You see it all the time these days. I guess it’s because everyone is so specialized in their particular fields that they often don’t have the knowledge or ability to make connections to other fields. When I read medical research, I often find it strange that a paper that focuses on endocrinology doesn’t make an obvious comparison to another field, for example, nutrition. Some of the implications of the compartmentalization of science are so obvious that it seems strange that making the mental connections is so hard to do. For example, there’s still so much ongoing nutritional research ...

For those people that know me, I’m pretty serious about nachos. I’m the only person I know with a complete lack of a sweet tooth. Chocolate, pies, cakes, candy, gummy bears, sugar — you could starve me for a week and put that stuff in front of me and I wouldn’t crave it at all. But put a plate of gooey, cheesy nachos in front of me and that’s a different story. I’ve slowly honed my nacho-making ability over the years to the point where I’m pretty much a nacho snob now. When I was down in Portland I went out of my way to find some nachos, only to be served a batch where the cheese ...

I don’t do it very often, mainly because my fingers are not iPhone friendly, but i have the wordpress iPhone app which allows me to blog from anywhere pretty much. So here I am in bed, working my iPhone. Today was a long day, and tomorrow will likely be as well. Good news is there’s a light shining at the end of the tunnel (hopefully it’s not a fuse). Not sure what I’ll do this weekend. I’d like to hit the gym a few times if possible. Other than that, probably catch up on errands and maybe catch a movie in the theatre – haven’t done that in a while. That’s me on the iPhone, signing ...

Yesterday I had an appointment with my old orthodontist to get a little retainer removed from the inside of my bottom teeth. It seems so long ago now, but I once had pretty messed up teeth. Back when I was about 13 I had my first visit with the ortho, and they started to plan the torture regimen for the next few years. First, because my teeth were so crowded, they extracted four permanent teeth from my mouth. That still didn’t provide enough room, so they cemented this little device to the roof of my mouth that reminds me of “The Rack”. Basically every night I’d stick a little key in it ...

A while ago I was approached by a Vancouver public relations company and asked if I wanted to be a guest of the Delta Grand Okanagan hotel in Kelowna for a weekend. The offer came right at a period of time where I was feeling a bit burnt out, so I gladly accepted and started packing my bags. The route from Chilliwack to Kelowna involves taking a highway through the mountains. Depending on the weather conditions, often you’ll find snowy conditions near the summit. Just in case I encountered those types of conditions I packed my chains for the car and also left early in the afternoon so I’d ...

I’ve been reading a lot of food/cooking related books lately. No real reason, just haven’t had too much else around to read. I actually stumbled across an 1,100 page culinary manual on the internet a while ago, and have slowly been absorbing it. In addition, I’ve been passively thumbing through various cookbooks I have around the house looking for dishes to try making over the next few months. Last night I made myself a little roasted chicken for thanksgiving and watched a few movies by the fire. After the chicken was done, I decided to make my first chicken stock, thinking I would start ...

Some of us have them, some don’t. As for me, I’ve been chewing my nails pretty much my whole life. I really don’t know how it started to be honest, but once it did, my fingers have never really been the same. I tried that polish you put on them that tastes bad, but that didn’t even come close to stopping me. Basically you just get used to the foul taste and chew anyways. The thing is, most of the time it’s not even conscious, it’s just one of those things I end up doing while driving or sitting on the couch. There are lots of famous nail biters, so I know I’m not alone. Elijah Wood ...

Having lived in Vancouver for over ten years of my life, it’s safe to say I’ve been exposed to a pretty wide gamut of sushi. I’m told that Vancouver sushi is pretty much the second best in the world, the first being obviously Japan and Tokyo. While I’ve never had it, San Francisco sushi is supposed to be pretty tasty as well, although many of my friends who have had both prefer Vancouver sushi. I spent ten days in Tokyo back in 2006, and was treated to some of the best tempura I’ve ever had in my life. Eating out in Tokyo is a pretty cool experience, mainly because dinners are long and ...

A few hours ago I spread my legs out on the couch hoping that my headache would go away if I rested for a few minutes. I just woke up, and realized that I had actually fallen asleep for around two hours, which I guess means I was pretty beat. As I mentioned before, I’m heading out of town for the weekend. I’ve been treated to a complementary weekend in Kelowna thanks to the Grand Delta Okanagan hotel. It’s a great hotel situated right on the lake, and the Delta is putting me up in one of their nicer suites for the weekend. Tomorrow night I’m being treated to a really nice dinner in their ...

Years ago I found the website SpaceWeather.com, and since then have made a yearly pilgrimage to the site in the fall and winter months. Having seen the aurora borealis probably about 7 or 8 times in my life already, it’s something I try to see whenever I get the chance, sort of like hooking up with an old friend after a long absence. The first few times I saw it I was up in the Yukon Territory for a summer. Obviously up there it’s pretty easy to see (that is, when it’s not daylight for 24 hours a day, as it very nearly was for my first few months up there). I actually remember coming out ...

