The day has started.

And it is glorious.

If you liked reading about Ted’s running adventures, you’ll probably enjoy reading about his snowboarding fiascos.

Check out his new blog here:

http://shredordie.blogspot.com/

There are a lot of people taking this coming Monday off from work.

List of important people out of the office:
President
Financial Controller
VP of Customer Service
Head of Operations
Head of Domestic Purchasing
Head of International Purchasing
Head of Engineering

what does this mean? Brace yourselves now… on Monday December 31st I, Mike D, will be in charge.

The employees are thoroughly confused as to why management would ever let this happen. This morning as people read the e-mail I heard comments coming from corners of the office:

“Mike DiDonato? what?”
“Mike DiDonato’s in charge??!”
“look out. Mike D’s in charge.”

I think they recognize that this may be the most rocking (or disastrous) day in our company’s history.

First, I am going to throw a pizza party. Also, I’m going to try and make everyone wicked awesome t-shirts. I was even thinking of breaking out the Christmas lights and making a giant christmas lights mural on the wall.

I need even more ideas, send ‘em in. This could be a day of reckoning folks.

Woooooo!

Okay. We’re at the sunset of 2007. And soon, very soon, the 720 Posts onslaught will begin. Are you guys excited?

720 Posts came about from a conversation I had with Schenk. Old man Schenk was annoyed that my website didn’t constantly have new content. He challenged me to update the website every hour for a month. So that’s what 720 is all about.

Next Tuesday at 12:00am the first post will appear in the features section to the left. Each day will begin with a feature so that even if you start the day late you can catch up to what the heck is going on. the rest of the day will appear in either the main content area or the quickthoughts on the right.

I’ve automatically setup a bunch of posts and a bunch of people have helped me out (thanks people!). Some days are EPIC (January 16th) other days are totally lame (January 20th). And some days I have no idea what will happen because no planning has been done (January 23). I’m not even sure if I’ll be successful with this endeavor because I’m going to be writing additional content as the month progresses. If you have stuff you’d like me to post, e-mail it over to 720posts AT gmail D0T com. I’m sure I’ll get pretty desperate, so pretty much anything you send there will probably go up at some point or another.

After January’s insanity, posting will continue as normal come February.

Every year I carve my mom a wooden Santa for Christmas. You may remember last year’s “climbing santa“. This year I decided to go a bit extra multimedia. Enjoy!

Kung Fu Santa. from mikedidonato on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas EVerybody!!

I’ve taken a couple days off.

Posting will be back up in business next week. And then January? well… whew. It’s going to be intense.

From Ryan Schenk.

Kites go Industrial.

Oregon Trail! Updated!

Check it out.

My score was 1869. Warning: the early arrival penalty is 500 points.

thanks Kurt!

I’m headed out to Indianapolis this afternoon. A close friend of the family, Strother, lives out there. He and his wife, who apparently lurks around on this website, are pretty awesome people. I love visiting friends while on the road. It makes business trips so much less business.

Anyway, I hope to spend my time traveling resting up and finishing up some Christmas break homework (thanks RPI!) before the holiday.

Sadly, the library didn’t get me a copy of SLASH fast enough for this trip. hm, it’s been a few weeks. I should give them a call…

Kurt sent me a link to a website that is, unfortunately, so burdened with traffic that it is currently down.

The website asks: how many five year olds could you take in a fight?

Now, this might seem rather morbid, but really it’s kind of an interesting question. The Kids will, presumably, use swarm techniques on you. Kids… everywhere. If the ‘fighting kids’ thing has you wigged out, consider instead the question: how many soft short robots could you take in a fight?

Some facts:
Average height of a five year old: 1 meter. (3 feet 3 inches)
Average weight of a five year old: 18 Kilograms (40 pounds)
Average armspan of a five year old: about 38.1 centimeters (15 inches)

Assumptions:
The kids feel no fear in their attacks.
You have no moral standards that prevent you from fighting your hardest.
The swarm is made up of the average five year old.
Both you and the children are allowed to fight dirty
The fight starts with you surrounded completely by a sea of kids. The kids start three feet away from you.
The kids were not allowed to make strategies ahead of time.

