dennis yang dot com

[stolen from sallytv]

K: question
K: would don’t sky divers get the Benz while sky diving if the pressure’s changing from the sky to the ground and they’re going really fast?
K: do you know?
Me: answer.
Me: the bends you mean
K: yeah

[Snip, snip... I removed the part of the conversation where I explain what "The Bends" are.]

K: so, essentially we’re make up of dry ice?
Me: especially if they’ve been scuba diving
Me: then the nitrogen in their bodies would start to bubble out
Me: but
K: isn’t that whas liquid nitrogen is?
Me: they have to go really high
Me: um.. no, and no.
Me: dry ice is carbon dioxide
K: oh
Me: and liquid nitrogen is.. liquid nitrogen.
K: hmm
K: isn’t that the stuff they freeze warts off with?
Me: maybe?
K: oh ok
K: I think so
Me: i dont know what this has to do with your question
K: oh, I just recognized liquidy nitrogen
K: then started to think of another question
K: hmm
K: ok, so air turns to liquid when pressurized
K: then it needs time to turn back into air
K: on the way up?
Me: no
K: oh
Me: nitrogen, in the air
Me: dissolves into your body
Me: when pressurized
Me: and when you depressurize
Me: then if you don’t do it slowly
K: oh ok
Me: then it the bubbles that form are too big
Me: and then they cause problems
K: so, you need time to get the nitrogen out?
Me: exactly.
Me: if you come up more slowly
Me: then the gases can get out of your body without causing bad things.
K: ok
K: like farts?
Me:

Cool.

A few weeks ago, I had a super full day, where I had a baseball game at 11am, and then shuck & groove at 2pm… And, on top of that, it was also Mission Open Studios… Argh! I hate when so many things fall all on one day. Dan and Robin’s friend Mike was showing his stuff that day, and I wanted to go check it out, since I’ve always liked his paintings.. Anyway.. open studios started at 10am, so I met Dan at Mike’s studio at precisely 10am.. perused all of Mike’s work, and then bought this painting. Efficient I am.

This is the second piece in my slowly growing collection of paintings.. The first being ID Index 3 by my friend Ben…

So, I got word this weekend that I was granted an entry into the escape from alcatraz triathlon in June.. I was already planning to do Wildflower in May, so this will be really fun. Awesome. I’m excited and scared at the same time. The drive you out into the bay on a ferry right next to alcatraz and then.. you jump off and swim 1.5 miles for shore.. then, 18 miles of bike riding all around San Francisco’s super hilly parks. And then, 8 miles of running along baker beach. Hmm. fun. I was motivated by this, so this weekend I got things started with some running work with Kristin at Kezar Stadium, and then a 40 mile bike ride with Dana, Dan and Dave along Paradise loop.. I better really stick to the training schedule this year, or I’ll end up as sea lion food. Woohoo. Fun fun fun.

So, I’ve been working from home for a little over a year now, and while I do appreciate the commute, the best part of this gig is that the schedule is ultra-flexible. I only have one scheduled meeting a week, and the rest of the work week basically just happens whenever. I mean, there’s more than enough work to do, and yes, I typically do need to be working during the middle of the day, and I have deadlines and stuff, but for the most part, it’s nice to have the flexibility to, say, go for a bike ride in the afternoon or something.. That is, of course, I get my work done, which is cool, cuz then I can chill when I’m typically brain dead (like right after lunch) and work when I’m most alert (late at night, like now, for example).

The most interesting thing that this work flexibility has affected is my sleep schedule. The only time I really have to set my alarm clock is on the weekends, but otherwise I just wake up whenever my body says “wake up”.. And, if I get too tired and lose focus during the day, then it’s cool to just veg or take a little nap for a bit. But, when I add all of the hours of sleep up I typically get during a 24 hour period, it works out to about 5 or 6 hours, and I’ve actually been feeling a lot more alert than I recall feeling when I had to set an alarm before..

