Dave's Not Here

Dave’s Rants

Separation of Church and State: An Open Question

by on Feb.19, 2016, under Dave's Rants

Right now is the time in Utah when our legislature votes on issues. And, it is also the time when the LDS Church changes their D&C and tells their congregation and members how they should vote. While this does anger me, more than that, I do not understand how they can do it righteously:

So, to illustrate my actual question, let’s divide the world into two groups: Followers and Heathens.

## Followers

Followers are members of the Church. They believe and follow the rules of the Church, so that they may attain salvation. In this case, why would the Church ever need to legislate their rules? They should not, since their members are trying their best to be saved. And, any laws would only serve to punish the Followers when they lose their path. Since it is not the job of a legal body to punish — according to all scripture I’ve read — what would be the point in lobbying?

## Heathens

Heathens are either people who have rejected the Church, people of other religions, or people without faith. Now, what would be the Church’s need to legislate their morality onto Heathens? I have only come up with a few possibilities:

  • To convert them? – Church’s generally convert people by showing them the good work that they do, not by lobbying governments to punish them. I doubt anyone who has a hard time buying a beer decides to suddenly go to church.
  • To save them? – While I honestly think this is part of it, I have to ask “Why?”. If a person is not interested in the salvation that a Church offers them, why try to save them against their will? If they are damned to whatever hell the Church has, why prevent them from marrying their true love, because it is wrong to the Church?
  • To punish them? – This is the only one I can think of that I can’t debunk. Maybe the Church is trying to punish everyone who is not following their beliefs. And, again, why the need to levy their beliefs onto others? This is not being a missionary, the Church is not spreading their beliefs, they are spreading their rules and punishment.

## Thoughts

I wish I had an actual conclusion. Churches are imposing their beliefs onto strangers and non-believers. And, they’re trying to stand behind their scripture as the reason for doing so. But, in reality, it does not matter what book they use for scripture: there is no point to this nonsense. They will not save anyone. They will not convert anyone. They will only anger people, and make more haters of their religion.

When the LDS Church took on the Gay Marriage proposition in California and shot it down: what changed? I can only think of one thing: People everywhere started to hate Mormons. Daniel Tosh made it a point to trash them on every single one of his shows for a year. The federal government then declared gay marriage legal.

So, what good came from the LDS Church standing up against strangers’ rights in California? Nothing. (Well, I’m sure the LDS haters out there enjoyed people flocking to their cause, but, again, hatred begets hatred)

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Angry Dave

by on Dec.03, 2015, under Dave's Rants

I know I’ve been very political lately in my posts. And, I’ve been very angry, in general, at various religious and political happenings.

I think I’ve finally figured out why, when a friend of mine used this term to describe Trump, “Hate Mongering”. The people of the US are currently filled with hate, and are entertained by media and candidates that spew the hatred. Here are some examples.

### Religion

I’m angry that so many people seem to want to put religion into the government. It reminds me of the old joke about prayer in school. Our government is not a religious entity. It is not muslim. It is not jewish. It is not buddhist. It is not hindu. And, to preserve freedom, it is not Christian either. Trying to combine religious beliefs with federal rights is what causes issues like gay marriage having to be “legalized”. And, teaching religion led to the Open Letter to Kansas School Board, which created Pastafarianism as a satirical example of why we can’t combine education and religious education.

It has also led to local governments going against the federal government when it comes to Abortion, Same Sex Marriage, etc. Now, don’t get me wrong: Religions are completely able to not recognize marriages. And, being raised Catholic, I do understand that a Catholic marriage is considered something much more special than a marriage you get at the JP. But, when views of marriage differ, why does it have to have legal consequences? While I do not want to be in a plural marriage, even though I live in Utah, I still don’t think they should be illegal. And, I also don’t see why legal benefits (insurance, estate laws, hippa laws) have to be tied to a religious view of marriage. Separation of church and state is important — and we’ve muddied our current separation.

### Bi-Partisan Hatred

I am not a Democrat. I am not a republican. I am not liberal. I am not conservative. And, that used to be ok. I could vote for whatever candidates I think would do the best job, and best model my ideals. But, now, it seems that if a Democrat poses a bill or suggestion, all of the Republicans are against it. And, if a republican poses a bill, all of the Democrats are against it. What happened to representing your constituents?

