Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In this information age, it seems a shame to remain burdened by conventional wisdom or mislead by rumor. I remember having a smile of satisfaction when I first came across snopes.com, a site where rumors are researched and debunked. Finally I had a place I could point whenever someone tried to hit me over the head with another urban legend. "Be careful on your trip! You don't want to wake up in an ice bath with a kidney missing!"

"Don't worry about me! Head on over to snopes.com and I'll call you later!"

The nice thing about the Snopes was that someone did research for you. You may have known or suspected that the kidney-heist story was a little far fetched, but though we have more information available to us today than ever before, it still takes effort to effectively process that information. And depending on the data involved, it might take some real skill as well.

Freakonomics does to conventional wisdom what Snopes did to urban legends. The economists who wrote the book used techniques such as regression analysis to sort through large piles of data and made some interesting discoveries. There is isn't any theme to the topics, only that a large amount of comprehensive information happened to be available for analysis.

I certainly recommend it. The whole thing is quite interesting, it's a quick and easy read, and you're left feeling a little more insightful about the world -- perhaps less likely to take conventional wisdom at face value.

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Invoking Darkness by Jeanne Cavelos


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this series.

By the end of the third book we know just about everything there is to know of the Technomages. Galen's story remains compelling to the very end. And revisiting the conflict between the Shadows and the Vorlons was a treat. I read this final book in just a few days; I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

In my previous reviews I remarked that I wasn't sure if someone unfamiliar with the series would enjoy the books as much as a Babylon 5 fan. The reason became clear to me while reading this final book, because much more time is spent with characters that were already well established in the Babylon 5 world. Although the characters are depicted true to the series, little time is spent developing their character in the novel; it is assumed that the readers are already familiar with their histories and motivations. Specifically, we spend several chapters with John Sheridan. But an unfamiliar reader would not gain any sense at all that this was the strong, dynamic leader of the alliance, save for being told so.

Speaking of fans, there is a parallel story that gives a behind the scenes look at major events from the television series. It rounds out several scenes that required a more than healthy dose of disbelief during the television series and make the book all the more interesting.

This is must-have trilogy for Babylon 5 fans and anyone who enjoyed Galen's character in Crusade.

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I came across this video on onegoodmove and I think it pretty wells sums up how many Americans participate in the political process today: us versus them, with very little in the way of considered opinions. You can't help but to cringe watching this.

But fortunately, I've been hearing people say lately that behind-the-scenes politics isn't quite as partisan as Fox and MSNBC make it out to be. For example, check out this clip on ForaTV where someone asks Neil deGrasse Tyson about the state of science in America under George W. Bush. ForaTV, "The Pluto Files", Chapter 18. "There is a huge middle that goes on daily in Congress that you never hear about."

I heard another example on the Daily Show not too long ago as well, though I can't recall the particular guest.

In light of the fist video, I'm a bit relieved to hear people who have actually sat on committees state that the system is working -- especially when greater America seems to participate in politics they way they participate in sporting events. "My team is number one! What was the question?"

As for the healthcare reform bill, I don't know enough about it frankly. Dawn was reading about it tonight and said that some of the compromises seem to have made into a better bill. For example, I understand that small businesses under 50 employees won't be required to provide health insurance. I'm relieved to hear that in particular, because it would kill the ability to start small businesses otherwise. (Can you imagine a photographer suddenly having to provide health insurance to their assistant that they can barely, barely afford in the first place?)

In a republic we elect (hopefully) smart people to make decisions for us us while we go about our daily lives. And I think that's a good thing; because if we lived in a democracy we'd be screwed.

During the gun show a couple weekends ago, Dawn did some shuffling of her gun collection. She sold the Ruger P95, which although accurate, seemed to be extremely temperamental. You couldn't fire four magazines through the thing without it starting to jam. Giving it a good once-over with oil seemed to help, but it was never reliable. --Certainly it wasn't a gun that you'd want to rely on for any purpose. And it wasn't very fun to shoot on the range after it started to constantly jam after a few magazines. I was sad to see it go because she had been so excited about it initially. But she had something new in mind. . .



Before we tracked down her new gun, she also sold her James Bond gun, the Walther PPK. (Buy this song on Amazon.) She's a huge James Bond fan, and the PPK was in excellent condition, so this sell stunned me. Yet, it had faults as well. She couldn't shoot it without getting a blister on the back of her hand from the snap of the gun. And though I thought she should have kept it if only to sit in the collection, she prefers the Makarov and wanted the funds for something new.

