Here’s a photo I took of a turtle.

Check out his hardcore claws.

There are 10 types to people in this world: those who understand binary calculus and those who don’t.

This evening I’m going to be attending an information session for a 30 month weekend MBA program at RPI.

I’m excited.

I recently told you guys about my adventures of deforestation. I’ve included a photo and video below. The photo is of me prepped and ready in my Lawn Mowing gear. That’s right. I taped my pants to my socks.

And, a movie. It’s a bit dark, but I think it will convey the extremeness of this mowing experience. enjoy!

1. buy wetsuit
2. buy life-preserver
3. fix kites
4. paint an awesome picture of a stegosaurus on the bottom of my board

This weekend was a busy one. Saturday after some chores I zipped out to cape cod to see Old Man Schenk, Ruth, and Meowstrow in their new Falmouth apartment. It was awesome. Not only is it a super quaint area, the house and surrounding naturesqueness is gorgeous. After some fun times and tasty tofu (tasty?), I continued onward to Eastham where I helped the rents with some lawn mowing.

‘Lawn mowing’ isn’t quite the right phrase. ‘Power deforestation’ is closer. I didn’t cut the grass, I introduced the grass to its maker. Brush was taken down with a violent hurrah. It was as close to X-TREME LAWN CARE as you could get. I took a video and will post it tomorrow in the feature section.

After some beach and some bbq, I made the loooong treck back to CT. It ended up being a smart move because Memorial Day morning I had the opportunity to do some outdoor climbing. I went with two gents from the climbing gym: Devon and Chris. It was my first experience with Traditional climbing, where the climber places his/her own gear. I was not leading but ‘following’ or ’seconding’ because I don’t quite have the experience or know how for protection placement. I also did my first multi-pitch route. A multi-pitch is where climber A climbs halfway up the cliff face. He then secures himself and provides a belay for the Climber B. Climber B follows up the route cleaning the protection as he goes. Upon meeting climber A at the half way point, climber B takes up the belay, and climber A continues onward. In this manner very high cliff faces can be climbed without the need for a 600 foot rope and four hundred thousand pieces of protection.

It was really relaxing. A very beautiful day on the rocks indeed.

Finally, I finished up my weekend with some yardwork, home improvements, and tennis. Overall I would say the weekend was a stunning success.

Mr. Rogers goes to Washington.

All sorts of facts about how supermarkets trick you into buying stuff. Check it out.

I’m a slow driver. I try to stay around 60 on the highway and around 40 on sub-highway roads. I also accelerate slowly. One might call it a crawl. I’m taking data to see how many miles per gallon I can get. This last fill up I hit 34 mpg in the Nissan Ultima and it felt great!

The down side of this is that the world hates me.

And when I say “hate” I mean “hate“. I don’t think a day passes when I don’t get scowls, horns, gestures, or harsh words. As I see it, there are three types of honks. 1) the ‘Lookout! my car is here!’ 2) the ‘just thought I’d let you know the light has turned green… in case you got distracted’ and 3) the ‘I hate you because you’re in my way’

1 and 2 are usually pretty well recieved. It’s 3 that’s a kicker. Why the hatred folks? I mean you no harm. What I’ve noticed is that the number 3 honks never really happen on the highway. As long as slow folks like me stick to the slow lane, fast folks like you can zip around and dart all you like. No one’s bothered.

BUT… on one or two lane roads with lots of lights, the fury is exposed. Remarkably, the extra speed of those drivers around me rarely helps. Usually they just zip ahead so they can reach the red light first, then I coast up to them and have to deal with more of their rage.

So, if you happen to be one of those folks that honks at slow drivers, realize that we don’t intentionally mean to cause you grief. Try and understand that we prefer to live life without the rush and hustle and are hoping to save a few dollars here and there.

*disclaimer below
(more…)

Welcome to the eleventh edition of the mike d. MSPaint contest. We only have four contributors this week. I think their drawings will entertain you.

The challenge was to draw a picture of a robot at a playground. Our contestants went two distinct routes on this one. Two of the drawings below show robots playing at playgrounds, and two of the drawings show robots destroying playgrounds. One contestant actually produced two drawings, but specified which he wanted to be the true entry.

So let’s get started.

Our first robot, located HERE is a robot at play. This is the only drawing to depict a famous robot.

Our second robot, located HERE is destroying. Please note that this robot’s left foot is a tank.

Robot number three, located HERE, is a robot at play. This artist drew a second picture, but asked that his first drawing be the one considered in the contest. The second picture is here.

And finally Robot number four, located HERE, shows a robot ready to destroy all sorts of tom-foolery.

So there you have it! Vote in the comments as to which of these drawings you think rocks the hardest. Open commentary is welcome. Rock ‘em, sock ‘em, robots.

*note! artists can not vote for their own drawing

If you’d like to participate in this week’s MSPaint contest, your ‘robot at a park’ pictures are due TONIGHT! e-mail them to mikedidonato AT gmail DOT com

Check out this stop motion video of the construction of the AirBus.

Also, check out how the transport plane has a Fivehead.

Bruce Willis vs. A Bear

Let us honor Douglas Adams with a towel.

