will cover you with love and kisses and you will probably get a treat.

ONE LAST THOUGHT:
Whenever possible, get close to a human, especially their face, then turn around, and present your butt to them. Humans love this, so do it often. And don't forget guests.

Catsit

So Colleen and Tim are off on a Las Vegas vacation, which I hope they are enjoying. I think Colleen likes Vegas even more than I do. But they have 3 cats that must be tended, so we are staying downtown in their condo to take care of them. Moving into somebody else's home for a week can be difficult. First, while most of us have places in our homes to put all of our things, we don't normally have a place for somebody else to put their things. This was the case as we arrived at the condo with a week's worth of stuff we needed. You may already be familiar with the late George Carlin's funny routine about "stuff", but suffice to say, we had to move a bunch of Colleen's "crap" to make room for our "stuff". The next difficulty moving into somebody else's home is finding things. They never store anything where you think it should be. You have to open 7 cabinets to find a drinking glass. And I still haven't found the coffee pot. I'm pretty certain Colleen's coffeepot is at the corner of Roosevelt and Wabash. I must be getting old. I'm an I/T professional, but couldn't figure out how to work the thermostat. And why is the bathroom the coldest room in the place? I'm talking about the bathroom with the killer towel rack that jumps off the wall and attacks you.

So we're living with cats again. We always had lots of cats in the house when the kids were living at home, but except for an occasional visit, we haven't had cats at home for nearly 5 years. I've forgotten the thrill of stepping on kitty litter in your bare feet. Or the way floating cat hairs can enhance a meal. And there's little doubt who's the master and who's the slave in the house. You don't see the cats cleaning up my puke, or scooping up my crap. And that reminds me, how do they get away with advertising that contraption as a self cleaning catbox? Thank God I have a cold and couldn't smell what I was digging out of the machinery with my fingers.

But it's really not that bad. Gracious and Carmel stay out of my way and Mitts is his usual sweet self, but he's sure to let you know if you're not petting him just right. He seems so cute as he watches me eat my cereal, and tucks his head under my elbow, and trys to stick his nose in my bowl!

Actually, I was aware of Mitts' breakfast habits, and allowed him the last half ounce of cereal milk. Am I crazy or what?

Measure Up Monday

I'm back from my trip, but not back in my own bed. Colleen and Tim are having a little getaway to Las Vegas, so we are cat sitting for them in their condo. The multiple flights of stairs should help keep my weight loss program on track this week.

I just spent 2 weeks eating in restaurants every day including a couple of McDonalds meals. But I also did a lot of walking and climbed a couple of mountains, so I was really hoping to at least break even for the trip and not gain anything.

I didn't have my scale or tape measure this morning, but Colleen has an electronic scale similar to ours so I used that. Janet said it weighed her about the same as the last time she was on our scale, so I'm going to have to trust its accuracy. I was pleased to see the scale read 214 this morning, which means I actually managed to lose 2 pounds over the 2 weeks I spent in Munich.

Date	Weight	Gain/Loss	Upper Waist	Lower Waist
6/16/08	219	---	45.0	41.0
6/23/08	216	-3	45.0	41.0
7/7/08	214	-2	45.0	41.0

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, my optimism about the successful upgrade of the restaurant Wednesday night was a bit premature. One of the issues we encountered the night of the upgrade was that the store manager had reopened the system before we started. Upgrading the software on an opened system had some ill effects that were not immediately apparent. Once the cause of the ill effects was determined, a solution was devised that required me to return to the store last night for another overnight adventure. Fortunately, the solution was successful and the store is back to normal. An unanticipated benefit of this is that I now have spent 2 days staying up all night and sleeping during the day, so I am almost back on a Chicago time schedule. :)

My first week here I parked the car and walked everywhere. After Janet arrived last Friday I began to make much more use of the car, driving around Munich and to our other sight seeing destinations. Also, this week I needed to drive between the hotel and the restaurant or office. So I have gotten a little more accustomed to driving in Germany. Today I felt confident enough to attempt driving to the office without using the GPS navigation system. I was doing quite well until I missed my exit from the A95 for the office, and had to drive several kilometers beyond to get to another exit. I could have gotten back on the A95 and found my way back, but I had noticed the northbound lanes were all stopped due to construction and I didn't want to get stuck there. So I had to resort to using the GPS to get to the office after all.

I've made some observations about driving in Germany that will be useful if I should ever return. Their stop lights are only on your side of an intersection. There isn't one mounted across the street like at most US intersections. That means you must stop well back from the intersection in order to see the light change. Driving on the Autobahn is an interesting experience. There are a couple of rules you must obey:

Do not pass on the right.
Do not drive on the left unless you are passing.

The speed limit on the Autobahn changes by time of day and traffic conditions. Typically it is 100 or 120 kph (62 - 75 mph). But at times the speed limit is completely removed, and you are allowed to drive as fast as you dare. It is at these times that you are well advised to obey the "keep right except to pass" rule. I've had cars fly by on the left that were easily doing 200-240 kph.

Tomorrow I return home. I'm scheduled on a 12:20pm flight from Munich that gets me into O'Hare at 3:14pm. I wish the actual flight time was that short. It's too much to hope for another first class upgrade, but I can't complain about flying in business class. I hope you all enjoy a fun and safe 4th of July. See you soon.

Counting Down

It's Thursday morning here. Last night we did the software upgrade at the Kirchheim restaurant. I arrived there around midnight, but we didn't get started until about 2am because the store stays open until 1am, and then they must complete their daily close procedures.

The upgrade worked without any serious problems. There were a few unexpected hiccups, but they were manageable. The last time an upgrade was done here, it was a disaster. So many things didn't work, they had to close the store for a while until it could be straightened out. It was that experience that led to a test lab being established, where new software and configurations could be tested before being installed in a live store. Validating the lab setup and helping to test the update is one of the reasons I'm here. It paid off with a fairly painless upgrade last night. The restaurant opened on time this morning, and is conducting business normally.

So now it's a countdown to my Saturday departure. We'll be providing onsite support today and tomorrow, and then I'm done. It will be nice to be headed home.

Kirchheim McDonalds
Open for business

Kirchheim bei München

Monday I moved to a different hotel in Kirchheim. It is closer to the restaurant where I will be working most of this week, but farther from the office where I still have a couple of days to work. It takes about 3 times as long to drive as it did to walk from my other hotel. The Eschenhof hotel is a quaint European style hotel. It is not very big, and neither are the rooms. At 8pm the desk clerk goes home for the night so you'd better be checked in by then.

The Eschenhof HotelYep, the whole thing fits in one picture.
Being a European style hotel, it includes a morning breakfast that consists of cereals, breads, yogurt, fruit, and some sliced cold cuts.

Breakfast dining room

Breakfast at the Eschenhof
It also means that you wont find some of the amenities that American travelers are used to, like bottles of shampoo, cream rinse, and mouthwash in the bathroom.

Or soap.

Or washcloths.

Or air conditioning.

Or screens on the windows that you try to open because there's no air conditioning.

There is free wireless internet access, but the signal is so weak, I could well be leeching off some poor guy's home network. My last trip to Munich I stayed at another hotel in this area. At that time I didn't notice whether it had air conditioning since it was late October, and I was more interested in the heat. However, I stopped by that hotel today, and found out they do not have air conditioned guest rooms either, so I guess I'll be staying where I am. It's only 4 more nights, and one of those I'll be in the (air conditioned) restaurant all night, so I think I'll survive. Fortunately, I prefer warmer room temperatures.

We are on schedule to upgrade Wednesday night, so I don't forsee any delay in my return Saturday. I'm looking forward to coming home.