About three years ago, I walked onto a Mazda lot in Abbotsford and bought a new car. I only had about half of it in cash, so I was forced to finance the rest. During the application process, the guy looking at my credit said it had been quite a while since he saw someone with credit as good as mine. Last night I decided (since I’m looking at maybe buying a house in the new year) to get a copy of my credit report and make sure everything was in order. There are two places you can get one online, the first being EquiFax, and the second being TransUnion. Neither service is free, and are about $20 ...

I read an article this morning that basically made me feel bad for being against the Olympics at this stage in the game. It was written by a participant in the games, one who is disappointed with the lack of support in this province: With a blunt and harsh realization that not everyone with a Canadian passport is brimming over with excitement and anticipation for the sixteen day event in February, I must admit that my bright and shiny optimism has turned a murky shade of grey. Not because sliding hasn’t been great – it’s been fantastic. I feel in top form on my sled, I am in my best physical ...

I get enough of these types of emails that I basically don’t even really read them any more. Hi Duane, For the release of a future worldwide success story, I’m urgently looking for a Linux debugging expert with very strong knowledges of C/C++! They’re implementing the ANDROID (Java) mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel, then looking for someone who knows Android architecture and API’s. To resume: -Strong C/C++ knowledges -Experience with Linux Kernel development, and various Linux distributions -Testing, and Linux/Unix development skills You love Brussels, are excited by ...

There was a tweet tonight that kind of got me thinking. Nowadays, most of us are educated in school that we should start saving for retirement as early as possible to take advantage of the benefits of compound interest. There are lots of books that parable that concept, one of which is The Wealthy Barber, a book I read when I was probably 23 or so. The question on Twitter had to do with the amount of money a person would need a year to maintain a roughly comparable quality of life. The number floating around was $50,000 a year, one which I think (depending on where you live obviously), would probably ...

A while ago I was contacted by a PR company and asked if I wanted to enjoy an all inclusive weekend out in the Okanagan. I was fairly busy at the time, so wasn’t able to take advantage of the offer then. But given how my schedule is lightening up, now seems like a good time to have a relaxing weekend. So this upcoming weekend I’ll be heading to Kelowna for a weekend of Duane R & R. I’ll be staying in the Delta Grand Okanagan hotel, which has a nice view of Lake Okanagan. I believe there’s a wine festival going on throughout the weekend, so I imagine I’ll class myself up a bit and ...

A few weeks ago my friends Patrick and Dale were in town. Patrick is actually a pretty good cook, something that was evidenced by a lot of the meals Patrick made for us while he was here. One of the things that visit did was remind me how much I enjoy tinkering around the kitchen, and just how much better fresh/good food tastes. One of the things that’s cool about Chilliwack is just how easy it is to get fresh ingredients. Next door to me is a big Cooper’s grocery store, which I can most things at in a pinch. While it has a good selection, it’s a lot more money than some of the specialty ...

Most people probably wouldn’t look at aging like one, but aging is actually fairly similar to a disease, one that ultimately catches up with everyone. There’s no real smoking gun with regards to what causes us to age, but there are a few culprits: Every normal cell has within it an ultimate limit on the number of times the cell can divide before dying. This limit is known as the Hayflick Limit, and ultimately determines when cells in the body die. It is believed that this limit is a direct result of the influence of the enzyme telomerase whichs repairs the end of DNA segments. In most cells ...

Today is a grumpy day for me. I haven’t had a good sleep for a few days, and woke up with snot dripping all over my face. That being said, I wanted to point something out on my site. I’ve been told that one of the most disrespectful things you can do in the corporate world is to add someone as a CC to an email. Basically once you’re on an email thread, you’re there to stay, whether you like it or not. Ever remove someone from a CC list? It happens I’m sure, but it’s not the norm. Ideally you’d ping someone on IM or some other back channel and ask a person before adding them to a ...

I just got home from dropping Dale and Patrick off at the Abbotsford airport. Without a doubt, it was a great visit, and it was good to catch up with both of them. As I mentioned previously, this last weekend was the last item on my radar for the foreseeable future. This last summer was extremely busy — I attended two out of town conferences, and it seemed like I was bouncing in and out of the city on a routine basis. Given that I moved into my new place here in January, it’s only recently that I’ve found the chunk of time necessary to finally unpack. We’re also been extremely busy at ...

Gillian Shaw had a great article today in the Vancouver Sun about what it means to unplug nowadays. I think as the penetration of computers, especially mobile internet, continues to spread, it’s going to be more and more relevant. Without a doubt, I think people spend way too much time online these days. In fact, if anyone is guilty of that, it’s me. I was recently trying to think of memories from before the Twitter and Facebook eras, trying to remember what I used to spend most of my time doing. I remember having a lot of nice dinners with my ex, and also going for long walks from time to ...