So you tell me, how many five year olds would you be able to take in a fight? As the comments come together I think we’ll develop a pretty interesting conversation regarding methods, means, and strategies.

How many people have you shared an apartment or residence with? It’s considered a full share if it is your primary residence for at least 7 weeks.

Me? 24 I think.

Shaun L.
Bryan
Michael K.
Liz
Jesse
Mark
Thomas
Sander
JonAbad
Arianne
Kurt
Andy
Eric B.
Goss
Shaun M.
Jon O.
Shamus
Suzanne
Paul
Vinayak
Alicia
Theresa
Mom
Dad

I call a customer back after our call is disconnected.

Mike D: Hi, this is Mike.
Important customer: Hi Mike. I’m sorry. This stupid cell phone disconnects my calls all the time
Mike D: Oh, no that was me.
Important customer: But you’re not on a cell, I called you at work.
Mike D: yeah… I turned around in my chair and it pulled the cord. The cord pulled the phone base which teetered on the edge of my desk… I grabbed for it but missed and hit the body instead of the edge thus pushing the phone base off the desk. It bounced across the room and the phone cable came undone. Sorry about that.
Important customer: wow.

What a way to end the year! On Sunday, Connecticut’s Roller Girls debuted their all-star team ‘The Stepford Sabotage’ and crushed the visiting Long Island Roller Rebels in a spectacular show of speed and strategy. ‘Season’s Beatings’ was a monumental event, not only in its excitement but also in its significance. This battle for the ages was the first inter-league game hosted by Connecticut’s roller derby league, and it was an awesome sight to see. A frost in the air set the mood as crowds braved ice and winter storm warnings in order to come and cheer on their favorites. The two teams may have started friendly off the track but it seems skates can quickly turn women violent.

The bout launched into action with CT’s Pearl Jammer up against Long Island’s C-Roll. Pearl, the leading scorer for CT, started it off right pulling in a quick four points for the girls in green. Sabotage’s Pam Terror, a whirlwind of dynamite, followed suit against Summer Slam. The Stepford Sabotage, with her early lead, seemed poised for victory from the onset. But C-Roll fought back and showed the locals that these Roller Rebels would not go down easy. The third jam saw C-Roll pull 10 points against 0 for the Stepford Sabotage. It was this jam that gave CT a personal introduction to Long Island’s Captain Morgan. The only thing more menacing than her ability to keep the Sabotage at bay is her evil eye… which, rumor has it, can bring the toughest rollergirl shaking to her knees.

The CT roller girls rotated Doomcake into the jamming spot followed by Tina Colada. In the same way that cake and frozen drinks send you into a wild sugar high, Doomcake and Tina Colada left the audience in a dizzy coma; their sweet moves came at a good time: CT wasn’t risking wearing out there jammers. Instead the team threw skater after skater into the mix. The Roller Rebels with only 11 players (one of which, Trixie Timebomb, was hurt early on) were getting worn down. By the end of the first period the Stepford Sabotage had a commanding lead of 39 to 17.

Peekaboom!’s Skate. Up close and personal.

The second period roared with remarkable strategy and defense. The blockers barricaded their opponents with relentless energy and power. Eleanor Bruisevelt, Peekaboom!, and Miz Con SepJen were doing wonders at keeping Long Island Jammers C-Roll, Regine Bull, and Amaretto Sourpuss back. At the same time, Captain Morgan and Anna Tramp were holding back the CT Jammers with smooth skill and prowess. Jam after Jam came up scoreless. When the Jammers did break free of the pack they did so neck and neck, an invigorating derby ensued and all eyes were on the Jammers.