We were surprised how easy and quickly she was able to sell both at the show. So it didn't take long until we standing in line to buy her new baby: a 40S&W caliber Springfield XD (4" Service Model). The Springfield XDs are fantastic guns. And I'm glad she got the .40 caliber too. The 9mm is just a terrible caliber for self defense, and Amir has me sold on the disadvantages of .45 ACP as a slower round. Besides, it says a lot that so many law enforcement departments now use the .40 caliber round.


But I have to say that find discussions of handgun self-defense to be somewhat academic. A shotgun really makes the best home defense weapon. But second, I can't even buy into the idea that guns are generally necessary for home in the first place. The media overplays home invasion stories, in my opinion. And most people probably don't train enough with their guns for them to be an effective tool in a situation where seconds and accuracy matter. A good alarm system and a medium/large sized dog would be far more effective. (But those aren't nearly as sexy as a sleek new handgun are they?)

That being said though, since I've become a familiar and competent shooter, my fear of guns has evaporated. And I must confess to having my own FN Five-seven nearby in case the house is randomly invaded one night by godless communists trying to take away my YouTube. But seriously, instead of being mysterious and frightening, they've become just a tool. Like many things in life (kayaking with a bazillion alligators, rafting on class 5 rapids in Colorado, or just driving down the road) they need to be respected. But with gun safety always in the forefront of my mind, I'm no longer uncomfortable around them. And I have to say that when hiking or kayaking with over five thousand dollars of camera equipment on hand, there is something to be said for being armed.



Dawn and I have been itching to shoot the XD since she bought it. Fate kept us away from the range for a couple weeks, a cruel trick after buying such a beautiful machine. After tonight we can safely say it's a great gun.

For better or worse, I didn't get to shoot it too much today. The rifle range was strangely empty when we arrive, so I was able to immediately start shooting the FN Five-seven. After a hundred rounds of that and a bit of fun with someone's AR-15, I was pretty worn out. And Dawn was in the same boat, having gone through quite a few rounds herself. But being super-wonderful, she saved some rounds for me. I shot just these ten rounds, at 7-yards, before leaving. I'm really impressed with how the gun feels.



I've been wanting a larger caliber gun myself. My interest in shooting has very little to do with self-defense though; I've found that I simply enjoy marksmanship. And in competitions it's typical to shoot both a rimfire (.22) pistol and a larger centerfire pistol. The FN Five-seven is still not allowed in most competitions for whatever reason, so I need something else. And I want something with a little bit of kick just so that I can be comfortable firing anything. It's easy to get used to the feel of the .22 and 5.7. (Though the 5.7 is about as loud as an assault rifle despite having little recoil.) I'm considering the 1911 as an obvious addition to the collection, and something I could use easily at a competition. And the guys at the gun store tonight have me thinking about maybe a custom 1911 by Ed Brown. That won't be something I buy right away, however.

Speaking of the gun store tonight, Dawn bought yet another gun. As I wrote earlier, she's a big fan of the Makarov. (Especially since ammunition is becoming available for them again.) There's something about these old, tapered barreled guns from the old Communist Bloc that she just loves. And in addition to simply being a collector's piece, they shoot great. Apparently (though I didn't realize until tonight), she's been wanting a second to compliment her first and found it tonight. She got a great deal: the grip was in terrible condition, which accounted for the excellent price. But it just so happens that she had a spare grip at home, so that wasn't a problem at all.



The are five countries that manufactured the Makarov. The ones from East Germany are ones that people tend to think of as collectible. Markarov.com has this to say about the East Germany guns:

"The Ernst Thaelman factory in Suhl, Thueringen made what are considered by some to be the finest pre-fall-of-the-Berlin Wall Makarovs. The finish is nice, the fit and machining is of quality you'd expect from a German shop, and they shoot like a dream. Almost all that came into this country had already seen service, so their quality varies by how they were treated by the person who carried them. Nonetheless, most have more holster wear than bore wear. They occasionally still pop up at dealers and at gun shows. If you can get them for a good price, these are the ones to buy."