I’m not sure why, but the current parties are so polarized that we can’t possibly continue. The conservatives with the religious right have been pushing ultra right-wing Christian views too far. From supporting Kathy Davis for breaking the law, and attempting to defund Planned Parenthood for performing LEGAL procedures, to Democrats trying to raise the minimum wage over $20/hour. Though, I must admit, it was way easier to find conservative examples than liberal ones.

### Conclusion

So, why am I angry? Because I’m afraid. I’m afraid that one of the Crazy politicians will get elected. I’m afraid that I will be forced to be Christian whether I want to or not. (And, no, I don’t think it matters that I’m already Christian — I still want a choice). And, mostly, I’m pretty certain that we are heading down the same trail that caused the pilgrims, our forefathers, to come to America: Freedom. We are quickly heading toward somewhere between King James and Sharia law — and that scares the crap out of me.

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RV Upgrade Pros and Cons

by on Jun.24, 2015, under Dave's Rants

We’ve been trying to decide what to do with our RV (Travel Trailer). Here are our options with Pros and Cons:

[table]
Solution, Cost (Monthly / Total), Pros, Cons
“Rent a truck when camping”, $500/trip — $1500/year, Cheapest, “May be hard to find. Throwing away rental cost.”
“Quinn gets small truck for first car”, “XXX / $15,000”, After five years will be free, “Quinn has to deal with truck, monthly cost for 5 years, still pulling heavy trailer with inappropriate vehicle”
“Buy Drivable RV”, “XXX / $40,000 + $6,000 negative equity in trailer”, “Best driving experience, more storage, much more space, much nicer”, “Cheaper monthly than buying Quinn a truck, but much longer debt (15 years, I think)). More debt”
[/table]

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Moving to Utah

by on May.12, 2015, under Dave's Rants

### A Guide for Newbies

I have created this guide, after helping several friends move to Utah. This is just a collection of my observations — your mileage may vary.

### Climate

Utah is high desert. When you see trees and snow covered ground, that may make you reconsider what high desert means — if you had heard the phrase before. What it means, is that it is very dry here. Even with the snow, it only rains 16.5 inches per year. And, we are at high elevation (4200-5200′ or so), which means the water will evaporate fast. This makes for some interesting problems, and some great snow!

#### Inversions

We saw our first inversion when driving from Park City back to Sandy. It was, basically, fog. A thick bank. We thought it was neat. But, it is a common meteorological occurrence. [Inversions](http://bit.ly/1RzGVzA) are, in a nutshell, when air is trapped near the ground. It is easier to notice them in the winter, because you can see fog. But, they happen in the summer, too.

The main problem with inversions is that when they trap air at low altitude, they also prevent particulates from escaping. What does that mean: Way more pollution than equally sized cities. And, more allergies.

#### Dry Air

Personally, I love the dry air. But, if you don’t get used to it, it could cause minor irritations: Nose bleeds, allergies, dry skin, dry eyes, etc. For the first time in my life, I’ve had to buy lotion. (It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again) Depending on how you react to the dryness you may need to:

* Use a humidifier at night
* Use lotion
* Use eyedrops

Etcetera.

#### Altitude

Altitude sometimes causes [altitude sickness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitude_sickness). The best way to avoid that is to simply drink more water.

The first time I ran five miles in my life was in Salt Lake City / Cottonwood Heights — before I moved here. While I know I was probably breathing a lot harder than normal, the altitude is not that big of a deal 🙂

##### High Altitude Cooking

Water normally boils at 100°C / 212°F. But, at 4800 feet, it boils at 95°C / 203°F! That means you need to use high-altitude corrections when following recipes / instructions. It will normally only affect baking or making candies.

#### Snow

It snows here. Sometimes a lot. We moved here in October of 2010. That was a record year for many resorts, snowfall-wise. I remember [Snowbird](http://www.snowbird.com/) got over 900 inches, and people skied on July 4th!

