Posts

Posted on

Parks with Ken: Bill Yeck Park, Smith House Entrance

I don’t normally spend any time with coworkers outside of work, now that I’m a “professional”, in some sense of the word. Stakes are higher, and I’m not looking to expand my social life. Compared to my earlier life in low-paying hourly positions, of which the only perks were to meet people of a similar age and take home product the bosses didn’t care about, I’ve now learned that too many people are out to sabotage my career and use fake camaraderie to build HR cases calling for my termination, and unlike those earlier jobs where I could easily just grab another entry-level position somewhere, a career change now would be very detrimental to my socioeconomic status. So now I’m slow to trust.

But after a stint as an Agile Product Owner, such a psychotic product development methodology unexpectedly built legitimate camaraderie amongst those of us forced into unified misery. Some less-lethal version of soldiers under fire. And as a result, I now have a recurring lunch with my former Scrum Master: Ken. It was a lunch, originally. And admittedly, Ken’s idea. He’s a networker it would seem. I’ve always been envious of people who can do that – those who maintain a broad professional circle.

But now I’ve changed it to a walk, because I hate trying to talk while eating. Talking while walking is far easier, and healthier. And being outside has proven mental benefits.

But Ken, not being one for sameness, wanted to try different parks each walk. This presents an interesting circumstance in which I now need to look into where all the local parks are. Normally I look for parks in which to shoot squirrels, so this is not my normal variant of parks and rec. But it is an opportunity to learn more about the outdoor world beyond my bubble, so I’ll take this project and begin documentation!

First up: Bill Yeck, the Smith House Entrance:

Frankly, I don’t much care about a park’s backstory unless it involves some historical event. But usually metro parks are just former private property that the former estate willed in a trust to become undeveloped greenspace. It’s a nice gesture, but hardly interesting. Here’s the info for those so inclined to read it: https://cwpd.org/parks/bill-yeck/

And now, my review:

Difficulty: 1-3/5, depending on the trail.

Points of note:

  • Varying trail elevations and corresponding difficulty.
  • Multiple biome selection: forest, meadow, gully.
  • Bird blind, markers with some backstory info, apiary.

There’s plenty of trail to choose from on this one. It’d take multiple visits to cover them all. Happy hiking.

–Simon

Posted on

Project Puke

What’s the best way to separate two jagged razor blades that are glued together?

With the tools on hand, the answer is with a screwdriver and pie disher.

Even if I could eat these things, which I can’t, the grocery store variety was not the plump restaurant variety that looks so inviting.

I really couldn’t say whether or not these were any good, but they got gobbled down regardless. At $2 a pop, they’re a little cheaper than restaurants, but the labor involved isn’t worth it.

Oysters – I wonder who ever tried the first one.

–Simon

Posted on

Kettle Grills

I notice kettle grills have a more personal connection to their owners. No one refurbishes their gas grills when they wear out. They get chucked in the trash and replaced with something shinier. But kettle grills are awash with aftermarket parts both to replace broken pieces as well as to enhance what comes stock. My own grill in fact, which was an anniversary present from Liz, has had its ash sweeper/air control replaced, new grill grates, and a fancy weather cover added. I’m very fond of it. It represents when I started charcoal grilling, and on my deck of my new home too. Very suburban.

And speaking of enhancements, I got tired of the steel grates. They’re thin and tend to bend with wear, and the steel has a low specific heat. So I found cast iron replacements!

Those quarter sections lift out too, giving access to the charcoal below,

I seasoned and sealed them over the weekend, and Sunday it’ll be warm enough that I’ll try grilled chicken. Here’s hoping I can step up my grilling game another notch!

–Simon

Posted on

Crocus Expansion

More crocuses were planted last fall, and now they are starting to arrive.

This throws off my phenological records, since these ones are out in the sun and warmer soil. Oh the problems I endure.

–Simon

Posted on

AI Search and Cotyledonic Polyembryony

I’ve started to embrace AI engines. The aging crank that I am has been reluctant to jump aboard too soon, but it turns out I was thinking about it all wrong. Instead of using it to lazily bypass the process of basic internet research, as its main purpose appears to be, I discovered that I can instead use it to bypass the bullshit copy/paste non-researched web articles themselves. A simple query returns aggregated, compiled, and distilled information; which I can then use to better refine my internet searches to find the actual information that most websites simply scrape and regurgitate. It was, perhaps, a slow revelationary process on my part.

Here’s a good example. One of my tomato starters had three initial leaves. I had never seen that before. My standard internet searching revealed that these first leaves that reside within the seed are called cotyledons. Sounds like a dinosaur to me, but okay. And as a seasoned gardener, I know that tomato seedlings have two cotyledons, not three. What was going on? It was time for Wikipedia to bestow me with closure.

But it didn’t. It just talked about the leaves themselves and their purpose, though not why there would be a non-standard number on a plant. Genetic mutation? Monsanto? Government conspiracy? Tell me!

That isn’t right! It’s some Damien shit right there. Mark of the beast!

But again, it didn’t. So I used an AI engine, and asked it why a tomato seedling would have 3 cotyledons. And it promptly told me that it’s rare, sometimes from genetic mutation, but usually resulting from polyembryony, which happens when more than one embryo forms within a single seed. Furthermore, it’s apparently a non-issue long term, though it causes early variations in normal growth patterns. Now that’s useful information, and also kind of fascinating.

And to drive the point home further, another one germinated, from a completely different variety!

Something in the water?

Most of the seeds I plant are ones I’ve saved, so this double occurrence is intriguing. Perhaps attributed to a statistical Poisson distribution, it could be an unintentional result of my decades-long solanum eugenics project.

Whatever the cause, I’ll be keeping a close eye on these samples. Maybe I’ll have developed new varieties! Or, more likely, the bigger achievement here is that I’ve finally dabbled in AI.

–Simon