Both of hers are from East Germany, a '62 'BV' and a '65' FH. And she was a like a little kid at Christmas tonight, gaping over new toys, looking at them both together.

It was a very nice Saturday! (After I took a nap following my all-nighter at work, that is.) Tomorrow we're off to go kayaking or sailing. I can't wait!

Summoning Light by Jeanne Cavelos


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was paced somewhat slower than the first in the series, and the scope more narrow. Whereas the reader is invited to feel wonder and fear as Galen learns about himself and his world in the first novel, this second book is filled with a bit drudgery. There was also a lot of introspection, which served to further weight down the story.

I've often thought that one the things that drew people to the Harry Pottery series was the constant sense of wonder and discovery. In fact, I suppose this is actually a characteristic of most good fantasy. Fiction spares us from the daily tedium that grinds wonder into the mundane.

I did enjoy this novel: It's not written poorly by any stretch, the prose flows well enough. And I love the idea of the Techo-Mages, the Shadows, and the Vorlons. --Reading this trilogy is a return to my favorite themes in the Babylon 5 world.

But to be sure, it's not as good as the first. And I'm still unsure if people other than a Babylon 5 viewers would enjoy the story as much as fans.

View all my reviews >>

Here's what my most recent book binge looked like. This round is a little light on the fiction and heavier on good intention.

I've been guilty in the past of buying books that sounded like a good idea at the time, and then never reading them. I hope not to make that mistake again by taking a page from Dawn's reading habits and not dwelling too much on a book, not reading it as though there will be a quiz later. There isn't any reason, for example, to read the acknowledgments, or the edition's preface, or even the introduction unless you're really that interested. It isn't necessary to dwell on "filler" content when you come across it, for fear of missing some life changing nugget of knowledge.

I remember when my lung collapsed for the first time. I was in college and missed two or three weeks of classes. Ordinarily I would have simply canceled my classes for that semester. Unfortunately I had just canceled the previous semester of classes due to the drama of moving out of my parent's house and living on my own for the first time. I forget the details, but dropping a second semester of classes would have gotten me kicked out of the honors program or some such thing. So I went to each of my teachers, told them why I'd been out, and asked if I could try to catch up. One of the classes I was taking at the time was Calculus, which brings me to the point of this story. I read the stupid thing like it was a fiction book instead of a reference. (Though I did get end up getting a 'B'.)

Anyway, I'm curious to see if I actually make it through the negotiating book and two grammar books. I think I will though; they're written by the same people that write the Grammar Girl podcast, which I enjoy a lot. --In fact if you listen to podcasts, I can recommend this one to you. It's produced well and very educational. I could do without the sponsor announcement every single episode, especially sine they're rather short, but that's my only complaint.



Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In


Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)


Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (Quick & Dirty Tips)


Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking


Emotional Intelligence 2.0


What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character


Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose



Darkness at Sethanon

The subject of momentum came up for me a couple times recently. Once was during a very good speech that I had the privilege of attending this weekend. And the second was while listening to a Lenswork podcast titled "The Value of Momentum". This particular Lenswork podcast is anecdote describing the author's childhood experience with his first car and some very good advice given to him by his father: It's easier to turn the wheel, to change direction, if you're moving forward even a little bit.

Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe it's a sign. But it's certainly pertinent. Like sailing into a headwind, I've lost most of my momentum.

Just after (I quit) college I had a lot of fun traveling with the Renaissance Festival and then truck driving so that I could see the country. But as that got old, it was soon apparent that I needed a career. And more than that, I wanted to be really good at something. Computers were an obvious choice. The Internet was just becoming very mainstream, IT jobs were increasing in demand, and computers were in my blood. Heck, I started tinkering with programming on a Commodore 64 before I even knew the periodic table. (This particular comparison comes to mind because I actually learned the periodic elements via some educational software on the C-64 two or three years before it was introduced to me in school.)

It took just a couple tries to get my foot in the door with my first IT job. And then as Nik once said I "hit the ground running". I worked during the day, took courses some evenings, tinkered other evenings, and did more work over the weekends. I dedicated my life to learning, and it paid off. "I got good." My salary approximately doubled with each new job I took. And I didn't slow down at all until the dotcom company began to fail and started to burn out.

Really tough jobs are more than just long hours. They're fast paced, involve tough decisions, lots of responsibility, and brutal politics. That was the dotcom company. I've never had a job like that before or since. And I'd say that was probably the highlight of my career. I learned more there, about more things, than any other job. And I had mad momentum.

