One Brave Dog

One year ago today our oldest lhasa apso Marty suffered a ruptured disc from intervertebal disc disease which led to paralysis in all four limbs and he was rushed into emergency surgery. He was given only a 50/50 chance to pull through due to his advanced age of 12.

He came through, and was pretty weak afterwards. But he never lost his spirit and continued to hang on.


10 days later he still could not stand or walk and the doctor suggested we put him down.



But Marty struggled valiantly and soon began to crawl bit by bit.

By the 13th day post surgery he got up, and today he runs and plays like Marty of old.



He taught me a lot about the power of one's will to live.

Here's to Marty, here's to life.

Holidays Through the Years

Going back through the Christmas time machine. Boy how the years fly by.

2007


2006


2003


2001


2000


1996

Winter Biking

I started biking to work in July 2004 and I commute year round, rain or shine. For me, my hands are the first part to feel winter's pain, but it's only a 20 minute ride and a good pair of Lobster Gloves can get me through the coldest ride.

On the weekends I like to go 25-40 miles per ride, usually on the West Side Bikeway that runs along the icy Hudson river.

and it's much more challenging keeping your hands and feet warm for 2-3 hours of cold weather. Down to 35 degrees wind chill I'm fine with Lobster Gloves and Sidi Winter cycling shoes with Smart Wool socks as shown in the pictures below.



But when the wind chill goes below zero I turn to two very cool gadgets - my Sidi Toaster heated insoles which are wirelessly remote controlled


and my Zanier Heat-GX heated gloves.


Both feature rechargeable lithium ion batteries and can keep your hands and feet at room temperature for over 5 hours per charge. Just this past weekend I did 25 miles each day in 34 degree, 22 degree wind chill cold, and remained comfortable the entire way. I'm not going to kid you and say it's like riding in July, but at least your legs are still the part of your body that feels the most pain from the cycling.

The insoles are $300, the gloves $350. Being able to do your favorite outdoor activity year round - priceless.

The Teaching Company

As I've grown older, more and more I've come to realize how much there is in the world to know and how little of it I know. There's probably more new knowledge being created every year than one person could learn in an entire lifetime.

But I believe it's not how much you know - It's how fast you learn. That's why for the past four years or so, I've been hooked on The Teaching Company.

I've downloaded over 50 of their audio courses, covering university level course topics in history and other humanities, philosophy, religion, the sciences, and more. I feel like I've gained a second four-year college degree.

My first degree back at Stanford was one I designed myself, called Science, Technology, and Society. My second one was a MBA from Berkeley in Marketing and Finance. They've served me well in my business career, but I've always felt a bit incomplete when it came to my knowledge of the humanities.

I started with what are still perhaps my two favorite Teaching Company courses, the 96 lecture Foundations of Western Civilization, and the 60 lecture Great Ideas in Philosophy. The lectures are each 30 minutes, so it's really surprising quickly you can get through a course listening to one lecture on the way to work and another on the way home.

Plus throw in some plane flights and long weekend bike rides, and soon your delving into more specialized courses like No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life and Biological Anthropology: An Evolutionary Perspective.

I think the mind is the key agent we use to process what our senses encounter. The richer the mind, the richer and more fulfilling our engagement with our world.