So, my typical schedule is something like:

8am – wake up, eat some breakfast and start work…
10am – mind starts to wander, go downstairs and play some MLB 06
noon – go forage for food and chill or (not lately, admittedly) work out or something
2pm – back at work, ok, maybe lie on the couch and rest my eyes for a few minutes
6pm – take bailey to the park and run her around a bit, then have dinner and go out and do something social or play softball or something (or, if I don’t go out, I might fall asleep on the couch for a little bit after dinner)
midnight – back at work, this is when I get my best coding done
3am – force myself to go to sleep, cuz if I don’t, I’ll just keep going

So yah, it’s a little bit of a weird schedule, but it’s been working out for me quite well I think. I get plenty of work time in, and I still am able to fit in work out time (ok, not lately, I’m getting fat) and social time.

Anyway, I’ve never really heard of it before, but there’s this thing called Polyphasic sleep that sounds really interesting… Instead of this kind of ad hoc sleep schedule I’ve been subscribing to, the Polyphasic plan puts you on a specific, regimented sleep schedule of 20 minute naps spaced every 4 hours throughout the day. You end up getting about 2-3 hours of sleep daily.. Sweeeet. Imagine if you had 22 hours of waking time a day… That’d be awesome. AND supposedly you get to eat 4 meals a day on this whole thing (or you lose weight, which could be another benefit)..

Supposedly the main drawback are that it’s actually hard to stick to the schedule and if you go off it, then you get really really tired. (hey, it’s nice hanging out and all, but I gotta go take my 20 minute nap) And, some people actually report that they get bored with all of the extra free time (great, I’m up at 4am, but nobody else is..)

Anyway, There seems to be lots of people trying it though, so hmm.. I’m intrigued.. Maybe I’ll give it a try…

I mean, it’s gotta be better than just popping Provigil, right?

A few months ago, a friend of mine that used to work with me at CNET, John Roberts, left to join a startup called OpenDNS. DNS? Really? The last cool DNS project I heard about was EasyDNS (correction.. EveryDNS — thanks Mark!), back when I was frantically trying to find someone to be my authoritative name server. Coincidentally, the EasyDNS dude went on to found OpenDNS.

Anyway, I think get how the Internets kind of works, and while speeding up DNS lookup really would in theory make the general experience better.. But I always assumed that DNS lookups were cached like crazy in just about every spot that used them, so I was frankly a little doubtful as to how noticeable a faster DNS would be..

Well.. I’m now convinced. It’s faster with OpenDNS.

Upon immediate installation of OpenDNS… all of a sudden, everything sped up.. Installation is slighty techy — you have to go and configure the DNS settings in your router.. but they provide easy step-by-step instructions, and after installation, I had to hard reboot my router after a harrowing 10 minutes *GASP* without an internet connection.

I was starting to get accustomed to the laaaaaag of certain sites when you first type them into the browser, but I had always assumed that it was the slowness of web servers that I was accessing.. I guess I was wrong.

Not convinced? If you like charts and numbers, this dude measured the speed difference with OpenDNS and published the results. (ok, no charts, just numbers.)

OpenDNS also claims to help make the Internet safer by blocking out domains to phishing sites and such… but I haven’t seen how that’s going to work just yet… I wonder if another revenue source for them would be to block out adult sites and such (for parents watching over their kids’ surfing and such)..

But for now, I’m using it mainly because it makes my Internets faster (cuz, you know.. the Internet is a series of tubes [thanks Audris!])..

Props to John and the OpenDNS folks..

It’s wednesday… so, a little new music for y’all.. It’s a little hiphop mashup live jam from the Blue Scholars, an underground hiphop crew out of seattle… The Inkwell, by Blue Scholars..

Good stuff.

So.. have you ever wanted to be on Jeopardy? But, (unlike my cousin Stephanie) you’re not willing to go all the way to LA to take the test? Well… thanks to the modern marvel known as the Internets, you can now take the Jeopardy tryout test online!! That’s right.. next week, from March 28-30th, you can take the Jeopardy 50 question test and see if you’ve got what it takes to make it onto the show.. The test for the West Coast is on the 30th at 8pm, is exactly when the Her Space Holiday show is… I guess I can take the quiz and still make it to the show though…

[found at tvsquad]

Happy Birthday Andy! Today’s my brother’s birthday… so, if you see him, wish him a happy birthday.