In that year, I did not have a snow blower. When it snowed, I would say, “My gym is open!”, as I went to grab the shovel. It generally took me about an hour to shovel my two car driveway and sidewalk. I did learn several things about shoveling:

* Don’t wait – it will only get deeper. Shoveling over 12″ is very hard, so, after you have about 4-6 inches, you should go ahead and shovel, even if it still snowing.
* Shovel both directions, so you don’t over tax one arm.
* You don’t *need* a snow blower, though, it is a lot easier with one.
* If you do have a snow blower — it’s like mowing a lawn. And, like the first bullet, don’t let it get over a foot between clearing.
* Try your best to not dump snow into the street. Try to put it all on your lawn.

#### Cold
It does not get that cold here. There is generally one very cold 30 day span from around mid December through mid January. But, other than that — it’s not bad at all.

You *will* need to winterize your house. Here’s what we’ve learned:

* You MUST blow out your sprinklers before the first really hard freeze. If you have a lawn maintenance company, they will likely do it for you. Or someone may just stop by your door — or — ask your neighbors who they use. I think we pay $35-$65 depending on the company.
* The valves (spigots) on the outside of your house are all freeze proof. However, if you leave a hose connected to them, the will freeze, and probably leak into your house causing tons of damage. Even if they don’t leak, the valves go 12-18 inches into the wall, so, replacing them will require dry wall repair, etc. *Disconnect your hoses!*

### Liquor Laws

I’m from the South, where dry or damp counties are common, liquor must be sold in package or liquor stores, you can’t buy liquor on Sunday, etc. So, people from the South, at least, should not find the laws here as much of a surprise. But, the laws here are a little mixed, and sometimes hard to get your head around.

#### Beer
Utah divides beer into two categories. Beers < 3.2% ABW, and Beers over that. The ABW was not a typo -- Utah laws are based on alcohol by weight, not by volume. So, it really works out to about 4.0% ABV. * Low gravity beers (3.2 ABW and below) can be sold on tap, in grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. * High gravity beers (over 3.2 ABW) can only be stored in closed containers (no kegs), and only at the state liquor stores. * You can not buy kegs in Utah. #### State Liquor Stores Pretty much like all normal liquor stores in other states. They are state run, can sell all types of beer, wine, and liquor, and are closed on Sundays. #### Pouring Restaurants or bars can choose to pour either 1.0oz or 1.5oz drinks. You can order a double, but, the extra alcohol added can only be 1.0oz. #### Restaurants / Bars There are many different types if liquor licenses. These are the ones I've noticed: * Bar - 21 and up only allowed on the premises. * Restaurant/Bar - You can order any kind of liquor (beer, wine, shots). You can have kids at the table. You may or may not have to order food. (I think I'm lumping in several licenses here). You will probably NOT be allowed to walk with your drink around the premises. (The waiter will have to move your drink for you) * Restaurant - You can order low gravity beer with your meal. ##### Zion Curtain In some restaurants / bars there will be a screen that the bartender has to hide behind to mix drinks, lest he corrupt the consumers. We enjoy noticing them -- they're amusing. ### The Church (of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints -- the Mormons) The LDS Church is based in Salt Lake City. So, the cities can have a high percentage of mormons. We have not had any real problems . . . except that our vote, if different from that of the majority, will not really count -- but -- same thing happens in other states that are highly conservative, or highly liberal. Utah is about 62% mormon, but Salt Lake City is < 50%. As you move South, cities become more and more mormon. * Salt Lake County - 67.5% * Utah County - 89.9% #### Southern (I mean Utah) Hospitality Southerners got nuthin' on mormons. We have never felt more welcomed into a community than we have been by the mormons. #### Sundays Mormons go to church on Sundays for about 3 hours, if not more. This has a couple of effects on the area: First, because of their Sunday obligations, they usually end up running all errands on Saturday. If you try to go to a Costco on a Saturday, you're going to have a bad time. We have made Sundays our ski days. Many tourists use Sunday as their travel day home, and, many locals are in church. The slopes are not nearly as crowded on Sundays as on Saturdays. #### You Can't Eat at a Stake House We've made a couple of faux pas's in our time here, mainly due to some terminology issues. Here is a brief dictionary to help you: * Church Names * Wardhouse / Ward - Think church and congregation. In Catholic terms, Church and Parish. * Stakehouse / Stake - Contains several wards. Again, in Catholic Terms, the area covered by a bishop. * Temple - What it sounds like. Huge church that can be seen for miles. Not sure of it's use, besides weddings. * The Temple - When the word temple is preceded by "The", then it's referring to the temple downtown, at 0/0 on the map. * Garments - Special undergarments worn by mormons. You may be asked by a doctor or nurse if you are wearing garments. They're not talking about your clothes. * Mission / Missonaries - It took me the longest time to not immediately think of the military when someone said "mission". Some mormons will go on a mission to spread the word of the church between High School and College. They will likely come by to teach you about their church. These are kids, away from home and family. We sometimes have them over for dinner. They will always offer to help out around the house -- let them! * Elder - When missionaries return, they will be called Elder. You will see many signs welcoming the elders back from their mission.

