weill aspects

originally posted may 18, 2004

bathtub curve, washboard stomach

The Strip District has sprung to life. A few new loft buildings are going up. Streetside merchants are coming back for another high-traffic summer. We even have our own Pamela's Diner, the newest of a small chain of Pittsburgh-area breakfast joints. It's a good time to be a gourmand, but it's a better time to be a fitness freak.

scientific progress goes "doink"

I'm in pretty lousy shape. I sit in a cubicle for at least eight hours a day. Last year I got into a vicious cycle of long workdays and frequent meals at restaurants and fast-food places. The results were twofold: I spent around $500 a month on food, and I gained about 30 pounds to finish the year at a portly 185. This year I vowed to reverse the tide, but I weighed in at a frightening 193 a few weeks ago. I tried on a pair of khakis that fit perfectly in December and popped the button right off. That's about as clear a sign as any: either improve my lifestyle or buy a wardrobe full of new pants.

I did a little research and found the Couch-to-5K running plan, a plan designed to ease the couch potato into a regimen of running and walking. It's been two weeks since I started, but I'm still barely up to the standards of week one. In the hot and humid conditions, I've found myself running for just a few minutes and doing more of a brisk walk. Maybe if I can keep up a brisk walk for an hour or so, I'll realize some kind of benefit in the interim. It's a bit disheartening to see so many people of all ages jogging through the neighborhood while I stumble around in my DriWeave™ shirt and my MP3 player strapped to my arm. Still, running and walking are exercises that I can do frequently enough without having to drive to a gym or boot up a PlayStation.

The other half of this is proper diet. My George Foreman grill has been getting quite a workout of its own. I grill up salmon, chicken, and anything else I can find. It's still a lot easier and safer than frying, and my freezer is well-stocked enough to last me for weeks at a time. I also start every day with a cup of yogurt and a heaping tablespoon of flax seeds mixed in to provide essential omega-3 fatty acids. Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables make for nutritious snacks and desserts when I'm at home. I've started snacking on baby carrots instead of candy while at work. Every little bit helps. It's too soon to see any difference, but I'm serious about my health this time around. I won't be happy if I hit 200 pounds and grow out of all my clothing.

a "sudden change in lifestyle"

My Compaq laptop's "z" key stopped working recently. It only registers if you press another letter immediately beforehand. This means that I can go to amazon.com if I type quickly, but I can't easily get to a co-worker's server named "zurich." This latest glitch marks the third time in the last six months that my laptop has flaked out. Not looking forward to the horrors of Compaq tech support again, I did the second-best thing: I bought a new laptop. Say hello to Macrocosm.

Macrocosm is the name of my newest laptop. It's a 12" Apple PowerBook, the first Mac I've ever owned. I liked the fact that Mac OS X is the only consumer-grade UNIX-like operating system, so I can get (some) end-user apps but still use many of the same UNIX utilities without going through the horror of virtualization layers and workarounds. (For those I have Virtual PC, required to run a decent version of Quicken in Windows.)

For years now, I've been waffling on the idea of buying a Mac. Had I not received the Compaq as a gift in September 2001, I probably would have purchased an iBook for myself. When I finally bought the PowerBook, I wasn't buying a laptop; I was embarking on a new lifestyle.

Ten days ago, I went with my friend and lifelong Mac-head Justin to the Mercedes C-Spot Drive Party, an open test-drive event for Mercedes-Benz. At the opening presentation, the saleswoman noted that in addition to the cars, Mercedes was also showcasing a number of (and I quote) "lifestyle elements." When someone owns a Mercedes, they should also feel compelled to buy a luxury refrigerator, new modern furniture, an MSN Direct wristwatch, and high-end beauty care products.

Even as we mocked the Mercedes lifestyle elements, it's pretty obvious that Apple as a luxury brand has a lifestyle of its own. How else would you explain the $195 Gucci iPod case, the $1,500 Fendi case for up to a dozen iPods, or the Jambags MacCase Sleeve, which features a window to keep the PowerBook's Apple logo visible at all times?

So I already have a PowerBook to go with the iPod I received as a gift in February. I shocked a few friends by telling them about my "new lifestyle" when the PowerBook arrived on Friday. One co-worker stopped by my desk and said he didn't know that I was (direct quote) "playing for the other team now." All of this was said tongue-in-cheek, but I can't help but wonder just what sort of "lifestyle" people think I'm carrying on now. All I care about is that I can use all those quirky UNIX editors and my existing files without much of a fuss. ;)

Back to May 2004, or to the year 2004.

Where am I?

This is Weill Aspects, the official news archive of Jason Weill Web Productions. All articles posted to the front page end up here. This page was generated automatically by a series of Perl scripts.

Articles in Weill Aspects are organized solely by date. You may find the Google search in the left column to be useful if you are looking for an article but do not know the date on which it was posted.

Weill Aspects is composed of static web pages generated as appropriate when a new article is posted. It was developed in May 2001 as a way of managing the content on this site. I also used it extensively while in Japan, during which time I did not have continuous access to the Internet. I was able to write daily updates during July and August 2002, pack the files onto a CD-R or memory device, and upload them from the Internet-connected computers at school.

These scripts are all hacked together in less than elegant fashion, and I don't plan to release them. Some of the design that went into Aspects also was used to develop Livestat, a suite of Perl scripts to process statistics for academic competition tournaments. Livestat is available freely.