But as the company started to hit some very serious walls, I finally grew tired. I needed a break. And when they went under I was determined to take a break and not work for few months. That is also when someone first introduced me to EverQuest (EQ), the crack cocaine of video games at the time. (Currently replaced by World of Warcraft.) EverQuest was the kind of game that I might have wished for when I was really young, "Maybe in a hundred years from now they'll have a fantasy world where you can actually go!" The first time I played EQ, I played at least 40 hours straight. I remember there was at least an eight hour period where I didn't eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. I know this because I remember being very surprised when the sun had come up, and then being surprised again when the sun was going down. "Holy crap! We need to order pizza or something!"

These Massively Multiplayer Games (MMOs) were the first of two bad things to happen to me on the heels of my burnout. The second thing was my current job, which landed in my lap thanks to a friend. I was sleeping one afternoon when he called and asked, "What are you doing? Do you have time to talk to my manager?" I was more or less employeed later that afternoon, though it took several weeks for the paperwork to clear. I was tired, but my momentum was still going strong.

There is nothing inherently wrong with my current employer. In fact, there is quite a bit of prestige that comes from working there. But it was too comfortable: I got to work from home. I sometimes had weeks when there was very little to do. (Though those were offset by 60+ hour weeks.) And I no longer had to do anything myself. The job would have been just fine if I'd left for something better in two or three years, improved myself. Instead I stayed. I found myself in a comfy and unlikely position where I didn't have to improve. But like sailing into a headwind, my career was soon stalled. And worse, I haven't found it easy to course correct.

I could write pages and pages about my work situation. I've glossed over lots of details, nuances, and events. The last eight or nine years can't be summed up quite so simply. But those details really aren't important for this entry. In addition to the sailing analogy, I've often said my career is stalled like a whitewater rafter caught in a hole. I'm trapped, and I'm taking in water.

Perhaps though I'm being a little too hard on myself here saying that I have no momentum at all. I've picked up quite a bit of recognition in my new department. I've charted a new course in the company that I think may be fruitful if I can stay focused. And I have hopes of making a quantum leap with an external opportunities eventually. But I want to pick up some personal momentum as well.

I was reading the Wikipedia page for Richard Feynman recently and was gobsmacked by how much he accomplished. Plus, in the article I was captivated by a description of him as an eccentric: "He was regarded as an eccentric and free spirit. He was a prankster, juggler, safecracker, proud amateur painter, and bongo player. He liked to pursue a variety of seemingly unrelated interests, such as art, percussion, Maya hieroglyphs, and lock picking." This is a guy that I would have loved to hang around. (Alas! If I only I could have taken physics at Caltech in the 60s instead of, well, not being born yet. I guess I was lazy even back then.) His biography makes me want to do more with my life.

I've been thinking that I want to go back to school for advanced math and to combine that with computer programming. I'd love to do research into artificial life, neural networks, and the like. I'm not sure how to do that in my current situation though. Nobody offers an online degree in mathematics. My current job is far too hectic to try to schedule a mid-day course for a couple days during the week. And actually my current too hectic to much else at all. I haven't even gone out to take pictures recently, or to shoot, and definitely not to exercise. Even my weekends are impacted at the moment. And for what it's worth, I wouldn't be allowed to leave my current position to pursue the new career path I've charted at work either. I'm definitely stuck in that whitewater-like hole.

I was actually hoping get laid off last month; severance packages are still being offered I think and that would allow me to go back to school. I thought about changing my tag line at work to "Choose me! Q1 2010!" But since it seemed unlikely I would get chopped (I can't be easily replaced at the moment), it seemed a garish thing.

Getting a sailboat out of a headwind involves a bit of current and some patience. (--In my limited experience.) And that's definitely how I feel right now. I let my ship stall and now I can't get it angled to pick up the wind. I'm stuck, waiting patiently. Hopefully I'll get turned around eventually to pick up the next wind; at least now I'm paying attention, watching for it.

I have a problem with hobbies and focus. I have too many, and I don't focus well at all. Over the years I've drifted in and out of various interests always promising that this time I'll stick with it. But the problem is I can't bring myself to give up several interests to just focus on a single hobby of choice.