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Mini Rant: Hatred

by on May.08, 2015, under Dave's Rants

I don’t know if it’s just me, or if things have drastically changed. But it seems that internet / social media posts have become more and more hateful. And, mostly filled with ignorant hate. One in particular caught my attention this morning. It went something like this:

>A communist, a muslim, and an illegal alien walked into a bar. The bartender said, “Hello, Mr. President”

I have several problems with this joke, but, I’m not sure if this is just early onset “crotchety old man” syndrome.

###Political Hatred

So, for the first time since . . urm . . Jimmy Carter or Reagan, a guy I wanted in office made it. And, I don’t know if that’s the source of some of my discomfort. I was happy to share Dan Quale quotes, or point out when G Dub did something stupid. But, looking back, it seems like the jokes were simply funny back then, and not hateful. But, like I said, maybe that part is just me — maybe I can’t take a joke pointed at “my guy”. (Not to wax political, but, I am *not* happy with Obama’s two terms. He did not, at all, live up to my expectations. But, I would have still voted for him again, considering his opposition)

So — am I just seeing hatred in the jokes because they’re hitting my guy, or has the world just gotten viciously cruel?

###Ignorant Hatred

In our free country, why are these now considered evil, or insults:

* Religions
* muslim – While the ignorance here is calling Obama a muslim, when he isn’t, I take more offense at using a religion as an insult. Yes, some muslims are terrorists. Yes, some christians are terrorists. And, I’m too lazy to search, but, I’m sure that Jews have done some atrocities, too. Why do the ignorant need to use a mostly-peaceful religion as, not only an insult, but also a reason someone should not be president? I read a little factoid the other day: Satan killed 10 people in the Bible (the seven sons and three daughters of Job). How many did God kill? (Noah, Moses, Passover). What religion should be used to qualify a president? When Kennedy was elected, there was huge concert that the Pope (he was Catholic) would now be running the government. Shouldn’t we keep all religion not only out of presidential selection, but also out of politics? (Since we’re supposed to have a separation of church and state?
* atheists – I will admit. Today, most vocal atheists are ass-holes. I’m not sure how to better describe them. They take a lot of pleasure poking at the tender parts of peoples’ religions. But, at the same time, why would they ever be considered evil? Even the Crusaders didn’t think people without religion were evil. They were simply heretics. Definitely doomed to hell, but not bad people. I’m not sure when our “free” country became a “free if you are Christian” country.
* Politics / Economics
* communism, socialism, democracy, republic – Why are communism and socialism thrown around as bad words? Are we really still living in the 1950s? Do people even know what communism or socialism is? Or, why we are supposed to hate it? In the 50s and 60s, the word communism (and red) were used to describe our enemy, the USSR. Since the USSR was not only converting countries to communism, and retaining control over them, our fight with the USSR turned into a fight against communism (and, in turn, a fight to spread Democracy). But, is there anything inherently bad about communism? I don’t think so. It’s nearly impossible to work, but, the word is pretty benign. And, while we were trying to spread democracy, we don’t practice pure democracy ourselves, we’re a democratic republic. And, if you think we’re doing things right, then you haven’t traveled much. There are plenty of other countries and other political systems that do many things better than we do.
* immigration crap – Unless you’re an American Indian, you, or your ancestors, were immigrants. While illegal immigrants might be a current political issue, that does not mean that there is anything wrong with immigrants. And, for all the people who say, “learn the language” — have you traveled to a foreign land? Did you speak their language? If you suddenly got an opportunity to visit, say, Japan, would your first task be to learn Japanese, and not travel until you’re fluent? Or, would you be like most Americans, in a foreign land, trying to find an English speaker to help them. Don’t get me wrong — I definitely fall into that last category. I have been to Prague, France, and Belgium, and have had trouble communicating — But, when I’m at home, I don’t bitch about our visitors.
* impeachment – If you have had even an opinion about a president deserving impeachment — since Nixon — please read. Research what it really takes to be impeached. Research what is illegal -vs- what is not. The Patriot Act is illegal. Or, it was until it was ratified. And, even now, it breaks so many constitutional rules, it should be illegal. Yet, I do not remember a single person asking for Bush to be impeached.

