Did my fourth 70.3 distance triathlon today. Amazing weather lead to a small overall PR and a big run PR. I really tried to keep the run pace slow to not blow up and end up run/walking most of the course.

Synchronizing the grids is easy: at an open circuit breaker between the grids, put a transmission voltage to 115 V transformer on each side. Put two lightbulbs in series between the two sides. When the bulbs go dim, close the breaker.

This is how it was done in the old days. The more modern way (maybe 1960s?) is to have a synch scope. Looks kind of like a clock and displays the angle between. Clock points up: close breaker.

Today it's done with microprocessor relays that wait until the angle is small and then issue the close signal.

The real issue is getting the system secure as fast as possible. This means multiple transmission ties ready to close right away.

I put an offer on a house last week. I didn't get it and was one of ten offers.

I'm looking at three more Sunday.

I had to stop reading this halfway through because while it doesn't exactly describe my family I see how close my parents are to it.

Since we're talking snow today: the big storm is missing us. It was 40° yesterday, and the forecast has mid to upper 30s next week. This should be late March weather, not first weeks of February.

All I can figure is he's assuming things are fine if he isn't hearing about it. Which is ironic because when I tell him things aren't going well he responds as if it's my issue. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

I think management as a whole figures if work is getting done that everything is fine.

I am very slow on the technical descent

This is very much me, too. On big hikes when going up I can keep up with most people, but going down they all seem to just walk away from me.

I enjoyed your write-up! Congrats on the finish! I love the joviality you noted several times. I find endurance athletes to be some of the most optimistic, supportive people.

I took my drug test Tuesday! I should get the written offer once that and the background check go through. I fit what the article is talking about: I'm in the 30-45 group, and my job and experience is probably sufficiently "tech."

I am deeply curious what the response will be when I resign. I personally think they're screwed. Not "collapse of the company" screwed but more "will need to contract out at a much higher cost as well as rehire the position to get less work done" kind of screwed. They've been trying to cut budget, and someone is going to have to go ask for more money during a time when they're being told they'll be receiving less.

If I was a bookie I'd give strong odds that my department VP (who I know fairly well; we both ride bikes, and he gave me swim advice years ago) will call me, and pretty good odds that his executive vice president boss (who I know well professionally) will also call.

A lawyer friend's office buddy is in the same place as me with a verbal offer and just waiting for the written one.

I think all your math looks good except for one thing: the natural gas genset you linked is probably more efficient than this plant because the plant uses a boiler. These purpose built engines can be much more efficient than a boiler. Side note: there's still a natural gas boiler here in town with a water outlet into the lake. I've swam through it, and it's incredibly warm. Like warm bathtub warm, even when the rest of the lake is mild. Thankfully the plant doesn't run much anymore.

A couple thoughts overall:

I don't think the local community can do anything to stop buying power from them. From what I gather from the article, the generator is connected to the grid but from a metering perspective outputs nothing. Generators have always had auxiliary load, especially coal and nuclear plants with big pumps and pulverizers. Those are all netted with plant output. It seems they have their miners all hooked up on the plant side of the metering. They are selling power to nobody but themselves.

The way to kill this plant is to eliminate once-through cooling. Make them build a cooling tower and the plant will die overnight.

About wind farms, and solar will have the same problem: the capital cost of the miners is a major expense, so they want zero downtime. While they could net against a wind or solar plant, they'd have to stop mining when the wind dies down or the sun sets. They could buy power from the grid, but now they expose themselves to utility pricing which could open them up to higher rates for crypto mining.

Turns out Texas' approach of having no capacity market and letting the energy market spike to fund sufficient capacity means generators may decide not to take that risk.

This might be Enron 2.0 except there's nobody to blame, or rather no company because the blame rests with the state government. People like to blame ERCOT, but they're just working with the tools they're given.

First triathlon in 22 months coming Sunday. I'm going to get my ass kicked and love every minute of it.

It's just a sprint on a flat course. 400 m swim, 16 mile bike, 5k run. Only my third ever tri but I think it'll go well. Other than the ass kicking.

I've commented on this before, but my employer has rolled out a hybrid model. It doesn't have a stated number of days to be in the office, though one day a week was floated verbally by the VP over HR.

I already know some managers will expect five days in the office with WFM by exception. People with kids will get more leeway to be home. Other managers will have zero expectations to be in the office. Individual employees will be subjected to the same policy but different supervisors.

The other thing is coming in the office a minimum will be a tacit acceptance that your career here is at an end. That's even mostly true if your supervisor doesn't care. Others will; enough will that a promotion or larger raise will get squashed. Expectations will be to be in the office three days a week minimum.