The period ended on a down note as Black Cherry took a bad spill. She clawed her way off the track in heavy pain where she waited grimacing until the EMT’s could come to her aid. Once Cherry left the track the Roller Rebels showed no mercy as Captain Morgan improved her reputation for brutality with a fantastic knock down of jammer Tina Colada.

Stepford’s Mascot, Dead End Cupcake (with butcher knife), anxiously watches the bout beside M.C. Hitman Hank

The final period saw even point scoring by both teams until the 6th jam of the period. Pearl Jammer took her place at her starting line next to Ragine Bull. The whistle chirped once, and the pack was off… it chirped again and the two jammers took to an all out sprint. The Stepford Sabotage had Parker Poison, Peekaboom!, Violet Riot, and Elenor Bruisevelt up front. As Pearl approached, her teammates opened the path for her and then immediately locked Regina Bull down. She was stuck behind the girls in green. Meanwhile Pearl skated viciously around the pink clad Roller Rebels, not once… not twice… but three times. Only once before in CT roller derby history has a roller girl succeeded in a triple grand slam against her rival. This 15 to nothing jam put the Stepford Sabotage up 91 to 43 with only minutes remaining. The girls cheered at their success, but the action was far from over.

Doomcake and Black Cherry skating to victory

Not three jams later, a series of penalties left Stepford in a dangerous situation. Pearl Jammer was up again, but her only defensewoman was Revengela. Long Island’s Summer Slam had an opportunity to take back points. Despite being the the only lonely green shirt in a sea of pink, Revengela was not intimidated. If anything, her bloodlust was only amplified. Summer Slam began her trip around the track. Revengela started hard and did an admirable job at keeping Slam back and getting Pearl through. Slam only got around once before the penalties expired and the Stepford Girls stormed the track again.

The last jam saw C-Roll in her prime. C-Roll had been pushed to her limit with an ABSURD 19 Jams under her belt. Despite this, she still pulled in 10 more points for her team in the final jam. The refs watched carefully. As Miz Con Sepjen slammed into yet another unexpecting Roller Rebel, a ref called her out on Tripping. Miz Con SepJen’s eyes glowed with Fury and she exploded back at the ref. She brazenly refused to leave the track. The ref, fed up, threw his hand in the air and ejected her from the game. Complete insubordination is not taken lightly. As Miz left the track she raised her hands to the crowds and encouraged them to cheer for her teammates still in the battle. The crowd exploded in cheers. It was an extremely entertaining display of defiance. The refs were fools to mess with Miz. Her crowd appeal is said to rival that of Bono.

When the buzzer sounded the final score stood at 106 to 61. Pearl brought home a grand total of 45 points. C-Roll stood in for the most jams, Ragine Bull snagged the most penalties (14).

Next up for the Roller Rebels is some relaxation. Their season has ended. The CT Roller Girls will be back at it on January 27th as their season starts with a show down between the Elm City Bone Crushers and the Widowmakers. To get more information check out CTRolleryDerby.com

I hit up the dentist this morning and my teeth are in totally decent shape.

A lot of people find the dentist to be a miserable experience, but I enjoy it. You just lean back, open your mouth, and then someone cleans your teeth. It’s a bit weird I suppose, but certainly nothing over the top miserable.

There may be moments of slight discomfort but for routine check ups I think it’s safe to say that the overall experience is rather quiet. It’s even more enjoyable when you have dental insurance. I love dental insurance.

Also, sometimes the Dentist can be exciting. This year Mrs. Marzullo had to give me the ol’ Peridot test (this is not actually what it’s called. Mrs. Marzullo? my memory needs some help). The purpose of this test is to determine the depth of the space between your gums and your teeth. (deeper is worse)

The test is performed by the dental hygienist who sticks a tiny ruler in between your teeth and gums. The hygienist calls the measurements out to a helper who records them. There are easily 50 numbers.

It’s kind of like a game. You see, two years ago I got a couple 4mm (bad). This year as Mrs. Marzullo worked her way around my gums calling out numbers it… I paid close attention….