###No More Hatred, Please

Just because you don’t like someone’s opinions, does not mean that you get to claim some kind of power over them. Maybe you hate people because of their positions. Maybe you don’t like their religious beliefs. Maybe their skin is a little too dark, or a little too light. Maybe you don’t like what acts they like to perform with other consenting adults. You are allowed to not like those things. You are allowed to have an opinion. But you do not have any kind of “right” to enforce your opinion onto them. You have the freedom to have your beliefs, just as they have the freedom to have theirs.

Please — think before you post. Funny is funny. Funny is many times racy. Funny is many times offensive. But, funny should not be hateful. Feel free to let me know if you think I’m wrong. Like I said before, I could be sensitive to Obama posts.

I love dirty jokes. I love offensive jokes. You should see the crap I want to post but Tammy won’t let me. But, as offensive as I can be, I don’t think I’ve ever been hateful. I have offended people, many times. But, somehow, I think that’s better. I’d much rather be offended by the content of the things I see posted, then be offended at the blatant hatred behind them.

Anyway, my mini-rant has become far from mini. . . . maybe I won’t even share this 🙂

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It’s EV Time

by on May.07, 2015, under Dave's Rants

After trying for years to get a hybrid to make sense, find a plugin hybrid with range, etc, it is finally time for us to purchase our first green car. If the decision seems last minute — you’re right. Tammy just pointed out that an EV would pay for it’s own lease payment on gas savings alone.

###Gas Math
I drive roughly 50 miles a day. And, I get about 16-17mpg in my Jeep Grand Cherokee. That means, I’m paying about this much monthly (depending on gas prices)

[jcolumns halign=”” inbordercss=”1px solid #e2e2e2″ outbordercss=”1px solid #999999″]
*Gas Price*
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
[jcol/]
*Monthly Cost @ 16Mpg*
$169.27
$203.13
$236.98
[jcol/]
*Monthly Cost @ 17Mpg*
$158.09
$189.71
$221.32
[/jcolumns]

Course, those are only my commute numbers. With other daily driving, I end up paying about $300/month for gas.

###The Decision

But, which one? Plug in hybrid, or EV? Which EV? Due to the limited range of almost all of the plug in hybrids, we’ve chosen to go with an EV. But, we’re far from picking one yet. While I’d love to get a Tesla Model S, the price point just isn’t there.

####Nissan Leaf
The most mature of all EV’s. And, a front runner for price / performance.

####BMW i3
Never thought of getting a beamer, but, with 80 mile range, and a < $300/month lease . . . ####Mercedes b-Class Even more highly rated than the BMW, with a similar range / price.

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Thanks, Crossfit.

by on Apr.16, 2015, under Dave's Rants

First off, before I tell you what happened, I want to point out that the title of this entry is meant to be funny. I only blame Crossfit about 25% . . but . . more of that below.

Surgery

I just got the news that I’m going to need surgery. I have a labral tear, sublabral tear, and a small tear in some tendon that I don’t remember. (Wasn’t the rotator or the biceps). The MRI showed the new damage to my cartilage and, some old damage that was partially healed (as well as my old class 3 AC separation).

They’re going to repair the damage by re-attaching it all to the bone.