I have low expectations for the policy. I think it's going to create frustration. Management will feign disbelief that anyone could be frustrated, pointing out the words in the policy allow WFM while putting their hands over their ears and chanting "LALALALA" when anyone says "yes but the implementation isn't so generous."

I've been learning to ride with aero bars. They're just clip-on on my road bike, but after a couple weeks of being unable to do it they clicked in my head. Now they feel really natural at least on good pavement. I can't imagine bombing down some of the big hills with less wind resistance and my hands on bars that don't have brakes.

Now I want a tri bike.

The North American Half Ironman championship was Saturday, and the men's race had what people are calling the best battle in a decade. Watching the race reviews from the competitors is amazing. First and second place went stride for stride for the last 5k with the winner pulling away only in the last half mile. These are guys doing sub-5 minute miles at the end of a nearly 4 hour event.

If you're into that sort of thing, Lionel Sanders' video is worth a watch.

Been thinking about buying a house and finally move on from the condo. Maybe I'll spend the next ten months getting ready and then give it a go next spring. Maybe see how dating is going at that point, e.g. have I been seeing someone long enough to think about moving in together or did they all peter out.

I got Moderna. My arm was sore for 48 hours after the first shot. I got the second Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night I was feeling not great and woke up yesterday feeling like I had a bit of a cold. Not bad but not great. A bit achy, headache. After coffee and water and breakfast I felt better, and by the end of the day, 36 hours after my shot, I felt 90%. Today I'm probably 98% good. My arm is still a little sore, and there's a little redness and warmth. It's minor but it's there.

A friend said after her second Moderna she felt like she fell down the stairs for 48 hours.

All in all better than covid.

OMG are you me but four days later?

Sorry it seemed promising only to end up the way it did. You seem to have a healthy view of it, recognizing things you'll be looking for in the person who is right.

I got rejected a week ago when the girl I'd been on a few dates with over a month said she couldn't see having a relationship with me. So last Friday I went and ran my third best ever half marathon. I fucking crushed it. It was a two loop route, and after a blistering pace (for me) I ran the second loop even faster.

Meeting up with someone else this weekend. There were a lot of things I liked about this person, things to look for in the future.

I've applied to three jobs in three years. Offered one but declined, not offered the second, the third stopped calling me after the first interview. When they asked about salary I didn't mince words, and I suspect I asked for something 50% higher than they can pay. Oh well.

I think I made the right choice on the first one. It would have been a fine job and fine pay and under two hours to Adirondack Park, but I think it would have been mind numbingly dull. I asked about the one interesting thing happening in my line of work. "We can always contract that out." So no investment in their staff.

Teams isn't the problem, it's the volume of meetings. Four one hour meetings ruin an entire day. Four one hour meetings is four hours of productivity that day. One single meeting and I get eight hours of productivity.

I'm debating sending this to my HR contact. I've grown to be frustrated with management. It isn't a race issue (nearly everyone is white, including me), but there's a morale problem that management seems to try to portray as a non-issue with some minor token acknowledgements and no action. My company does annual employee surveys, and my group has had some poor responses several years in a row. Management looks at it and explains them away every year. I've tried talking to them about it which only got me on the shit list and told not to bring it up again. HR is the only one still listening to me. It feels like a situation analogous to what the author here describes.

I suspect it's easier for someone to move from fat and inactive to fat and active than to move from fat and inactive to overweight and inactive. From the practical side of trying to help individuals, it's probably more realistic to get them to build active habits than to change dietary habits. It isn't a cure-all, but it's better than nothing.

I made the pizza crust recipe kantos recommended. The first time I don't think I proofed the yeast right, and the second time I let the dough rise to see if I preferred that but let it rise too long because I was on a roll on zwift and wanted to finish the route I was riding.

I'm out of yeast now, but with some leftover toppings I clearly need to try again. I started to get the hang of kneading dough, too, so I might as well try to keep learning.

I tried cross country skiing this week. I'm not very good at it, but I want to keep trying. It's a good socially distanced activity, too.

My dad went down the rabbit hole of politics but the liberal direction rather than the conservative one. It was still frustrating to talk to him during the Bush adminstration because even though we had similar opinions he'd get upset about the issue of the day and wouldn't shut up about it. I eventually told him politics were prohibited from lunch. It actually sort of worked. He's a bit better now.

