I have an agreed to start date for mid-November on my new job. I haven't gotten the written offer yet which is fine because it gives me a reason to put off notifying my current employer. My boss's boss asked to meet with us each individually a while back; I set up monthly recurring 30 minute meetings. I used to work directly for him with a fantastic working relationship, but that's eroded since he got promoted. On my end, it's eroded because the person he hired, my current boss, is terrible at his job, and I judge them both for not doing better. I think he's negative toward me because I'm critical of my boss, his employee. At any rate, we talked last week, and I expressed some frustration (again, that isn't new). That was the topic of our entire 30 minute meeting. Another longtime engineer left about a month ago, someone we both worked with for a long time in another department. He noted she left because she'd tried to push some changes in her department, her management didn't budge, so she left. He said something to me "if you're thinking about leaving, say something first." I'd already given verbal acceptance of my new position a week earlier. I said it last week, and I'll say it again: they're screwed without me.
Last week I said I was looking forward to the first triathlon of the season, and that it was going to kick my ass. It actually didn't! I had a great day. My main goals were swim under 2:00/100 yd, bike over 20 MPH, and run under 8:00/mile. And I hit them all! Next up is an Olympic distance June 26. That's a much hillier bike course, so that'll be "fun." Sunday morning's weather was great. Warm but not humid. The humidity picked up since then, and it's nearly unbearable. After the event Sunday I sat at home blissed out on serotonin all afternoon. It felt great to be back at in person events surrounded by a bunch of like-minded people. It's insanely hot, and the lakes are probably the warmest I've seen in my three years of swimming. Not the warmest for early June, the warmest period.
Scone update: I made cherry chocolate scones this week. They’re great but maybe a little too sweet. I bought ingredients to try making chai scones which while googling spices I learned really means masala chai. I also learned there is no exact ingredient list, so I picked one to try. I ended up buying nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and cloves. I already have cinnamon. I’m going to try adding icing to them, too, sort of to mimic a chai latte rather than just straight chai. I need to start writing my recipes down. So far I have a bookmark from the one I started with, but I’ve strayed far from that original one. I went on a date Saturday for the first time in a year. I think it went well, and we’ve texted a few times since then.
Yesterday was National Coaches Day, and I emailed my swim coach to thank her for all the help in getting me so far. She replied saying I made her day, which made my day. Swimming is great.
Name: yes Location: Wisconsin, USA Age: late 30s Current preoccupation: swimming, running, cats, cycling Preoccupations I'm not currently occupied by: Adirondack mountains, other mountains, hiking Previous preoccupations: concerts, traveling to concerts, traveling to Tegan and Sara concerts, vacuum tubes, vinyl records Role and purpose: I'm one of three people who do my job in my office. I've been doing this specific job for six years and have been at the company fifteen. One coworker has been here less than two years and did a somewhat similar but in many ways not at all similar job previously. The other is new to the role entirely and started a month ago. If I can manage the workload, I can help them get rolling. I'm doing a winter swim group. It's a mix of newbies (like me) and some experienced but not phenomenal swimmers. Last time we swam we did some intervals: swim as fast as you can for a length of the pool. The guy next to me told me after that he was swimming to keep up with me. I was swimming to keep up with him. I attend a group run on Tuesdays. There are about eight of us as reliable regulars, a few more hit-or-miss people, and then occasionally some totally new people. I'm not the fastest runner there (though I do OK), and I'm not the coolest runner there. But everyone seems to enjoy seeing everyone, and everyone is welcoming of the new people. I think my purpose is to be that person that's in the background of people's lives but that provides some boost to their lives. I think I make their lives a little better. I may not be vital to their lives or their happiness, but I think they're a little happier.
Everybody has their own definition of what distance is impactful.
I wasn't prepared for how much this article would piss me off. Oh fuck off. Nobody is running a marathon as virtue signaling. Nobody who hasn't run a marathon understands what it's like, and anyone who has run one knows it's intensely personal. Talk to runners for a few minutes and you'll find there's a question nobody asks: what was your time? That section links to this piece of shit: Look, if you're feeling ashamed at not doing as much, that's on you. It isn't their fault. Any runners know loves talking to other runners about runs. Someone taking for a 50 mile run comes to my Tuesday group run, and she couldn't be more welcoming. Does she make me less likely to do my own thing? Heck no. How about "instead of seeing them as things that prop up class dominance, we should see them as things to encourage all to strive for." The whole piece feels like "I feel bad for not doing as much, and it's your fault. You should do less so I feel better about doing less."Marathon running has become the ultimate signifier: competitors can post photos on social media to prove to everyone that they have tortured their bodies in a highly virtuous — and not at all kinky — fashion.
One might feel less excited about completing a 5K race, for instance, if their Facebook friends were simultaneously posting photos from a marathon finish line.
We should care about health, food, and education. But instead of seeing them as ways to prop up class dominance, we should improve them for everyone.
The wind tech is way better than it was even ten years ago. The expiration of GE's patent on variable speed turbine generators opened the versatile technology up to everyone. These turbines can control voltage more dynamically. Separately, the cost of power electronics have come down, so now some turbines use full converters to change the generator output to the power system frequency. These can eliminate gearboxes, too, and also control voltage. In the US, FERC has made a number of rulings that forced wind plants to improve. FERC Order 661-A (pdf) required wind turbines have low voltage ride through, forcing them to remain online during system faults. 661-A also mandated a power factor range, relating back to the GE patent and full converter turbines with their ability to control voltage. We're also able to push the power system harder than ever. Fifty years ago we still had manned substations. People would sit there and call the control center every so often to tell them what the analog meters showed. Today we scan every analog and digital point every few seconds. And every few minutes the entire system is simulated to see what would happen if a failure occurred. That lets the system accept more wind. The output is variable, of course. The system was easy when it was the same generators running all the time. The variable wind output means one day to the next could be drastically different. The tools allow us to be confident the system is still reliable. There were a couple wind output records broken in the US a week or two ago. I think MISO topped 13,000 MW. For comparison, that's about double the maximum output of Grand Coulee. To me, the issue is wind doesn't provide capacity like a gas, coal, nuclear or hydro plant does. I think MISO allows something like 16% of wind nameplate capacity to count as capacity to serve load. So you build a 100 MW wind farm, and you get 16 MW of capacity. Build a 100 MW gas combustion turbine and you get 100 MW of capacity. Load needs capacity to ensure all load can be served.
My family doesn't have the best relationship. Not bad; nobody gets shouty or angry when we get together for the mandatory family Thanksgiving and Christmas. But beyond those things, we don't really do much together. My parents will drive three hours to my city to spend three hours at a football game and then drive three hours home. They might find twenty minutes to meet me for coffee as long as it isn't out of their way. But two things stand out about my dad recently. One, a year or two ago he admitted he wished he'd done more with us as kids. He worked a lot and then tried to cram stuff in on weekends haphazardly, and nothing ever went well. I thought the admission really said a lot about his introspection and how he thought of us kids (i.e. he thought well of us). The second was when I ran my first half marathon a few weeks ago. He called me the day before it, and after I finished he sent an email to his siblings about how cool it was that I'd done it. So, even while things haven't been perfect, I'm glad he still tries. Now approaching his 70s, he's admitting his flaws, still trying and doing better.
I think the article got it wrong. If I say "Budweiser may be beer, but I have no desire to drink it," that suggests I like beer in general and am making an exception to exclude Budweiser. I have to assume Cruz typically has a desire to copulate with rats.