The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Personal

  • Henry the MDCXXXIX

    Many moons ago, I made a 2008 New Years resolution to “Write at least one crappy short story”.

    As my linked post says, I did not get to it in 2008.

    But! I have now written a crappy short story! I present it here, to you.

    Yes, yes, I know it needs some serious editing. It’s got some issues that would be better addressed in a novella. It could use cutting down, but I figured I’d post it here and see what the reaction was.

    For your entertainment…
    Henry the MDCCXXXIX

    Henry the MDCCXXXIX reclined on his barcalounger and counted cash.

    If pressed he would defend the practice of collecting protection money. Royalty had been in that business for millennia after all. However, there was no one to press him. He was the King.

    (more…)

  • New Spawn!

    Congratulations Jim and Robin on the birth of their new spawn, Iain Douglas Cronen! Leave congratulatory messages over here.

    Jim, Robin, Iain

  • Anatomy Lesson: Multifidus

    MultifidiToday’s lesson in anatomy is the multifidus spinae, an important muscle you may never have heard of. It consists of a number of “fleshy and tendinous fasciculi, which fill up the groove on either side of the spinous processes of the vertebrae…”1. Basically, it’s the part of the deepest muscles underneath your thumbs if you’re giving someone a backrub and you press into the fleshy groove just to the left and right of the spine. For a brief overview, wikipedia is your reference (although I really like my copy of Gray’s1.

    The multifidus performs the role of vertebral stabilization. It keeps your spine in line. It also happens to be one of my trunk-muscle achilles heels, if that’s not mixing my metaphoric anatomical references.

    The reason for today’s anatomy lesson is simple: This is my first official injury of ironman training! As injuries go it’s pretty minor, but it caused me to alter the training plan. Therefore it counts. I strained the lower bit of my multifidus enough that I can feel it during normal activities (like sitting on my butt at work). Ironically, it hurts less when I’m running then when I’m walking. This might seem strange to you, but it’s a fact that muscles activate in different roles between walking and running; this must be an example of that2.

    This is not the first time I’ve strained this muscle. This was the same injury that caused me to run really slowly during the Peachtree Road Race three years ago..

    No worries. It’s already getting better. I’ll let you know how it goes.

    1: Henry Gray, F.R.S., Grays Anatomy, 15th Edition, 1901
    2: The best example of a muscle having vastly different roles between the walking stride and the running stride is the gluteus medius. During normal activity, the gluteus medius is a hip rotator, but during running its role changes to a pelvic stabilizer. I know this because the gluteus medius is a muscle that usually is severely neglected and underdeveloped in triathletes.

  • Life Equilibrium

    As the saying goes, “Old Chemists never die, they merely reach equilibrium.”

    I think in some respects I’ve reached my new equilibrium with work/play/live/drive/run. As you’re probably aware, I and my entire office were laid off on March 31 of this year as G&O shut down the Atlanta Office. I was picked up by Moreland Altobelli exactly four weeks later and I continue to do the traffic engineering thing. The changes since March 31 involved:

    • 4 weeks of doing whatever the heck I wanted to which were immediately followed by 4 weeks of getting used to a new job, new coworkers, new ways of doing things
    • Longer commute, with consequently less time for other activities
    • Ramping up my Ironman training
    • Shifting my sleep schedule to an hour earlier wake up

    During all this time, we were also significantly committed to assisting some friends of ours first prepare and then move into their first home.

    Now it’s the first week of June. I believe I’m getting used to waking at 5:15 AM, even though I don’t like it, plus the commute is only bad in the evenings1. I’m starting to get into the flow of my workout routine which had suffered for the past month. Now it’s on to doing some of the work on the house that needs to be done.

    Things have changed a bit in my mindset. I can say that the difference in commute times is making me less willing to drive around town more than I have to. I’m already spending approximately two hours in a car everyday; I don’t like to add on to that unnecessarily. I’m also less willing to interrupt scheduled events for spontaneous items. That’s something that I’ll have to be mindful of. I don’t want to turn into a schedule nazi.

    There are upsides to this equilibrium. You should start to see more blog posts out of me and maybe even a Talking Traffic episode or three. I will also stop feeling as guilty for neglecting my yard.

    All hail my new equilibrium!

    1: Although I have three times now just barely dodged2 a morning crash that shut down the interstate lanes I was using.

    2: By “barely dodged” I mean that I drove through the area within 10 minutes of the crash. Nothing more exciting than that.

  • Aerobars Need Practice

    Today (being T minus 2 days until I go back to work) I took my brand new aerobars out for a spin on the Silver Comet trail. I’d used them before, here and there, but I hadn’t gotten on them and cruised for a couple hours. I figured that this would be their shakedown ride, and I was right. This included a saddle move.

    Aerobars

    For those of you who don’t know what these contraptions are, aerobars are a device designed to get you more bent over, more narrow and more aerodynamic for triathlon racing or time-trialing. In triathlon you are not allowed1 to draft and in time trialing there is no one to draft off of. Therefore, the more skinny and smooth an aerodynamic cross section you can present to the wind of your passage, the better. An excellent illustration of this is by Olmi, here on Flickr.