I've tried to of course. At once point I was just going to play chess. And then I was just going to play piano. And then I was going to write every day. Then I was going focus on computer programming. I'm always telling myself that I'm going to exercise: for a while it was yoga and then it was swimming. (And never mind all the "maintenance" things that I should be doing every day like cleaning or organizing!) The bottom line is, I just can't contain my interests.

A few years ago it dawned me: that you can't have a large number of interests and do each one every single day. There aren't enough hours. So I came up with a system. I decided to make a list, which I laminated and used with dry erase marker, with the idea that I would work down the list until everyone was done at least once, and then I'd start it all over again. It didn't matter if it took 3 days or even a week to go down the list; at least I'd be getting to everything on a regular basis. And I would be making forward progress on my goals.

It takes about 10,000 hours or 10 years to get really good at something. That seems like a long time at first glance, but time flies quickly. And when six months, or a year, or a decade, screwing around and not working on something you love, you've done yourself a real disservice.

Peter Norvig wrote a fantastic eassy about this on his site. It focuses on learning to program computers, but the article could apply to anything: "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years". I've copied part of that text here:

Bloom (1985), Bryan & Harter (1899), Hayes (1989), Simmon & Chase (1973)) have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing, music composition, telegraph operation, painting, piano playing, swimming, tennis, and research in neuropsychology and topology. The key is deliberative practice: not just doing it again and again, but challenging yourself with a task that is just beyond your current ability, trying it, analyzing your performance while and after doing it, and correcting any mistakes. Then repeat. And repeat again. There appear to be no real shortcuts: even Mozart, who was a musical prodigy at age 4, took 13 more years before he began to produce world-class music. In another genre, the Beatles seemed to burst onto the scene with a string of #1 hits and an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. But they had been playing small clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg since 1957, and while they had mass appeal early on, their first great critical success, Sgt. Peppers, was released in 1967. Malcolm Gladwell reports that a study of students at the Berlin Academy of Music compared the top, middle, and bottom third of the class and asked them how much they had practiced:

"Everyone, from all three groups, started playing at roughly the same time - around the age of five. In those first few years, everyone practiced roughly the same amount - about two or three hours a week. But around the age of eight real differences started to emerge. The students who would end up as the best in their class began to practice more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight by age 12, 16 a week by age 14, and up and up, until by the age of 20 they were practicing well over 30 hours a week. By the age of 20, the elite performers had all totaled 10,000 hours of practice over the course of their lives. The merely good students had totaled, by contrast, 8,000 hours, and the future music teachers just over 4,000 hours."

So it may be that 10,000 hours, not 10 years, is the magic number. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) thought it took longer: "Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price." And Chaucer (1340-1400) complained "the lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne." Hippocrates (c. 400BC) is known for the excerpt "ars longa, vita brevis", which is part of the longer quotation "Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile", which in English renders as "Life is short, [the] craft long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult." Although in Latin, can mean either art or craft, in the original Greek the word "techne" can only mean "skill", not "art".

Similarly Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner wrote, "The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming are nearly always made, not born. And yes, practice does make perfect."

I'm shocked and saddened to realize that it has been about ten years since I resumed piano lessons (with an outstanding teacher no less) only to end those lessons a few years later. I was pleased with my progress and really enjoying myself. But I let life get in the way. I was working at dotcom company burdened by the stresses of the moment. (And I was undisciplined.) But where is that company now? Gone. What were the emergencies of the moment? I can't remember. If only I'd set aside an hour a day to practice and continue my lessons...

Today I couldn't play a single piece on the piano. How nice it would have been to be at least a highly accomplished amateur. My face feels numb just thinking about and writing about this.

Going back to the system I created, it didn't work. The idea of having to cross everything off the list before returning to any particular activity was too rigid. And there was no way to track my efforts over time. Within a year I'd given up on the system as a complete failure.

This week however I have some renewed hope. I stumbled across a site called Joe's Goals that makes this kind of tracking very easy.



The idea and the mechanism are simple. In fact, I suppose you could do something similar with a spreadsheet. But I'm not going to take the time to put together a spreadsheet. And it won't look as nice or be as elegant. And besides, the site is funded with ad revenue (a cheap subscriptions gets rid of the ads), so there is hardly any reason not to use it or at least try it.