Does your dad have many hobbies? Mine doesn't. He'd sit and read CNN all day and email articles back and forth with a friend. I think retired with hobbies can be ok. I realize I probably need more hobbies, low cost ones of course, because today it's work, a few hobbies, and waste time on the internet. If I retired today the work time would be a hole I couldn't necessarily fill by doing my hobbies another 40 hours a week. Maybe I could sell homemade cat toys on Etsy. A retirement hobby with a bit of income seems like a win.

I clicked on a link in a bogus email once. It was at work, and the site was blocked as an unknown or suspicious site. I don't know what I'd have done beyond there, but like you I never fall for those things. This one I did.

but you control 100% of the demand that you are responsible for

You're talking about Exxon, but I'll start with an easier counter example of electricity (for obvious reasons). I have little to no control over the energy sources that respond to my electric demand. My refrigerator will definitely kick on here in a bit. That isn't usage I can eliminate by biking or walking. When it does, fossil fuel plants will increase output and add to carbon emissions because all the zero emissions generation is already at max output. Having government support for zero emission, dispatchable energy sources can change that, but I as a user cannot. I can't vote with my money because I need my food to stay cold.

For transportation, I think there are similarities. I need to drive places. Food is again an obvious one, and work is another. Is it possible for me to live near work and groceries so I could walk or bike most of the year? Maybe. Is it practical? Not really. Is it possible for everyone to do? Probably not. So I think it again falls to governments to support things like public transportation and electric car infrastructure.

Further, we're talking about this and aware our actions and usages have impacts. But most people don't. How do we get them to do better? I argue it's again government to educate and provide means to have them change without even knowing (such as cleaner electricity, cleaner supply chain, and EVs as convenient as gas).

ExxonMobil doesn't profit by releasing carbon dioxide, they profit by selling you gas.

I can't agree with this more. But I look at it kind of like using drugs. Arresting drug users has little effect on stopping drug use. Acting to push out suppliers while also providing individuals with means to not get sucked into drug use (e.g. social programs) sees better results. We're the drug users, and even if some of us get clean too many others won't.

Thanks for sharing this. I enjoyed reading it. How long were you there in total?

Your pictures make me want to go, especially that shot of the Eiffel Tower with the tourist in the road. It's a reminder that this is a real thing with people and not just the same picture we always see.

How packed was the Louvre away from the Mona Lisa? I walked through the National Gallery of Canada in 2006 and enjoyed it. Those big galleries with famous artwork can be very impressive. Was the the Louvre much less busy in other areas?

I chuckled at this:

Most of our trips are last-minute affairs, with activities and even accommodations arranged at airports or on arrival.

You and I seem a lot alike, but finally here is a clear difference. I'm the traveler who arrives with a folder of printed directions for each step, organized in order along with printed hotel and flight confirmations at the appropriate step. This has changed with data, too.

I'm glad he's sharing the story, too. Too often, and I'm guilty of this, people only share the best aspects like great pictures, but they leave out the hard, risky parts.

I have a McIntosh MC30 with a bad transformer that's partially replaced. The MC30 is a mono power amplifier from the 1950s. This has been in pieces for years.

I have a second MC30 with a fault I haven't even started troubleshooting. It makes a nasty hum when I turn it on. I don't know.

But my third MC30 works! I just need to get back to two good ones.

I turn 39 next week. Outwardly it might seem like I have my shit together, but I do not. Don't worry what others expect of you.

And happy birthday a little early.

I have a phone interview today. It's crazy thinking about leaving my current company, but nothing has improved since I started going down this path.

My supervisor is new to supervision. We were coworkers reporting to the same person. Now I report to him, and he reports to our old supervisor. I think part of the problem is my boss reports out to and gets direction from his boss, then comes and tries to do something with our group, it doesn't really do anything, goes back to his boss, rinse and repeat. He needs to be his own leader. It's been two years of him coasting by on a group that worked pretty well before, but as the wheels start to come off he has no means of righting the apple cart.

He was never a natural leader, if I'm being candid. He got the job out of persistence. He should have been more persistent in fostering leadership in himself and spend less time at leadership seminars. His biggest failing has been hiring an engineer who said they had a lot of experience but didn't, not taking an active role in coaching that person, and now left with someone who can't contribute to the group and feels slighted at any suggestion of needing to change because they now have two more years of (valueless) experience. I think he hired them wanting someone experienced, and all he got was someone dragging the group down. It's super frustrating.

I don't really want to move, but I also really don't want to work here.

At the risk of admitting I've read Atlas Shrugged, moldy soy beans contributed to Ayn Rand's collapse of society.