History

So, how did it all happen? Here’s some history of my shoulder(s):

First, a while after starting CrossFit for the first time, I started getting pain in my right shoulder. The pain started after a visit to my in-laws’ lake house. I assumed it was from sleeping wrong. When I got back to SLC, a shot of cortisone fixed it right up. (This was probably my first cartilage tear)

Later on, my left shoulder started hurting. I suspected it was from doing snatches, since that was a relatively new olympic lift for me. Cortisone did *not* fix the problem, so, I found an orthopedic doctor instead of my DO. He prescribed PT, which fixed it right up. I am a BIG fan of physical therapy.

The following summer, while trying to show Brad how easy a mountain bike path was, I fell. Now, I need to put this fall into perspective: I had fallen 6-7 times already. Several of them were endos (where I flew over the handlebars). I had a few bruises and scratches, but I was fine. This fall was minor in comparison. I fell off my bike sideways, from a bridge about one foot over a dry creek bed. But, when I landed, all of my weight and momentum was stopped by a rock protruding from the ground. Brad said the earth moved. After several weeks, when it still had not fully healed, I went to my orthopedic doctor: class 3 AC separation. Again, physical therapy healed it fully. I still have a lump where the joint healed back askew, but, I have good (not perfect) mobility, and full strength.

Enter CrossFit (again)

Then, the final straw . . .

I had previously suspected that snatching had caused (or been a factor in) some of my previous injuries. So, when I restarted CrossFit, I did not do snatch for a very long time. I also took it easy with dips, since those are bad for shoulders. But, after no injuries, I started adding snatches back in.

Light weight snatches didn’t seem to aggravate my shoulders. And, I was doing my PT exercises several times a week. So, I started lifting heavier. And, it happened.

I had been trying to catch the bar back a little. From watching others, and the instructors, it looked like they were holding the bar slightly behind their heads. I caught a heavy one a little farther back than that, and it didn’t feel right. It didn’t hurt, but, that week, my shoulder got more and more sore. Eventually, I couldn’t do bench or snatch.

Fast forward six months

I stopped working out, because I couldn’t do anything upper body. Even after six months of rest, my shoulder was not better. It seemed to heal for a while, but, in the last month, it has gotten worse. Weird things hurt it. There were a couple of movements that made it sore, but, mostly, it hurt when sleeping (rolling over), putting on T-shirts, and shaking. (Any time I fall on a snowboard, or jump on a trampoline, it hurts — bad)

Finally went to the orthopedic . . and the rest is history . .

Conclusion / Blame

But, as far as the title goes, and the blame: I really only blame CrossFit about 25%. (and myself the rest).

I fall into a strange category that seems to be injury prone when it comes to CrossFit: I’m relatively strong.

So, bad instructors (or even some good ones), may not notice when form isn’t perfect, since the bar is going up. And, when the bar gets heavy, the bad form can cause injury (obviously). If I was weak, I would have to do the movement perfectly to even be able to lift the bar.

Wish me luck . . . should take me six months for full recovery 🙁

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Time For the Next Thing

by on Mar.27, 2015, under Dave's Rants

It’s time for me to say goodbye to Fusion-io / SanDisk, and hello to Move Networks/EchoStar (SlingTV).

Merged

I’ve had a great time in my six years at Fusion-io. I’ve met dozens of brilliant people, and helped to change the world. NAND Flash is almost a common word in households now! (Well, I guess NAND flash isn’t — but SSDs are!)

But, it’s time for me to change the world in a different way at EchoStar. There, I’ll be trying to bring an unlimited selection of live TV channels into your house, over the internet! I’ll officially start my new position on April 6th! Time for a new roller coaster ride!

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Transitions cause Delimas

by on Mar.23, 2015, under Dave's Rants, Workout Logs

As some of you already know, I’m in the middle of moving jobs. So, my nice little 5 mile commute is now a 26 mile commute. And, it’s almost all downhill on the way to work. That means a 1200 foot gain getting home.

The Direct Route
=============

Google has me at about 2.5 hours both ways:

Now, while the ride to work would be doable to work, if I wanted a LONG ride :), getting home would be a beast. 2.5 hours of mostly climbing.