    Two hour ride, 35 miles. Some lessons I learned:

    • No matter whose advice you use, your aerobars will probably not be setup correctly for you. Bring a tool and be ready and willing to make adjustments. I made a few at the turnaround and I was delighted with the change.
    • Don’t expect to get slapped into those aggressive triathlon positions that you see in the magazines. You’ll need to work into it, if only to get the back stretched out while pumping your legs for hours.
    • One thing I discovered about my bike setup was that I kept sliding forward on the armrests due to the resultant forward force from the angle my upper arms were making. I tilted the bars up about 4 degrees and that made all the difference for keeping me in position.
    • My neck is killing me after spending two hours in the aero position, only getting out for the roads I crossed. This will take some building up. Pushups should be good for that, as long as you look forward during the reps.
    • I’m confident that I’ll be tweaking this bike setup all summer as my training rides get longer and I ease into the position I’ll need for the Ironman.

    It was a good ride today. I’m looking forward to the next one.

    1: Some triathlons allow drafting but the majority do not.

  • Thinking Thoughts

    Messy!
    Click through the image for a ton of notes on the picture

    I do a lot of really good thinking on long runs. Today I went out for a run of approximately 10 miles. During that time I had a lot of good ideas (that I now need to write down).

    It’s more difficult for me to have this sort of internal conversation while swimming because I have an interruption at each end of the pool. It’s even more difficult on the bike because I’m concentrating on the road, etc. The only other place where I can really zen my way into the recesses of my head is on a long distance drive. That’s something I don’t do as much of anymore and I miss it.

    But there’s always the long runs.

  • Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel CoverIn keeping with my goals from the Hugo reading project I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke yesterday. My review of the book is: A delight and I’ll never read it again.

    I won’t re-read it because it’s a freaking thousand page tome! It’s huge, and would probably have been better read in the hardback. The paperback started to give me hand cramps and I found it necessary to break one of my most fundamental rules with respect to paperbacks: Never Bend The Spines. The middle section required it or I would have had to take breaks to keep my left hand from yelling at me.

    This book was a delight because of the detailed interweaving of current events, backstory, “historical” tidbits and character development that at times threatened to overwhelm the reader. The story begins in the first decade of the 19th Century, set in England, and chronicles the re-establishment of English Magic throughout the isles of Britain. The failures and victories of the two title characters make up approximately 60% of the volume with the rest being attributed to the various people in orbit around them and the footnotes (many many footnotes) concerning the history of English Magic. The tone of the novel is Edwardian and if you are a fan of Jane Austen or any of the “society novels” set in England, you’ll like this book.

    There are a bevy of characters but Ms. Clarke introduces them in a fashion that makes it easy to keep track of who is who. Not like some other authors I can name for whom you need a Dramatis Personae list to have a clue.

    Two thumbs up! Yay for the Hugo Project!

  • Tradition!

    It’s a tradition when you’ve done it twice, right?

    In this case, my new tradition is to count, stack, and wrap the coins that have accumulated in my presence.

    My Favorite Coin

    The last time I did this was when we had just moved to Lubbock and I was in the middle of six months of unemployment. Now that I’m unemployed again (temporarily) I decided to count up and deposit all the change that has piled up since 1999. The pictures I took are over at my flickr set, but the one here is my favorite. I just love the Washington Quarter. All the special state quarters are nice, but this one retains my devotion.

    How much was wrapped up in all that change? Well, let’s just say that I don’t need to worry about next month’s natural gas bill.

  • Job Transition

    Earlier today, this was my business card.
    Greenhorne & O'Mara Business Card

    Now, I’m just plain ‘ol William M. Ruhsam, Jr., PE, PTOE
    William Ruhsam Business Card

    Or, if you prefer, I have a more playful one.

    William Ruhsam Business Card

    Unfortunately, due to the business climate around here, and to a couple of just-plain-bad-luck items, Greenhorne & O’Mara shut down the transportation and environmental group here in Atlanta. I am now looking for other employment.

    I have confidence that I’ll land on my feet. Not to blow my horn too loudly, but I believe that I’m a marketable person with a strong skill set. I’m both an experienced traffic engineer and a project manager who knows enough roadway design to direct a project team. If you’re interested, contact me and I will send you a resumé.

    Good things can come of changes in direction. Here’s to hoping that this is one of those times!

  • Party! And Toothpicks!

    Jenn and I are hosting a cookout at our house on May 9th. You’re invited. Let us know what you’re bringing. Call to let us know.

    On top of the cookout/social gathering/bonfire aspects of a normal Jenn/Bill party, we’re doing something new this year. We’re hosting the:

    Ith Toothpick Bridge Building Contest

    I’ve alluded to this previously. But now there are rules! Basic rules. They are thus:

    1) All toothpick bridges must be constructed of round toothpicks and white Elmers-brand glue. Not super-epoxies, please.

    2) All bridges will be tested to destruction with a top-loading device. This device will place load upon the uppermost structure of the bridge and will probably be a bucket loaded with sand/ball bearings/molten lead. Build your bridge accordingly.

    3) All bridges must mass 100 grams or less.

    4) Span will be 12 inches or 30.48 cm if you prefer

    5) There will be two categories of bridges. Simply Supported and Side Load. Basically, a simply supported bridge has only vertical reactions at it’s supports. A log resting on two other logs is simply supported. Side load bridges include arches, and anything else that thrusts outward at its anchors. Cable-stay and suspension bridges will be disallowed because we won’t have the facilities to test them properly.

    6) Winning entries will be determined by the highest ratio figured by dividing the load at destruction by the mass of the bridge. Depending on the apparatus used to determine the mass of load, there may be a significant error bar and ties may occur.

    7) Prizes will be…odd.

    8) Mailed-in entries will be accepted. I’ve already got one commitment!

    So, mark your calendars. We want to see those bridges!