I’ve decided to start including a small spinach salad in my daily lunch. I’m very proud of the lunch I pack. Here’s an image of today’s menu:

That’s pulled chicken and a salad on the left, oatmeal (a sometimes item), hardboiled eggs, peanuts&raisins, a variety of fruit (apple, pear, orange, & banana), a yogurt, and some skim milk. I usually also bring a carrot, celery stalk, and a quarter cup of cottage cheese but forgot to include it in the photo. They say that diet is 80% of fitness and I am a firm believer in that. I still crave greasy pizza, soda, and such… but I’m perfectly satisfied with some fruit and veggies.

Very little outside of the ordinary is happening in the life of mike d. these days.

I have a clean desk but heaps of work to do. These last few weeks remaining pre-China will be full of all sorts of hustle and bustle. But it’s all work stuff.

Outside of work it’s mostly kung fu and music. This weekend I don’t really have any plans. I was considering a trip back home. But at the same time, a weekend of yard work and rock climbing might be nice. I don’t know? I feel bored.

don’t forget about this week’s MSPaint contest! I finished mine yesterday!

Submissions are due Thursday!

This week I decided to take spatula in hand and play chef mike d at the House of Rock. There were a couple reasons for this. One, I got a handful of new recipes and have been wanting to try them out. And two, our weekly menus had been downgraded from Thrilling to Dull. In fact, last work week we had some sort of pasta related dish every single night.

I am ashamed.

So here’s a sampling of this week’s menu. Sunday night I made stuffed red bell peppers. They came out pretty well. The tomato and beef based stuffing was flavored with cumin, pepper flakes, onion, garlic, and thyme. And the red peppers softened up very nicely in the oven. Overall it was, a simple, quick, and delicious dish.

Last night was Chicken Paella. I got this recipe from a co-worker and it came out very nice. The chicken dish had fun flavorings of sausage, parsley, paprika, lemon juice, tomatoes, peppers, onion, s&p, and oregano. It also called for Orzo instead of rice. It was enjoyable.

Tonight we’ll be having lemon Asian chicken. Tomorrow pulled slow-cooked chicken. And Thursday something less exciting because I don’t think I’ll be around to cook.

I’m especially eager for Wednesday’s crock pot meal because I will be trying out liquid smoke for the first time.

Ahh foodery. How I love thee.

NOTE: This is the second “diversion” posted as part of Defy S. McQuaid. In a diversion, no user-submitted question is answered, but instead, a topic of interest is discussed. (By interest, I mean “interest to me at the moment”, and possibly not interesting to you. Sorry.)

The Question

What is the best material choice overall when re-flooring your basement that was flooded during the torrential and continuous rains last week?

The Answer

Gee, I just happen to have a great answer for this one. Seems that’s exactly the situation I’ve been working on for the last week or so.

Last Monday (not yesterday, the one before that), I happened to go down into my finished basement as usual in the morning to check email and the like. Sitting at my computer, I noticed that the dog had followed me down the stairs. Next, I heard slurping.

It turned out that I was sitting in the only dry spot in the basement. Everything else was soaking wet.

After sucking 100+ gallons of water out of the basement, it became apparent (via the smell) that the carpet we had had down there was done for. But what to put down to replace it?

Here are the options:

Nothing. Just leave it open concrete
PRO: Do nothing. No work.
CON: HUGE downgrade. No way.
Replace the carpet
PRO: Carpet is nice to stand on. Also, the tack strips are already there.
CON: If water happens again, it has to be replaced again. This is expensive. (I NEVER had water down there before, and they ARE saying this is a “100 year storm”, but I don’t trust them.) Also, carpet in a basement can only be musty after a while.
Install wood floor or laminate
PRO: Well, it will look nice. Expensive though.
CON: Well, if it floods again, it’s done. Even if the laminate is moisture-resistant, it can’t stand up to actual water. Also, it’s expensive. And you have to put foam under it, which will absorb water.
Install linoleum
PRO: Linoleum is safe. If it floods again, you mop it up.
CON: Good linoleum is expensive ($2+/sq. ft). Cheap linoleum is not, but you still have to have it installed, which is expensive. More expensive than carpet.
Install your own vinyl tile
PRO: Cheap!
CON: Cheap looking! Also, work. I’m tired now. Seems like a bit of a downgrade.
Install indoor/outdoor carpet (glue down)
PRO: If it gets wet, it dries without dying. Also, it’s inexpensive ($0.62/sq. ft.) and installation is cheap too if you’ve removed your carpet already (which I have). Also, you can do the stairs instead of leaving the sea-foam green old stained carpet on it. Also, you don’t have to install it yourself.
CON: …..still waiting…..nope, ain’t got one.

I assume that you, the gentle reader, can ascertain my choice.

Next week: Back to your regularly scheduled answers!

Does anyone else get a super itchy nose whenever they floss?

June 10th - ?

Wow.

I really didn’t have much to write about today until my sister sent me an e-mail. In this e-mail is a link to this.

“This” being a video of a flaming tuba. Watch it. Love it.

And here’s an article about how the tuba was made.

Thanks Alicia + Hadas!

Jesse and I are writing a song that has amazing potential to be awesome.

Stay tuned for great things.

Congratulations to all sorts of people for correctly identifying the last skyline as Tulsa and the satellite image as Honolulu. And Roland is on a roll. Once again he correctly guessed the continent and planet of the images. That guy is on fire.

So let’s start round six.
WARNING: the answer may be in the comments

First, the skyline.

And… the satellite.

Your task:
1) identify the skyline image
2) determine if the satellite image is of the same location
3) if not, identify the satellite location