Attention Deficit David

Racism fail (spotted by Wil)

Racism fail (spotted by Wil), originally uploaded by davidjschloss.

Build A Dummer Mouse Trapper

In case you're curious, it's NOT a good idea to open the hav-a-hart trap to color the mouse with a magic marker (to settle a dispute on whether you're catching the same mice over and over) even if you tip the trap all the way back.

Yes, the mouse can jump that high and get out.

Put some spice where your mouth lives

I caught a bit of my least favorite show in the history of television (starring one of my least favorite people on earth) Mad Money as Jim Cramer interviewed CEO and President of McCormick Spices Alan Wilson to the show to talk about how safe their stocks are in this terrible market (thereby inflating Cramer's portfolio of McCormick, of course).

In any case McCormick has launched the McCormick Science Institute to help determine the benefit of spices, (which sounds a whole lot like the smoking industry launching safe-smoking studies) and they're using the results of this (company funded) "science" institute to promote things like cinamin, curry, tumeric "and the things that have high 'ORAC' values," to quote Wilson " which is a measure of the antioxidants that are really good for you and taste great.

Then Cramer asked the reasonable question "what do antioxidants do?" The answer is a bit astounding to me:

"Oh gosh, I'm not, I'm not a doctor," said Wilson (about to prove that statement beyond a shadow of a doubt) but what it does is frees up your blood flow and does a lot of positive things..." the ellipses are because he was cut off not because I started yelling at the television.

It frees up your blood? At first I thought he said that it freezes up your blood, so I had to go find the clip, which is here on CNBC but really his answer is no better. Remember, this is a man who is the CEO of a company that has just spent a ton of money on a science institute launched to help figure out if spices really are good for you, and he's proclaiming they are, because they're so high in antioxidants. What's an antioxidant do? I dunno.

I'm not saying he's got to be an expert, but the guy runs the company. Shit, can you imagine what would happen if the CEO of Chrysler got up and said "we're going to make an electric car" and was asked "what does that do?" and replied "I don't know, I'm not a mechanic, but it drives around and makes your streets better."

Seriously man, if you're going to spend millions of dollars pretending your company is doing scientific work, learn the pretend answer.

Wil and me at the garden.

Wil and me at the garden., originally uploaded by davidjschloss.

Down on the farm

Thanks to my good friend Josh I'm out in California working some Aperture magic on a photo shoot for a cycling team. Today was an early start, 4:30 am wake up for a 5:30 am roll out. (Tomorrow is even earlier.) We drove about an hour to a scouted location and started getting ready to shoot a part of the 50+ person squad.

I spent a lot of my day in an RV doing Aperture work, and quite a bit of problem solving (two people who haven't worked together, plus rental gear=hectic) but it really was a great day. There's a fantastic crew working on the set, my team is stellar and they're turning out great images.

During one of the breaks in the most-scenic-location-I've-been-in-the-Continental-West-Coast I wandered behind the barn next to which we were shooting and found this beautiful old tractor. We're on a working farm, so this guy still pulls and plows, and it's a great reminder of our agricultural roots.

Tomorrow will likely be an easier day, as there are fewer people on the squads we're shooting, but you can never tell with live outdoor shooting. This morning it was pouring and then the skies cleared up and this is what we got.

For my daily inspiration message we passed one of the team members on our way home—he was (after a full day shoot) riding his single-speed home up US 1 and US 101 to the hotel where we're staying, more than 40 miles away. We pulled over to see if he needed a ride, as he was setting out merely thirty minutes before dark but he waved us off assuring that he had enough lights (in the form of the rear blinking one). More power to you dude, safe home.

Drawing on our history

Drawing on our history, originally uploaded by davidjschloss.

Glowing

Glowing, originally uploaded by davidjschloss.

Cycling and SAD

I just posted this to cycling.lohudblogs.com.

My forefathers were likely hunter-gatherers who roamed the plains of Eastern Europe chasing herds of mastodon. A quick glance at my physique (spongy and soft when I don't work out, able to go from flab to fit instantly when I do) and you can tell that my people were from a time in man's evolution that required packing on the pounds when the weather turned cold, and taking long, long naps when the mastodon (mastodi?) weren't plentiful.