Abusing Frontrunner
===========

Another alternative would be to both bike, and use [FrontRunner](http://www.rideuta.com/mc/?page=uta-home-frontrunner). That does change things up quite a bit.

To Work
——-
The ride to work would look something like this:


Time: 36 mins

Train leaves every 30 minutes, and takes 23 minutes. So, Best case: 23 mins. Worst case: 53 mins.


Time: 15 mins

Ride Home
———

To Train

Time: 15 mins

Train again leaves every 30 mins and takes 23 mins, so: 23-53 mins travel time.


Time: 56 mins

Timings and Thoughts
===========

Total time to work: 1h 15mins to 1h 44mins
Total time home: 1h 34 mins to 2h 4 mins

My drive time to work is about 35 mins, without traffic. The ride to work would double the time, but, I’d get 45mins -> 2.h hours of riding in, which my fat belly needs.

The route home is the hard one. If I ride to work, I see a huge chance I’ll call Tammy groveling for a ride. Maybe I need an e-bike for the ride home?

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Editor Wars: The Unending Delima

by on Jan.27, 2015, under Dave's Rants

Vim vs Emacs
========

Just kidding! But I will share the best response I’ve ever heard to the vi vs emacs debates: “Vi is an amazingly powerful text editor. Emacs is a powerful programming environment, that happens to edit text files”

But I digress. I am adept at both vi and emacs. But, I prefer the auto-indenting, ease of window creation and movement, and flow of emacs. *_But_* — there are huge issues with emacs:
1. I have to carry around a .emacs everywhere.
2. I’m sick (and tired) of hitting CTRL-S to search, and screwing up ALL windows applications.
3. I’m enough of a dinosaur already.

Dinosaur Avoidance – Picking a new editor
————

Are there any new good editors out there? I mean, I was in love with Brief / Slickedit for the longest time . . . but, again: dinosaur. A guy at my office uses Sublime Text, and mocked my emacs. While I won on geek cred — was there anything to the Sublime thing?

So, before I started looking for an editor, I needed my requirements. And, I have many.

### Requirements for Dave’s Editor

In no particular order:

* OS Independent – I drive Windows because I have to. But, I’m constantly opening sessions into linux boxes. And, I do have a Mac at home too.
* Open Plugin System – toys are good to have.
* Good dark color theme.
* Notes / Todo package – The biggest reason I keep coming back to emacs is [org-mode](http://orgmode.org/). I need a way to take quick notes, and keep track of todos. It needs to be text based, but have helper keystrokes to rotate through tasks / etc.

And, some nice to haves:
* Free – Preferably (or at least cheap)
* Keybindings that work with “normal” stuff. (i.e. Ctrl-F to search, Ctrl-x/v/c to cut, paste, and copy)
* Console mode for when ssh’ed into a box
* Key bindings for everything, so I don’t have to grab the mouse.

### The Roundup

One of the things I like best about google are the two letters “vs”. So many people ask X vs Y, that when you type “foo vs” in google, you get all the known alternatives in the universe. So, after googling a bit, I came up with two contenders for editors:

* Sublime Text 3 – http://sublimetext.com/3
* Google’s Atom – http://atom.io/

Both were pluggable. Both were pretty. Here’s what I can remember about them.
[table]
Criteria , Atom , Sublime Text 3 , Winner / Notes
Speed , A bit slow to come up , Pops up instantly when loaded ,
Plugin System , Yes , Yes , “Sublime has been around longer, so it has more packages. Plugins are also in python, which is a plus.”
Good Color Themes , Yes , Yes ,
Free , Yes , No , “At first, I thought sublime was free. It nags, but is fully functional. They want $70”
org-mode Replacement , Unknown , PlainTasks , “Honestly, at this point, I had already decided on Sublime Text 3, so stopped looking at atom.io”
[/table]

Conclusion
———-

I’m now using Sublime Text 3. I love it. I even found a way to synchronize my settings across my different boxes using Dropbox. [Package Syncing](https://github.com/csch0/SublimeText-Package-Syncing) works great for me.

I’ll keep you posted if I find any other issues. . . . or if I move to atom.io as it gains maturity.

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