Basically you create a list of things you want to track. Then when you've done an item on your list a single click records it for the day. And the feedback you get from recording your activities helps you stay focused on the things that are important to you. (I learned the power of feedback when using the biofeedback lab in college. Information is a powerful tool!)

On my tracker I have a very long list including things like piano, chess, photography, photography editing, stretching, exercise, clearing, and so on. I'm not going to try to do everything on the same day. I might not even do everything on the same week. But when I start to neglect something, it will become apparent.

Of course, this isn't the only way to use the site. You can assign weights to different items. You can assign negative items in addition to positive items. (For example if you're trying to break a habit, I suppose.) And you can track your tasks in various ways to suit your taste:



There is a lot of flexibility here. And the simplicity of the tools makes it very usable.

Time will tell if this system increases my productivity and focus, but I think it will; I'm very excited about it. Just last week in my journal I was writing about the need come up with a new system for tracking goals, especially under the onslaught of my current work schedule. I'm pleasantly surprised that just days later I stumbled across just what I needed. Maybe that's the power of positive thinking? Hmm, maybe there's an app for that too!

Casting Shadows by Jeanne Cavelos



I was so pleasantly surprised by this novel! On several occasions I laughed out loud or proclaimed, "Oh no!" And I don't think I can give a novel any higher praise than that.

I stumbled across Casting Shadows while doing a search on Amazon for the Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade. I was looking for reviews after watching Crusade because it was so terrible; I was curious if others thought it as bad as I did. While reading those reviews I saw an ad for this book.

Though I didn't like the series, I was intrigued with the idea of the Techno-Mages while watching Crusade. In fact Galen and the Techno-Mages were the only thing I really enjoyed about the series, and so my curiosity was piqued. When I also saw how many good reviews had been posted for this book, I reluctantly decided to give it a try.

The book was a quick, easy read, and well written. In fact, I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed all the characters, and fans of Babylon 5 will find the Babylon 5 universe faithfully reproduced.

Casting Shadows tells the story of Techno-Mages leading up to the Shadow War. Those familiar with Crusade will recognize the main character Galen right away. The novel follows him as he completes his training and becomes a Techno-Mage in his own right.

My only disappointment as I write this is that the next novel in the series hasn't arrived yet in the mail. Sadly these books are out of print and so I've had to order them used. I don't mind ordering used books at all, but book dealers seem to recognize that they can squeeze the fans for a little extra cash here. I paid about $10 a piece for the 1st and 3rd book. For the second book I shelled out $25.

I think Babylon 5 fans will love this book; I highly recommend it. I don't know if those unfamiliar with the Babylon 5 story will enjoy it quite as much, though I do think it stands on it's own and is a good read regardless.

View all my reviews >>

I felt the urge to write a Haiku about Spring today. I wonder if they make a cream for that?

If you like drinking loose tea, I highly recommend ingenuiTEA from Adagio Teas.

I've tried a bunch of products over the years and none of them have been perfect. Sometimes they don't filter all the tea, or the design is flawed, or they're a pain to clean. This teapot on the other hand is frankly perfect.

You just throw in your loose tea and water, let it steep, and then set the teapot on top of your cup. All the tea drains down into the cup and you're done. The design is a lot more efficient that the traditional press in my opinion. And it's light years beyond having to use a teaball or some such thing.

That's it. I was just sitting down at the computer with another pot of tea, thinking about how much I really like this teapot (a Christmas gift from Dawn's parents; thanks again!) and decided I should share since I have several friends that like tea as much as I do.

Well, I'm exhausted. I just spent four of five hours "hack and slashing" my way through a blog update. A lot of features have been added. For example I created a GoodReads account. I've reestablished a Flickr account for personal photographs that I just want to share with friends or family. I linked back to Twitter; maybe I'll start using that again in fits and starts.

Long story short, I've been a little disappointed not to be writing, and I wanted to bring the blog back to life. I wanted a fresh look too. The result here mostly works I think. Though, I would have rather had someone actually design a logo and custom template for the blog. I'm impatient however, and hesitant to spend too much money on it right now. Instead I bought an image I liked off of iStockphoto and used that with this free template for a fair compromise.

I'm a little worried that I spent too much time on this tonight when I have real work to do. On the other hand, as distractions go, it's a hell of a lot better than surfing the Internet all night.