MAS o Menos

I think something needs to be cleared up. This is a filtered blog. I don’t share every thought or feeling I have on this public forum. That isn’t my style. MAS o Menos is my hand-edited highlight reel. And guess what? I just pick the best scenes.

I’ll tell you I went to Brazil or got in a car chase with Hulk Hogan. But I’m not going to tell you about the four days I laid around watching Star Trek with sinus headaches. This week has been very tough on me. CriticalMAS is not the forum for that discussion. CriticalMAS is my press release.

My post Considering a Return to Columbus has caused some misunderstanding. I didn’t dump my private thoughts into that post. I just addressed the public part of that discussion — the weather.

If I decide to return to Columbus, even for just a short time, you can be assured I’ll be doing for other reasons than I no longer loathe cold weather. But those reasons are not going to appear on this blog.

My apartment windows face a meeting place for recovering alcoholics.  I’ve noticed that alcoholics for the most part look just like everyone else.  The one thing that most alcoholics have in common is they smoke.  They smoke a lot.  As a result many of those going to the building spend most of their time outside smoking in the parking lot.

Some people watch birds, I can’t help but watch them.  There are three neighbors that I’ve given pet nicknames.  Let me introduce you.

Pepsi Peg Leg - There is a one-legged guy that sits in a wheelchair chain smoking.  He is dressed like a Vietnam Veteran circa 1976.  Judging by his age, I don’t think he is old enough to have served in that war.  Everyday he spends a few hours smoking and drinking from a HUGE Pepsi cup.

Gary Busey With a Mullet - Imagine if Gary Busey was about 40 and had short feathered mullet.  Perhaps sobriety isn’t working for this guy.  If this were 1985, he would be the coolest guy in New Jersey.

Pregnant Kevin Smith - Imagine a Silent Bob that was lean except for a distended belly which makes him look 6 months pregnant.  Now add a camouflage kilt.

If I had a better camera and the word anonymous didn’t appear on their sign, I’d take photos.

A few weeks ago on my return flight from Columbus, a radical idea slipped into my conscious.  Could I move back to Columbus? As much as I love Seattle, it has been my experience in Seattle that has made me even consider the idea.  Before I moved to Seattle I decided that I would not let the rain get to me.  And it didn’t.  The short winter days, the snow and the gray skies never bothered me.  Today it was 49 degrees and I was walking around in a short-sleeved shirt.

For those new to this site, I was born and raised in Central Ohio.  All my family still resides there.  In 1994, a week after graduating from The Ohio State University, I left for Florida.  Why did I turn down two job offers to go deliver pizzas in Tampa Bay?  I hated the cold weather.

Back in 1994, I needed to move to escape the cold weather.  Today I have savings and a passport.

Leaving Florida, DC and San Diego were easy decisions.  Leaving Seattle would be the toughest.  So now I’m considering a 1 year return to Columbus.  What to do?  What to do?

I’d like to thank all of you that have linked to CriticalMAS or INeedCoffee over the years. Now that I’ve moved some pages around, can I request that you update your links?

CriticalMAS - Any blog post with “/mas/” in the URL has been moved. The Blogger days are over. The home page of this blog is simply criticalmas.com. Any old posts can be located with the search engine on the site. I will be taking down my Blogger home page very soon.

INeedCoffee - Content from 1999-2002 now has a shorter URL format. Instead of being “/YY/MM/”, it is now simply “/YY/”. I also moved the section pages from “/tag/” to “/section/”.

Vietnam: Silent Global Coffee Power

Both sites have updated sitemaps and search engine friendly redirects.

Lura and I have decided to break up.

When I first picked up this book I didn’t think it would hold that many interesting ideas about the psychology of eating. I was wrong.

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink should be read by anyone that has ever dieted or is ready to begin a diet. The motto for the book is:

The best diet is the one you don’t know you are on.

The author has setup many interesting studies regarding what causes us to increase our caloric intake at the psychological level. If the mind can trick us into consuming an extra 100-200 calories a day that will result in a weight gain of 10 pounds a year. If we are aware of the mind tricks then we can reduce 100-200 calories from baseline, resulting in a 10 pound weight loss.

One study covered the effects of larger packages (Costco size).

We all consume more from big packages, whatever the product. Give people a large bag of dog food, they pour more. Give them a large bottle of liquid plant food they pour more. Give them a large shampoo bottle or container of laundry detergent, they pour more.

Did you know that the more people you eat with the more calories you will consume? Every additional person at the table results in bump in caloric intake for everyone at the table. Some tips to avoid over-eating in group settings include:

1. Try to be the last person to start eating.
2. Pace yourself to the slowest eater.
3. Avoid additional helpings by leaving some food on plate.
4. Decide how much you will eat prior to the start of the meal.

There is also an outstanding section the effects parents have on their children’s eating habits. A baby can sense food aversion from a parent and develop the same aversion. That chapter is full of tips parents can use to expose their kids to a diverse healthy diet.

I highly recommend Mindless Eating.

Yesterday was the 2-year anniversary of my Summer of George. I’ve been asked a few times recently if I will be starting a sequel to Summer of George. Not at this time. When I quit my job back in May 2006, I was burned out. I needed a break. I needed to travel and play.

Today I am eager to work. However, I need to take a break from working for others. For the past decade I’ve been building sand castles. Quality software in the hands of poor management is wasted pixels. When I look back at my web development career which started in 1995, the only thing left standing is my coffee web site INeedCoffee.

INeedCoffee has over 9 years of content, 180 contributors and thousands of daily page views. And it needs a lot of work. The current design was released in April 2003. So for the next few months I will devote all my time to building the new version. I owe to the readers, the contributors and myself. Legacy is more important than a paycheck to me at this time.

On Sunday June 1st at 2 PM, I will be doing a home coffee roasting demonstration at Stickman Coffee in the Fremont section of Seattle. This is open to the public and is a free event. If you are interested in attending, join the Seattle Coffee Meetup group and RSVP.

Stickman Coffee
3516 Fremont Place North
Seattle , WA 98103

For those that are interested in learning how to roast your own coffee, but are unable to attend can read Roasting Coffee in a Popcorn Popper.

Last year I read a book about Kaizen and this book was recommended to me.

Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard details the steps and tools it takes to master something.   It was a quick read and I learned a few tips along the way.  Here is a passage I liked from the part on setting priorities.

Ultimately, liberation comes through the acceptance of limits.  You can’t do everything, but you can do one thing, and then another and another.  In terms of energy, its better to make a wrong choice than none at all.

For a long time I’ve been paralyzed on deciding how to improve INeedCoffee.com.  A week ago I decided to not fear making the wrong decision and to proceed with a bold redesign of the site — one step at a time.

I finally got around to reading one of the most cited business books of the decade. In fairness to me, I did read the original Wired article from October 2004 when it first came out.

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson is the detailed examination of how we are moving from a hit-based society to a niche-based society.  The thesis was more interesting four ago, today it seems so obvious.  It is a good book, but most would be better off reading the Wired article first and then deciding if they wish to go deeper on the topic before picking up the book.