That, at least, is part of the biological rational behind Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder, the term for the lethargy and sometimes depression that would effect up to a third of the population—if we all lived somewhere cold. I tend to suffer from a rather light, yet annoying and—yawn—tiring version of SAD and many winters I can be found sprawled out on a couch recovering from workouts I skipped because I was too tired. <br> Many people treat SAD with light therapy and some new <a href="http://www.bluemaxlighting.com/scart/public/database/repository/other/Blue_light_research.pdf">research</a>(PDF) indicates that the human eye has receptors for blue light that helps to regulate circadian rhythm. The gray skies of winter, as the theory goes, causes a decrease in blue light and a decrease in the production of chemicals in the brain. The end result is a "long winter's nap."

I've been working with a Philips goLITE LED light treatment box, a small compact light source that produces the wavelength of blue that stimulates the human eye. It's been working well, well enough in fact that I'm at the gym all the time now. <br> Which brings me to the reason that I'm mentioning this in the first place, the corollary between exercise and mood. Science has acknowledged that exercise is great for your sense of well-being, but I'd previously assumed that being in a good mood made me able to go for long-distance bike rides—it feels so <em>good</em> to ride a bike that I just keep going and going and going.

In previous winters I've taken spin classes and done weight training to keep active and keep my mood up, but it's never been quite enough. Now though, I've started to purposefully combine both activities to make my total workout time longer—anywhere from an hour to two hours at a time, and I'm finding that I'm in a significantly better mood. Now I'm thinking that it's the long distance riding itself that's making me happy enough to keep riding. <br> So a few times a week when I'm not on the road for business I cart myself off to spin class (at a gym that's not near my house since I find the distance helps motivate me to stay there a while) and push it through the forty-five minute workout. Pulsing music, sweating people, barked instructions from a spin coach all really get my heart rate up and my mood elevated. But after class, instead of heading home I start a circuit of weight training. I'll take my time and try to be sure to get in really good form, but I'm finding the additional time working out is making a huge difference.

So for those of you who are get cranky, upset or sleepy as soon as the leaves are all off the trees, here's something to try. Get yourself to the gym, and don't leave. Even if you're just doing a slow mild walk on the treadmill, spend enough time to really get your endorphins going and to convince your body that you're not trying to ride out the next ice age.

It's a lot better than downing a bag of Doritos on the couch.

Mouse Häus - The Sequel

Any long-time readers (first time callers, thanks so much for the show, Larry) will recall our previous issues with mice and their cohabitation of both my car and my house, will not be surprised to learn that we have mice again. While I was away last week, Abby described the small scurrying sounds she was hearing and a "squeak" and "gurgle" noise that came from the cleaning closet the other day.

When I got home we laid out the usual array of traps, but they've been quiet. This morning however I was informed that we had a mouse, and informed I had to do something to get rid of it. Just like last year, it's cold out and I don't really want to send cute furry animals to their death. (Not unless they taste good with barbecue sauce in any case.)

So while standing looking into the trap at the extremely-cute eyes of the mouse (I shall call him Harvey) in a groggy semi-conscious state I fumbled around trying to decide what to do. The garage means a possible car-repair bill again as they nest in my vehicle's undercarriage while the sub-freezing temps spell doom.

That's when I hit on the idea of building a sort of mouse FEMA shelter, a semi-permanent dwelling that would provide accommodation outdoors but protect the mouse from the elements. I went to the basement with Harvey in the box and grabbed an under-utilized plastic toolbox, whose contents I dumped out on the workbench. Grabbing a Dremel tool I made a small cut into the side of the toolbox as an entry portal and filled the box with some old t-shirts and a handful of walnuts.

Harvey and I stumbled outside to the back yard, the white snow thick with a crust of ice, the surface crunching under my feet. I placed the toolbox on the ground and looked at Harvey again to tell him about his new home. His small black eyes looked up in appreciation.

Gently I tipped the edge of his trap into the box and lifted up the side panel. Harvey did not move except to shy away from the opening, hiding in the corner of the trap. "The Devil you know..." I thought. All it would take is a few centimeters of scurrying and Harvey would have a new home. A beautiful home. I tilted the edge of the box up to try and see if he was stuck on something in the trap.

Which is when he leapt over the edge of the trap, jumped to the ground feet from the new home, and scurried dozens of feet away across the ice-covered lawn. When I saw him last he was running up a tree trunk.

I stood disappointed, my breath kicking up in clouds of moisture, as I thought "the only thing worse would be if a hawk swooped down and ate him," (which probably happened right after I went inside.

At least the next mouse we catch will have a good home.

Moose falls through window

Moose on the loose

(Yes Danielle, he's fine. )