2… 2… 3… 2… 3… 2… 3… 2… 2… 2… 2… 2… 1… 2… etc etc

After all of the numbers were read, no Fours!

Rock solid.

Shamus found this local 6 video that demonstrates how deadly giant spiders can be.

Watch as the monster arachnid approaches and then quickly dominates the shuttle.

I had the same sandwich today as yesterday.

But it wasn’t as tasty. Bummer.

I just had an amazing sandwich.

It seemed simple. turkey, Miracle whip, and tomato on a toasted bagel.

Perhaps it was perfect toasting, or perfect content ratios, or just the humidity and storage that was used during sandwich transportation; for whatever reason, that sandwich transcended delicious.

Last night before bed I decided to sit down for a few minutes with my guitar. As usual, those few minutes turned into well over an hour. But what made this particular session unique was that I think I made a significant improvement to my technique. It’s not often when something just clicks like that, so I figured I’d write about it.

Last night I switched from left hand control to right hand control. It came in the form of alternate picking. I’ve been trying to increase my speed for quite a few months now but couldn’t comfortably get past say… 210bpm with notes on the up and down beats. As I played, I would control the speed with the movement of my fingers on my left hand. Last night, I suddenly tried just letting the left hand go and instead focused on keeping my right hand fluid.

And just like that, a significant improvement in speed and quality. My left hand did what it was suppose to do without having to really think about it. My right hand increased its speed and the result was one notch closer to rock. I think when I can finally be comfortable with making that left-right transition I will have extreme speed possibilities.

Dear Internets,

I’m working on an aggressive challenge of putting up a single post every hour for the entire month of January 2008. That’s a total of 720 posts. I’ve set up an automatic posting schedule and have been contacting friends asking for contributions.

At the moment, I have 251 posts up and ready to go for January… but the January first deadline draws near. So for this one, I’m going to the entire MikeDiDonato.com community. If you’d like to submit some fun writing for the 720 posts challenge about something you love or find fascinating, (e-mail: 720Posts AT Gmail D0T com) then I will add it to the queue and it will probably be published to the world some time on January 9th.

Rock on,
The D.

Tonight, as I drove along the long stretch of road from Longview to Dallas, Texas, I couldn’t help but wonder how far away the horizon is.

Now, I’m not completely math illiterate, so I decided to figure it out. The problem is… My answer doesn’t seem right. Perhaps I have done something wrong. See if any of you find a mistake in my method:

Assumptions:
The Earth is perfectly round
Our test subject is 5.8 feet tall.
Because the Earth is so big, the distance ‘x’ (shown below) is a close enough approximation of the arc length and actual driving distance to the horizon.

Okay! Calculation time!
According to Wikipedia, the radius of the earth is an average of about 3956.545 miles * 5280 ft/mile=
20890557.6 ft

Add 5.8 feet to that and we get a hypotenuse of 20890563.4 ft

according to Pythagoras
20890557.6^2 + x^2 = 20890563.4^2

or

436415396838917.76
+
x^2
=
436415639169419.56

so x^2 = 24330501.8

x is about equal to 15566.96 ft

Divide by 5280 and we get… 2.948 miles. That’s so… short… did I do something wrong?

Theresa and Andrew from mikedidonato on Vimeo.

And… I’m in Texas.

It’s warm here. Tomorrow is scheduled to be around 20 degrees Celsius (65 degrees F). I’ll be here for the next couple days returning Thursday afternoon in time for some late hours at the office, class on Friday, and the return to a semi-normal schedule… at least for a day or two. Then travel might rear its ugly head once again.

Alicia’s wedding on Saturday, alongside all this business travel, has rekindled my desire for a network of awesome people. In the ideal world I’d love to have a friend in every major US city/state that I could visit when business sends me off. If you’d like to add yourself to that list, fire me an e-mail at MikeDiDonato AT Gmail D0T com. Once the network is complete, I will post an exciting map of all the connections across the country.

DINOSAURS!