Author: mel

I follow the Tested.com crew and Adam Savage on their web site and on YouTube with reasonable regularity.  This week has been focused on the San Diego ComicCon which, while interesting in its own way, has shown me that I really have little desire to go to a ComicCon.  That said I was watching Adam and friends in their panel discussion today.  As expected most questions were around Adam’s Myth Busters experiences.  At the very end though, 44 minutes into the 52 minute segment, the panel all take a turn offering advice to a young woman looking to start a new vocation.  Adam Savage, Alton Brown, Chris Hadfield, Andy Weir, and Phil Plait offer their takes on what life is and how one lives it.  I couldn’t agree with them more.  Girls, pay attention…

I recently read an article called You are going to die on the website Evidence Based Fitness.  This article is a couple of years old already but I just became aware of it. It totally reflects my own philosophy.

My wife and I have been rolling our eyes at food studies for years already, ever since the saccharine studies.  For those unaware of these, the studies “proved” saccharine caused cancer. In reality, to consume as much saccharine as they pumped into the lab rats to cause cancer you would have to drink a diet soda every six minute for the rest of your life.  Now decades later saccharine is back. I have looked sideways at these studies ever since.

I am a proponent of eating naturally. Evolution got us here, so eat like your body was built to.  We are omnivores. Eggs would have been a valuable foodstuff to Caveman Mel. No, he wouldn’t have eaten 6 a day, every day.  He could never have gathered that many.  Simple.

Same with meat.  Meat has been a major component in Hunter Gatherer Mel’s diet.  Sorry to hurt anyone’s vegan, veggie, PETA feelings but that is the reality.  Humans eat meat.  Your body was built to process meat. It’s not a bad thing and removing meat from your diet is unnatural.  Yes, you can do it, but you are not eating the way you were constructed to.  Luckily for you humans are adaptable omnivores.  

I also relate to the comments the author makes about life length and life style.  Length of life is unimportant for me.  I can’t control it, it is a complete unknown, and the even someone with the “healthiest” lifestyle could be hit by a bus tomorrow.  What IS important is quality of life.  You like hiking in the outdoors? Then getting in shape is a natural part of your quality lifestyle. You’ll be happier when you can get to the top of that hill.  

The message I most appreciated is stop fretting.  If nothing else your physical health will be better as a result of your better mental health. 

You’re going to die, get over it already.

Do a search for open office floor plans and you will get back a long list of articles and studies on how these concepts are doomed to failure.  Distractions both auditory and visual are the main problems identified, but personality and work styles are equally important reasons. They are acknowledged productivity killers.  Yet despite all the press around how it doesn’t work companies continue to adopt open offices.

Mine too I’m afraid.  I lose my office in two weeks.  I lose my walls.  I lose my view over the river valley.  I lose my discussion side table and guest chair.  I lose most of my office furniture.  I get instead six feet of work surface, a chair, and 42″ walls.  With a moderate lean I sit within handshaking distance of five other people.  It would be six, but one workspace is vacant.

Marvy.

There is no complaining about it. There is no changing the decision.  This train has left the station.  My colleagues and I are resigned to trying to make the best of it.

I can take some solice in the fact that over my 30 odd years on the job I have had some of the best office space in the company for at least half of the time.  I would argue at times I had the best office in the company, including the president’s.  A bit smaller maybe but when you considered the location, the views, the amenities, I definitely had some great offices.  Even the president never had a pool table just down the hall like I did for a few years.  A little yin for the yang maybe.

https://soundcloud.com/rockonguy/good-time-charlies-got-the-blues-danny-okeefe

I just finished reading the graphic novel Daytripper after seeing it on one of those “top 25 you must” lists a friend sent me.  I will not repeat what everyone else has already said.  There are far better reviews in the interwebs than I could do.  I will say I agree with them.

Awesome.

I hope to discuss it in more detail with this friend, and I am curious to see if he took the same thing from it I did.  I need to read it again before we have that talk.  I have so many thoughts I can’t yet put into words.  My response to the book was more emotional than intellectual. I felt it rather than understood it. Not sure if that makes sense or if it just makes me sound like a loon.

I guess what I mean is I know what I took away from the book but I could not say if it is the same thing the authors intended or the same as most others.  The description that keeps coming to mind is second derivative –  I am reacting not to the obvious message but to the implications of the message.

Yeah, I know, this is making no sense.  Go read the book.  After you read it play this tune and reflect on what you read and what you take from it.  Trust me, it will be worth it.

https://soundcloud.com/jessedanielsmith/first-day-of-my-life-acoustic

http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf