tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135924692024-03-12T22:30:53.342-04:00A Pittsburgher back from the SandboxMusings from around the worldlugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.comBlogger551125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-38726596791728985732022-09-07T19:01:00.004-04:002022-09-07T19:01:16.546-04:00Book Review: Maiden of the Lux by Jada Fisher, Book 2 of the Dragon Guard <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59957788-maiden-of-the-lux" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Maiden of the Lux (The Dragon Guard #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1640687206l/59957788._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59957788-maiden-of-the-lux">Maiden of the Lux</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18306828.Jada_Fisher">Jada Fisher</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4973220545">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is the second book of the series. It is set in an embattled city-state, surrounded by a bleak and hostile world, only protected by the shield of The Lux. Ten, the protagonist, is a servant girl, living in a society which is highly caste driven and dominated by the Great Houses, who are above both the servant class and the freemen class. From The Great Houses, the elites of society; religious, political, and the dragon riders who protect the city from the evils that lie outside the shield of The Lux.<br /><br />In the first book, Ten tricks the Great House she works in and enters the qualification process to become a dragon rider. And she eventually makes it, with the blessing of her House lords and her family (also servants). And this despite the open hostility of those who wish to enforce the caste/social class distinctions of the state. This is not a surprise, as this type of story is the American conceit, that it is a meritocracy, and the dragon riders as a whole support her ascending by her merit.<br /><br />This book is about what happens now that Ten is a probationary dragon rider, with its promise of entering the top rung of society based on merit (passing the tests and being accepted by a dragon). But here is where the traditional society hits back. And as being a dragon rider is by meritocracy, the conservative elements of society have to fight back in the shadows. The naive Ten has allies in her fellow new dragon riders, and through demonstration of bravery in battle, some current dragon riders. But the opposition is in the form of back stabbing, obstacles placed in the way of progress, gaslighting, and overt hostility.<br /><br />Fantasy and science fiction have its power in that they can create a world and society that is not our own, but because people are people, has parallels. Here is a story of one who is rising above where she started, based on effort, determination, and hard won skill. It is recognized by the defenders of the realm, which maintains the meritocracy and offers the chance for her to demonstrate her worth, and she is not found wanting. But when she gets there, like many in our real society with similar stories, she finds that for every step forwards, there are those who will drag her down and put obstacles in her way, because they don't want a living story of someone rising to take their place and serve the society they are the elites of. Even those who would rather noone rises, because they did not.<br /><br />This book really needs to be read following the first. The first book invests you in the characters (others beside Ten develop naturally), and build up hope and have you root for Ten and her drive and determination. This book will continue the stories of drive and determination, but, like many such stories in real life, includes a gut punch that you would not expect in a YA novel.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/266417-louis">View all my reviews</a>
lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-25981210445219423562022-08-28T20:38:00.006-04:002022-08-28T21:42:45.435-04:00Courage in Thirteen Lives<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Thirteen_Lives.jpeg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Thirteen_Lives.jpeg" /></a></div><p>I paid attention to the Tham Luang Cave Rescue in 2018, not only because it was in Thailand, but also because of my background in both emergency response and in logistics (which was a major consideration in the rescue operation). I used this as a white board exercise in my supply chain and logistics classes as a professor. And a regular reminder for me is that I use the <a href="https://wodwell.com/wod/saman/">Saman WOD</a> (created by Crossfit Chamgmai), which memorials Saman Kunan, a Thai Navy SEAL who died in the line of duty during the rescue, annually as my birthday WOD.</p><p>Thirteen Lives is a documentary style movie about the rescue, told from the perspective of the cave rescue team. With the access and active participation of the cave rescue team, it goes deep into the decision making and ethical dilemmas that those who were responsible had to address.</p><p>The choices in the cave rescue are well documented. There was the local team, the Thai Navy SEALS. Well motivated and trained, with the logistics planning expertise of a U.S. special forces unit to back them up. But, their training and expertise where not in the hyperspecialized setting of cave rescue that they found themselves in.</p><p>The choices of the cave rescue divers was also well documented. The need to work within the local system, which meant both the Thai civil and Thai military authorities (who were competing with each other in the way things things go anywhere in the world). The difficulties in just finding the team in the dark and flooded caves, then planning out how the boys would be brought out of the cave, with the host of ethical dilemmas that various aspects of that operation entailed.</p><p>But Thirteen Lives presents a profile in courage in the person of the governor. Thirteen Lives presents him as a governor who is in his last days, and implies that it was not a glorious send off. And that he was the apparent designated fall guy if things went wrong (with the foreign cave rescue divers being not too far behind, but that is a story that everyone is happy not to have to tell).</p><p>The first choice he was presented with was to work with the foreign cave rescue divers while in the presence of the Thai Navy and SEALS who were eager to do the job. On one hand, a provincial governor recognized that high profile foreigners dying looks bad to the Thais (who would be suspected of using amateurs and admitting lack of confidence). On the other hand, the loss of one of the Thai divers in the rescue was an indicator of just how dangerous and difficult this was. Further tough choices came when the boys were found, and the cave rescue team provided very honest assessments on the options they had and their chances of success (noone thought their odds were good, and almost guaranteed fatalities). And as the senior authority, he had to give the yes or no every step of the way.</p><p>But the most telling illustration of leadership in action was when the hydrology people explained what was happening with the rain on top of the mountain. That water was seeping into the mountain and into the cave system (which is what happens in all mountains, this seeping happens in the hills leading into my backyard). And that it could be possible to divert the water falling on the mountain so that it did not go into the cave system. But "there was a price". The water had to be diverted somewhere. So the governor had to go to the villagers to ask to flood their fields in the name of a rescue effort that noone knew if it would succeed. So the villagers are private citizens, and there is no law that says that the governor can order them to take the damage, and certainly not for a mere chance of 13 lives (compared to the ruination of the villages that would be a guarantee) So, with no time, he has to persuade the villagers to do this, with only promises that he will try to make things right in the end, succeed or fail (and remember, he is leaving his position when all this is over) And this is the result of trust and leadership gained over time.</p><p>There are many images of leadership. An alternative is to cut your loses and avoid the possibility of things that don't look good. Which often leads to loosing everything for no gain. And that was the alternative provided to this governor. But leadership is shown when you are willing to make difficult decisions. And convince people that it is everyone's best interest that they sacrifice, on nothing more than a promise that they will all gain in the end. If not materially, then spiritually. And Thirteen Lives tries to show this in a very real way.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlCci63HBpV/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlCci63HBpV/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; 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overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlCci63HBpV/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by BBC News (@bbcnews)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-27627498513342907582022-07-24T17:33:00.000-04:002022-07-24T17:33:01.064-04:00Basement home gym - Summer 2022 version<p> The end of 2021 was marked by a burst pipe in the basement, which ruined all of the flooring, but spared all of the equipment (as they were on top of mats so did not get soaked). So, when insurance paid for new mats, this provided an opportunity to rearrange the basement gym. Also, the big upgrade was the addition of the Whipr, a connected (i.e. bluetooth) multi-sport ergometer which sees regular use as a rower and ski-erg, and occasional use as a paddle (kayak/canoe) erg.</p>
First, the equipment nook, which has the big changes from last year.
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><div><br /></div><div>This side used to have the rack, a rower and the AirDyne. Now, the flooring was replaced with rubber flooring to better withstand the heavier weights and equipment. The treadmill was moved here, where the tougher rubber is a better floor than mats intended for martial arts. <div class="separator"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238489236/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Equipment nook - Basement home gym Summer 2022"><img alt="Equipment nook - Basement home gym Summer 2022" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238489236_4b8ef39ef6.jpg" width="375" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The Whipr is the big addition here. The Whipr (https://whipr.com/) is a multi-sport ergometer. The most common version of an ergometer is a rower. It measures power, and bluetooth enabled (FTMS) apps can use it to measure your force production. My son and I both use it as a rower (not as good as a Concept 2, but better than any other non-fan/water based rower. In addition, I regularly use it as a Ski-erg, and occasionally use it for canoe, kayak, or stand up paddle. (ski and SUP are mounted to the rack). The big benefit is that it measures distance and calories directly from force production, which rewards good form. (less capable machines measure stroke rate and estimate everything else from there). Both the Whipr and the treadmill (Horizon T101 with a Runn sensor) are bluetooth enabled, so I use Kinomap to give myself a virtual course to row/run/ski/paddle on and keep track of energy and work.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other major component to this corner is the CAP power rack. It is designed for the barbell, in particular squats and bench press (I do deadlifts on the floor after folding up the treadmill and moving the rower). I have a bar with standard plates (1" hole, contrast to Olympic plates with 2" hole). It is adequate for the weights I use, because I don't plan on going that heavy (i.e. low 200lbs is going to be enough). The biggest thing lacking with a standard bar vs Olympic bar is that standard bars do not spin, so I really cannot do the olympic weights with anything serious. So my Olympic movements are done with sandbags or kettlebell.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238980185/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Basement home gym Summer 2022"><img alt="Basement home gym Summer 2022" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238980185_2699f8cd3f.jpg" width="375" /></a></div></div><div class="separator"><br /></div><div class="separator">Attached to the rack are rings and a cable pulley. The rings replace a cheap suspension trainer, which was starting to fray. I got better quality, but not willing to spend on a name brand trainer, I got rings instead. The wider webbing should make it last longer. I do dips, rows, and presses on this. The instability due to not being anchored to the ground makes for a good challenge. The cable pulley was an experiment. Basically, it allows for using weights where the direction of resistance is more horizontal than normal with free weights (where resistance is toward the ground). But I get much of that from the rings.</div><div class="separator"><br /></div><div class="separator">Also attached to the rig are the ski and SUP brackets for the Whipr.</div><div class="separator"><br /></div><div class="separator">The ski attachment is mounted on top of the rack using 3/4" webbing. I mounted initially using a buckle, then wrapped the webbing like a big, repeated clove hitch. Done twice, it is a very stable setup. As the skierg movement is complementary to the rower movement (anterior chain as opposed to the rower posterior chain), this is a good complement to the rower. Also good if my legs are torched and I need something reasonably easy that is upper body cardio. The paddle and SUP are also good for that in addition to the rotation stimulus they provide.</div><div class="separator"><br /></div><div class="separator"><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238906129/in/dateposted-public/" title="Whipr brackets on power rack"><img alt="Whipr brackets on power rack" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238906129_627151f44d.jpg" width="500" /></a><div><br /></div><div>The SUP bracket is mounted to the lower rail of the power rack. It took me a while to realize that I needed to have the hook and brace on the webbing in this order for it to work, or the brackets would slip off if any force is applied for any reasonable length of time. I also have to put a couple spare mats under the bracket so support the Whipr base unit so it does not flop around.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>\<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238906164/in/dateposted-public/" title="Whipr brackets on power rack"><img alt="Whipr brackets on power rack" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238906164_36bb55c3f2.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></div><div><br /></div><div>The other corner has the kettlebells, dumbbells, AirDyne, and punching bags. The plate loaded kettlebells (variously Fitness Gear at Dick's sporting goods, or Apex, but made by the same company as Marcy. They have a base weight of 20 pounds, but can be loaded with up to 4 5 pound standard weights. So this is my usual weight for StreetParking Crossfit-style workouts, with the weight depending on my abilities for the movement in question. The pair of 30 pound dumbbells is an aspirational weight. For static moves, I am able to use these. But for olympic moves overhead (e.g. clean and press or snatches) I'm not there yet. But I've been using these for dumbbell strength focused workouts.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238489311/in/dateposted-public/" title="Basement home gym Summer 2022"><img alt="Basement home gym Summer 2022" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238489311_c21ec079d5.jpg" width="375" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><div><br /></div><div>While the rower and treadmill are our cardio implements of choice, I get a lot of use out of the AirDyne. The rower, treadmill, and skierg all are more technique driven while the AirDyne is more mindless (since the machine guides the motion along a fixed path). So for pure mindless work capacity, it is the goto. But also light mindless work (like taking a work break) it is good for moving when I want to listen or watch something.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238775794/in/dateposted-public/" title="Basement home gym Summer 2022"><img alt="Basement home gym Summer 2022" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238775794_83fd4d9f92.jpg" width="375" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><div><br /></div><div>The next corner has homemade PVC dip bar, parallettes, a stepper, wobble board, and a set of sand kettlebells and medicine balls. The dip bar is for dips and inverted rows, especially if the dip bars we have for the power rack are being claimed. The parallettes are for pushups (easier on the wrists) or as an obstacle for hop overs. The sand kettlebells are mostly for my son(11). They are 10, 15, 20 pounds. We have another set, but they are scattered in rooms around the house for quick study/work breaks. The medicine balls are used as wall balls. My daughter (8) uses the sand kettlebells and medicine balls for carries around the basement. Last in this corner as the AV cart. I have a monitor with an Amazon Fire attached which uses two bluetooth speakers for music when working out. Also here are foam rollers and lacrosse balls for mobility, the fan for circulation, and whiteboard and cleaning supplies.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52238980190/in/dateposted-public/" title="Basement home gym Summer 2022"><img alt="Basement home gym Summer 2022" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52238980190_021a415acb.jpg" width="375" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><div><br /></div><div>Last corner are the jump ropes and sandbags. We have jump ropes for both of the kids and myself, all sized appropriately (with a little bit of growing room set up for the kids.). I have two sandbags, one at 40#, one at 65#. I generally use the 40# bag for anything with serious volume. Then we have shelves with the TKD gear. I don't do TKD much anymore (a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic), but my son still does so he uses the space for practice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for reading about my home gym. It has come a long way from when we moved in and all we had were mats and a set of spin-lock dumbbells. But like all good home gyms, we built this up a little at a time and we have most of what I can think of. Some things that come to mind are increasing weight on the kettlebells (will need an additional one), and a spin type bike. (we can dream, right)</div>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-74392977597992742532022-06-12T11:03:00.000-04:002022-06-12T11:03:48.057-04:00Youth competition during COVID-19<p> For all the bad behaviors that surround youth competition, both of us believe that there is high value in competing as youth (and just to get it out of the way, none of the value comes from winning, except that winning enables more competing) Competition exposes the kids to a realizing that there are standards of excellence beyond what they see every day, and to work towards a goal beyond matching those immediately around them.</p><p>The first value is the value of comparison. In a local group (like a school), it is easy compare yourself only to the people around you. It is also easy to believe that the people around you are your competition. But that is patently false. The people around you will become your friends and colleagues. And just as in the real world, the successes of those around you translate into your own circle improving as you spur each other on to excellence and share the attitudes and practices that bring you there. In youth competition where you see the same people again and again, your local competitors also become this community. The contrast that often happens with those who only see their local area is that success is resented (especially when that success occurs outside the local group), and attacked by those who would withhold resources, denigrate, and pull back those who do well in the larger world for a variety of reasons. </p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51243089326/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51243089326_05f1d16d4b.jpg" width="500" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>A second value of competition is to experience the ebb and flow of training/preparation cycles. The competition itself is a mere moment in time. The value of the competition is the preparation that leads to it. While in school, the performance is the goal in the forms of frequent tests, the time domain is too small to reflect real life. In competitions, the training cycle (in all fields that I know of) is measured in months. And there is a flow of months leading up to a competition, then a rest immediately following, because human beings cannot sustain a constant high level of pressure indefinitely. This sense that we live beyond the immediate moment is not found in normal school settings (which focuses on the next test) or in normal free play (which only exists in the moment).</p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52140538681/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="500" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52140538681_177e754ba0.jpg" width="375" /></a></p><div>A third is an appreciation for excellence and details. In every aspect of life, there are skills that can be mastered. And doing so is through practice, repetition, and focus on details that can be improved. And this is always grinding work. But they payoff comes later, as the preparation cycle continues and these details are put together into a larger whole, the mastery of the details leads to performance in the field that is a thing of beauty and wonder. And as you get better, you recognize that the struggles you went through, were shared by fellow competitors and the models of greatness in their own preparation cycles. And this becomes the inspiration for the next training cycle, recognizing that the improvements in the details at the beginning of the cycle leads to the performance at the end of the cycle.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of this was magnified during COVID-19. With the lockdowns and cancellations of events due to both the pandemic and the constant political fighting between those who valued the health and safety of the kids and those who wanted to ignore the whole thing, many activities who attempted to ignore the pandemic were caught in the consequences, leading to turmoil. Similarly the schools, so school based activities were curtailed. Our school district had a cyber program, but it was taught in a way that isolated the students. So students only interacted on their own initiative (or there parents). And this magnified the tendency in our school district that growth was an individual activity (and it was everyone for themselves). So we actively tried to create this environment where my kids would be able to compete and be exposed to the larger world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Over the last two years, we were able to do this in a broad range of forums. My son qualified for his Tae Kwon Do organization's district championship tournament (based on a NASCAR like point system from local tournament results). This surprise greatly improved his motivation to continue martial arts training. He also was a member of teams in regional math competitions, with his team placing in both pandemic years. While math is an individual activity, we were able to create online practice/prep sessions so that the team members could meet each other and get used to each other's personalities before the actual competition. Robotics was mostly in-person team, with an organization that took COVID-19 seriously so their competitions went as normal. While the science fair this year was in person, all of the hard work was done while he was in virtual school (unfortunately we were not able to form a community around this during the preparation period). My daughter has participated in harp recitals and judging along with submitting works of poetry to various forums. Both of them walk away from each round of competition and judging with excitement for that field.</div><div><br /></div><div>What we saw was how motivating it was for our kids to be involved in something where they are evaluated against an outside standard. And it really needs to be an outside standard, the kids are understandably jaded by the feedback they get from the people in their everyday life because it feels mundane (and they also have figured out that the feedback is not objective because there are other motivations). These competitions are something to look forward to and the preparation/training cycle becomes a way of marking the seasons, which is how personal growth works in real life.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52140557128/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52140557128_ec8040d82d_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/52140557108/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52140557108_306b958c4a_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-55952511257519426792021-12-01T21:53:00.004-05:002021-12-01T21:53:30.925-05:00Kinomap and non-connected fitness devices<p>As the basement home gym is in its neverending buildout, we move to the cardio equipment. We have a low end airbike and low end magnetic rower, a bike trainer for my bike (which is no longer road worthy since the screws on the handlebars are stripped), and recently we got a low end treadmill. And by low end, what I really mean is at the low end of what people who actually care about this would accept (not the cheapest stuff, which tends not to survive a year of heavy use). But one way of upgrading the equipment is to use virtual fitness apps, and Kinomap in particular has been designed to make it possible even with low end stuff like we have, and it makes long workouts a lot more interesting.</p><p><br /></p><p></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWTWxBRMkOe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWTWxBRMkOe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; 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<p></p><p>Long duration endurance indoors is unspeakably boring, which is the source of the joke that most exercise equipment is used as clothes hangers. In recent years, one way to combat this are virtual fitness apps. So, unlike mere exercise videos, virtual fitness apps are characterized by having their play be dependent on how hard you are working on the equipment, typically by measuring your power output and adjusting your in-app speed accordingly. Zwift is a graphics game version of this, you run or bike inside a computer game and your avatar goes through the course along avatars of everyone else on the platform. Peloton and Hydrow are a different breed within this category, they try to replace a studio class with videos and measures your performance and progress. Kinomap, which I use, has real world videos, but plays them at a speed that is based on your power.</p><p><br /></p><p>One thing virtual fitness requires is equipment that measures power, which is used by the game to track performance and set the speed of play. But this tends to be mid to high end equipment (the sensors and the data displays that goes with them is a big part of the cost for the $1000+ equipment). Those who have lower end equipment without the sensors (identifiable by cheap data displays that have no accuracy to speak of) cannot take part in that. Enter Kinomap with use of the camera sensor.</p><p><br /></p><p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVTAjDpNiMj/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVTAjDpNiMj/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; 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</p><p><br /></p><p>Kinomap, like all such apps, is based on connecting smart exercise equipment to the app via Bluetooth. It connects to a very wide range of exercise equipment by a wide range of companies. The very opposite of vendor lock-in. And in addition to supporting a wide range of equipment, it includes a feature that uses the app device (smartphone or tablet) camera as a sensor to estimate power so the app will still work. This works through computer vision. For running, it sees your head jump up and down to estimate cadence (step counters effectively do the same thing, except using accelerometers). For rowers, the camera can measure distance and watches you go back and forth to measure stroke rate (I'm a little hazy on how cycling works, it seems to track your pedaling cadence but I cannot tell what it does next)</p><p>Why is this important? </p><p>1. It is fun. Rowing to blue sky and blue oceans listening to the boat cutting through water and birds in the distance is a lot more fun than staring at walls. Even with music.</p><p>2. It is motivating. The virtual apps let you row/run/cycle along with others and you can use them as rabbits or chasers.</p><p>3. Collecting performance data is the key to improvement. The big difference between athletic training and exercise is in training you record your performance and use performance over time to show progress. And Kinomap allows that even when using equipment that does not.</p><p>So, my contribution to the internet. As the people who make virtual fitness app reviews and demos are generally serious enough to have the connected, smart fitness equipment that virtual fitness apps use to work, there are not much in the way of demos on using non-connected equipment with these apps. So here is my demonstration of the use of Kinomap with a very low end magnetic rower (good enough that reviewers say it is not bad, but not good enough to collect data) with the Kinomap camera sensor. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NF8EUH6vZA4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-39394831610290178362021-11-06T16:45:00.005-04:002021-11-06T16:45:53.797-04:00Book Review: The Last Dance by Martin Shoemaker<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42976281-the-last-dance" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Last Dance (The Near-Earth Mysteries, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569622333l/42976281._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42976281-the-last-dance">The Last Dance</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/245339.Martin_L_Shoemaker">Martin L. Shoemaker</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4324871238">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is a collection of short stories about one Captain Aames, whose has had a role in the initial stages of the exploration and colonization of Mars. And is now Captain of the main transport to Mars, the Aldrin. And the framing device is that of an Inspector General Park as she has conversations with crew and past crew of Aames. And we find that Aames is not nice, to put it mildly. But he is highly competent, and those who stay with him say that this level of competence is what has saved their lives, and in the lessons they learned saved the lives of those they were with. <br /><br />So, each of the stories is told as a conversation between IG Park and the crew member about a historical episode that is meant to provide Park with some background intended to sway Park to their preferred outcome, and Park is very aware that she is dealing with unreliable narrators who are in some way self-serving. And this dynamic makes the characters believable. Everyone, including Captain Aames, who does not actually appear until late, is flawed (and Captain Aames explicitly states that he knows it, which makes him even more larger than life in the eyes of his crew). All of the sympathetic characters (Aames, his crew, and IG Park) grow over the course of each story.<br /><br />Yes, the overall story is competence porn, and I'm a sucker for those. And the better versions of that are those where things go wrong, even if the hero is part of how it happened, because things go wrong in life. But the hero does not give up. And it is not one heroic act that makes it work, it is the development of a plan that can work, and everyone doing their part to make it work, because that is how real life works too. And here, the hero is not the hero because of what he does, it is because he gets everyone around him to rise to the occasion and take their role in making everything work.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/266417-louis">View all my reviews</a>
lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-3504264852845812772021-06-13T13:39:00.000-04:002021-06-13T13:39:05.048-04:00The value of competition for youth<p>This past weekend DS10 competed at the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) Northeastern District Championships in 9-10 Blackbelt forms and traditional weapons. Qualification was somewhat of a surprise to us. The ATA uses a NASCAR style points system for qualifying. You get points for placing in the many competitions hosted around the country during the year. Then at the end of the year, state champions are determined for each of the categories based on accumulated points, and the qualifiers for districts are determined. Because of COVID-19, last year's competitions were cancelled, and this year's qualifiers were based on last year's competitions. While we knew that DS10 had points from last year, we were surprised to find out that he had enough to qualify (we found out when the ATA sent notices to the schools that their students qualified for District Championships). We suspect that many of those who would have otherwise qualified had dropped out of the ATA and TKD during COVID (while DS10 had continued training through his school that supported virtual classes). But, since both of us (parents) are in fields where careers are marked by perseverance through the events of life, the COVID-19 pandemic is merely one of those life events, but experienced by everyone, and everyone made decisions that allowed them to progress or not in their chosen areas.</p><p><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51242375317/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51242375317_423c016fc9.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></p><p><br /></p><p><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51243089326/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51243089326_05f1d16d4b.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>After learning that he qualified for Districts, DS10 now joined the ranks of those who travel for tournaments. We have typically only gone to tournaments that were local (i.e. no hotel stay required), but we always noticed the number of competitors that traveled to tournaments from other states (in most cases, because the points to be gained were valid in their pursuit of their state and district qualifiers at the end, but there were some traveling competitors at the novice sections as well). When he was younger, our philosophy of tournaments was that DS10 needed to be exposed to the quality of those outside his immediate circle (school). Again, both parents have the philosophy that the only way of assessing the quality of a person in an area is to see how they fare when directly compared to a larger population. Because until you are compared outside your home, you can never know how good you really are. And then knowing what is possible gives one intrinsic motivation to become better. And not just in the area of competition, but in all areas of life (i.e. become a better human being).</p><p><br /></p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51243854369/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51243854369_9fd48ebb88.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><p>In preparing for the tournament, TKD had gone from a sideline during the pandemic to an area of focus (it helped that he just had piano competitions that meant these areas were ramping down). This meant regular sessions with dad in the basement and weekly private lessons at the ATA school to ramp up his TKD over two months.</p><p><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51242375277/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51242375277_d626332ba6.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></p><p><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51243288978/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51243288978_526b7ff214.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></p><p>For the competition itself, we did not have high expectations. The majority of the competitors in the ring had state and district champion patches (meaning they were state or district champions in past years). So the goal was to do well (i.e. not get last :-) ) And his scores were in line with reasonably good, but not exceptional.</p><p><br /></p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51244143410/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51244143410_cb12f74b11.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><p><br /></p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51243089291/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51243089291_e35afc5c09.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><p><br /></p><p>More useful was the post-competition talk. DS10 reports that during competition his world got very small, and he noticed nothing but himself and the judge. So we explained that this was the feeling that he wants to have, that sense of being able to concentrate and focus so that nothing else matters and he enters the zone. This for us is the value of the competition, not winning or loosing, but understanding what it means to prepare to do your best in the moment, and how that moment feels when you are doing your best (and contrast to when you did not do your best). Because that is a feeling that can be repeated in all parts of your life. Next, exposure to the reality that the world is bigger than your day to day life, and the people around you are not competition, but fellow travelers on that path (even if we are regularly reminded that people around us do not agree with this belief).<br /><br /></p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/51242375307/in/dateposted-public/" title="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51242375307_58b2d2ba50.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ATA TKD Northeastern District Championships"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-21627326101485530722021-02-14T09:38:00.003-05:002021-02-14T09:38:51.936-05:00Theatre during COVID-19: The Catastrophist by Lauren Gunderson and the Marin Theatre<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/marintheatre.org-assets/images/productions/the-catastrophist/banner/Catastrophist_prod_banner_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="800" src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/marintheatre.org-assets/images/productions/the-catastrophist/banner/Catastrophist_prod_banner_2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Live artistic performances is something that has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have somewhat filled in that gap in our lives by watching performances by the Pittsburgh Ballet, the <a href="https://pittsburghsymphony.org/pso_home/web/front-row">Front Row series by the Pittsburgh Symphony</a>, and embracing the online performances by various artists (and paying for them). Because, just like we do with restaurants and other businesses, life just makes much more sense when we take advantage of the experiences that are available instead of dwelling on the experiences that are not. (and not being in the privileged upper 1%, the peak level experiences like being close enough to see the eyes of the performers that are the hardest to replicate with social distancing were not available to us anyway so these virtual performance give a pretty good experience)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.marintheatre.org/productions/the-catastrophist">The Catastrophist is a one man play by Lauren Gunderson</a>, commissioned and written during the COVID-19 pandemic. And while many writers try to research their works by immersing themselves, Ms Gunderson was not able to claim COVID-19 restrictions as an impediment. She is married to the virologist who is the basis for the play (Ms Gunderson is known for writing plays centered on scientists, but she usually does not have this close access to them).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dr. Nathen Wolfe is known as a virologist who achieved some notoriety during the 2014 Ebola outbreak which was more widespread than the normal and threatened to spread into the U.S. He is one of the virologists that persuaded then U.S. administration to take this seriously and prepare for its arrival. (I remember being taught procedures we would take in my role as a Red Cross volunteer if it was necessary to support Ebola quarantine by delivering food.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are two threads in the play. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">First is Dr. Wolfe's development as a scientist. There is an discussion woven throughout with his development as a scientist (Jewish grandma: "Why would you go to Harvard Medical School if you were not going to be a medical doctor?") and a developing conversation on philosophy of science. But the meat is doing virology, especially in his specialty of zoonotic viruses, viruses that jump from animals to people. He talks about doing field work in Camaroon (which was partially under Dr. Donald Burke, of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health) going into the countryside and working with people living there and both teaching best practices and doing research with both the people as well as the animals they hunted. And how this field research led to the discovery in the lab of proof that viruses jumped from animals to people. (and for those who are linking this to COVID-19, this is the same work that the Wuhan virology lab does in the forests of Asia, they can discover a virus in the lab from sample they take, but any virus they discover is already existing in the forests and caves of Asia). Then, after going from field work to lab work, how this naturally grows to the insights that showed that the 2014 Ebola outbreak was different and more of a threat to the world than earlier Ebola outbreaks, and led to the warnings that the rest of the world prepared for it and was ready for it when it arrived outside of Africa. (there is a sidenote here about the accusations that occur whenever anyone actually tries to do anything in the real world saying that the response was botched because of it was not perfect. But after 2020, we know know what a botched response looks like, i.e. what would have happened if his team was not involved)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Another major thread was about risk and mortality. In part the conversation about risk was about philosophy of science, but then it becomes personal. There is an abstract conversation about risk, like he promised his wife that he would not do anything that exceeded a certain value on a risk measure. But then it gets more personal. Like the reality that every male in his family dies in their 40s from a heart condition. So it covers his relationship with his father, and then with his sons. (and that his sons never met their grandfather, who died just before the first was born).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Watching this with family (and after watching Dr. Wolfe's TED talk), we have to remember that theatre requires its actors to exaggerate emotion because voices and body are all they have to communicate, especially in one-man shows where there they cannot use the reactions of the other characters (my wife, who does not like musical theatre, finds this comment amusing). So the play is a caricature of Dr. Wolfe. But is it a very good picture on what it is to be in science, the joys of discovery, and the thrills and hazards of actually doing work that has impact, especially in the politicized world of real life where there are plenty of people who want to blame those who save them. Highly recommended as a way of understanding how viruses and pandemics work (and the subfield of zoonotic diseases, think how hunters interact with the animals they hunt)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.marintheatre.org/productions/the-catastrophist">The Catastrophist is streaming on demand at the Marin Theatre</a> through the end of February. Note that there is a one day delay from when you order tickets to when you get the link, so plan accordingly. For those with young children, note that theatre requires actors exaggerate their emotions, so there is cursing in anger sprinkled throughout the play.</div><p></p>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-53620976029086225282021-02-06T14:40:00.001-05:002021-02-06T14:40:56.982-05:00The home gym in January 2021: An ode to StreetParking<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Basement Gym Equipment</h2><p>Here is the current state of the basement gym. When we bought this house, we decided to make the basement a gym (the previous owner basically used it as a messy closet), so we had ordered mats that would arrive just after we moved (and before the movers moved our stuff). So the main part of the basement was immediately covered in 3/4" mats suitable for exercise.</p><p><br /></p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50876048831/" title="Home gym in COVID-19"><img alt="Home gym in COVID-19" height="480" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50876048831_2f715abe26_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The floor is the main feature. The open floor is meant for TKD, so it is always (ha!) clear to do forms. And we move equipment there as needed. The floor is used for our workouts (usually CrossFit or HIIT style workouts), my daughter uses it to dance to music and music videos. In the corner is the screen with an Amazon Fire stick. Two bluetooth speakers on the walls provide surround sound music for the workout. The shelves in the corner hold any electronics (remotes, timers, HRM chest strap), accessories, and mobility equipment (foam roller, lacross balls, yoga blocks). Also along the wall are a pylo box (home made) and steppers (garage sale)<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<div><br /></div></div><div>A new addition is along the wall with the mirrors and whiteboard (which is now hanging). We have hooks that we use for resistance band training. We have started using resistance bands for swimming dryland training, so the bands are clipped into the hooks, and we can practice our strokes, either on our back, or using the weight bench. I also use the upper hooks to do ski-erg type motions.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50876048841/" title="Home gym in COVID-19"><img alt="Home gym in COVID-19" height="480" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50876048841_25415dc0ef_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><div><br /></div><div>This corner has all of the TKD equipment. In addition to two Century Wavemaster standing bags for striking and kicking, we have kick and hand targets for taekwondo. Also various ATA TKD weapons. Also important are the posters. We have posters for kettlebell, medicine ball, bodyweight, stretches, foam roller, anatomy, (and other wall) dumbbell, barbell, suspension band, and cable machine, along with posters illustrating the foundational powerlifting and Olympic lifts. And various card decks with exercises when we need to build a semi-random circuit workout.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50895555996/" title="Kinetic by Kurt Road Machine with InRide power meter."><img alt="Kinetic by Kurt Road Machine with InRide power meter." height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50895555996_47525e54dc_z.jpg" width="512" /></a><div><br /></div><div>Another new addition is the bike trainer. I got a <a href="https://www.kurtkinetic.com/trainers-products/road-machine-smart-2">Kinetic Road Machine </a>off of Facebook Marketplace over the summer (someone was selling it for her brother-in-law, so the goal was to clear it out of the hosue) I added the Inride Power Meter, and now I have a bike trainer that measures power (previously, I used the calories estimated by my HRM to measure power) Training to power adds a new dimension to training, and a third cardio machine, because power meters measure output, as opposed to the HRM, which effectively measures input (effort), which as any engineer knows, is not what you should be measuring. I have been using it with the Kinetic.fit app to record power based workouts. I do this once or twice a week (depending on if I use this for the Streetparking Endurance workout for the week)</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50876048836/" title="Home gym in COVID-19"><img alt="Home gym in COVID-19" height="480" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50876048836_2c9f25e05f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><div><br /></div><div>Here is the equipment nook. This area is organized around the power rack and its mats. I have a standard bar (1" diameter weights), with about 250 lbs of weights for use with a barbell, dumbbells, and an adjustable kettlebell that is usually loaded up to 30-40 lbs of weight. I also have three sand kettlebells (10#, 15#, 20#) that the kids use and I use for warmups. And there are two sandbags, a 50# and a 65# that I joke are great for when I need to feel particularly badass :-). I have a suspension trainer on the back upper bar that I will use for warmups. And a new addition is a cable pully I have on the front upper bar for cable exercises (also using standard plates)</div><div><br /></div><div>For cardio we have two machines, a magnetic rower and an airdyne. My son has started using these as well, although he is not quite tall enough. For longer workouts, he can use the rower, (because I don't like using the Airdyne for workouts > 30 minutes, I usually pull out the bike trainer for these.)</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What we do</h2><div><br /></div><div>This was the COVID-19 pandemic year, which meant that schools became virtual, and even after school activities struggled to figure out how to work with the kids. Some places really did not figure this out, others went all in to remote (video) training, and others basically became video classes (no interaction). We had an immense advantage that my main fitness programming was Streetpakring (<a href="https://streetparking.com/">https://streetparking.com/</a>), which is an online CrossFit style programming. So I'm used to this. My daughter is used to joining me on my workouts (I scale, so she scales too). And now she discovered the Just Dance series of games, and now dances for hours on end, so she is taken care of. My son was a little harder. His TKD first stopped completely, and his school did not really get the hang of the virtual teaching, so we have been trying to get a routine. So now, we have 4 types of workouts over the week.</div><div><br /></div><div>1. 20 minutes of intervals (0:30/0:30, 0:40/0:20, 1/1, 0:90/0:30) (rower or airdyne)</div><div>2. Dryland bodyweight HIIT (usually a 20 minute video aimed at swimmers, but SP Shift is also an option.</div><div>3. Resistance band </div><div>4. Long, either ~40 minute run or 40 minutes of intervals (rower)</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Streetparking</h2><div><a href="https://streetparking.com/">Streetparking</a> is an online CrossFit style programming (constantly varied across broad modal and time domains) aimed at home gym owners. It has two mantras: more than nothing, and consistency is key. The center piece are the CrossFit style workouts. 5 days a week there are 4 versions, A (dumbbell centered), B (barbell centered) and C (sandbag or other odd object based), and shift (simpler movements for those who have not mastered the movement. They are big on scaling with options for movements to match available equipment and skills that maintain the stimulus. Next, there are accessories workouts, strength focused (power, olympic, and sandbag), skillwork (gymnastics), endurance, and, for those who just can't get away from gym bodybuilding workouts, accessories for that.</div><div><br /></div><div>They have a very wide range of people doing this, the two largest populations are (1) stay at home moms and (2) active military (and families). So their mantra is More than nothing, meaning they encourage everyone to do what is intense for them (weight, reps, movements). (intensity is the another component of CrossFit) And the generally accepted way of knowing that you got the intensity right, you complete the workout in the goal time and you die (or as DD6 knows, you plop at the end of a workout)</div><div><br /></div><div>But what makes Streetparking different than other online programs is the amount of interaction between the members. The focus is on the Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with Streetparking, and members are encouraged to video workouts and post them. As many people are unwilling to put themselves out in the public (because people on the Internet in general are strange), many people create private accounts or have accounts that are solely for Streetparking, and will only connect to other people who are also in Streetparking (there is a Streetparking account for publicity purposes, and another account that only follows Streetparking members, so we know to look for that to identify each other). And it very clearly is not meant to be a focused on the strongest, but on those who maintain intensity. There is the CrossFit vibe of always cheering on those who struggle through (regardless of what that means), and in posts, I think one of the rewards of honesty is reading others reports of workouts, and saying "that is what I was feeling, at the exact same point in the workout". So social media becomes a lot of "me two" types posts, which builds that sense of shared community, that is missing in places that try to deliver video to people working at home. And the sheer range of people involved. I feel that Streetparking has the broadest cross-section of people out of any association I am in, and it encourages using it as a place where people can have conversations about life (with a little bit of moderation to move any antagonistic conversations elsewhere). For example as COVID-19 made its way to through the U.S. and different states had different experiences, members from the various areas discussed their experiences dealing with life, the shutdowns, and getting (and recovering) from COVID (and occasionally a story that someone did not). The type of connection that keeps us all sane in a time when we don't get enough face to face interaction, and one way video interaction does not provide.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-69101126256373939652021-01-04T22:41:00.004-05:002021-01-04T22:52:53.229-05:00Fitness in 2020Yes, this was a strange year for fitness. An infectious disease that spreads through respiratory transmission meant that group fitness centers, like gyms and martial arts studios, had restrictions on operations. And owners and operators of gyms and other group fitness establishments varied considerably in their following general guidelines for operating those types of activities (and the CDC was prohibited from telling Americans what they were, leading to other organizations recreating the standard proceedures the rest of the world had in place.<div><br /></div><div>My primary training program was CrossFit, through <a href="https://www.streetparking.com/">Streetparking</a>, which is an online program that was founded by two former CrossFit Games athletes (one of whom was on CrossFit Seminar staff). So this included metabolic conditioning workouts (combination of strength and stamina), endurance, and power workouts. Second, was martial arts through the American Taekwondo Association (ATA). And starting in 2019, I started tracking workouts through Polar (I have a Polar Ignite heart rate monitor), so between my workout logs and my Polar logs, I have a quantified fitness<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Yapk5AL1NeX6hGvKWZXZJfqtrKzKxBGqUmXIWoYuL2UiErHmlGpOPXCisfZ6jaNTdrhckNb9j7nFSRnVcbIFzJ30oVnwuKyGTkScL__SftOJuIMpdWxgjGB6sySu4UTznk6K/s1006/polarflowzones2020.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1006" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Yapk5AL1NeX6hGvKWZXZJfqtrKzKxBGqUmXIWoYuL2UiErHmlGpOPXCisfZ6jaNTdrhckNb9j7nFSRnVcbIFzJ30oVnwuKyGTkScL__SftOJuIMpdWxgjGB6sySu4UTznk6K/s320/polarflowzones2020.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heart rate zones and training benefit</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2cIbjkN1f5vhhtRjsRA1cFJOZQP9GQWz8zEJp_2TbBltAZ8EHuJgmacK7rGl_NK9x2X3q_Z6u4xSU8MF8vn9-ycnAyVOTmiNrjnRFmrD_kHu01yW_ub51sUX5P2qRl-0ZgCI/s1011/polarflow2020.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2cIbjkN1f5vhhtRjsRA1cFJOZQP9GQWz8zEJp_2TbBltAZ8EHuJgmacK7rGl_NK9x2X3q_Z6u4xSU8MF8vn9-ycnAyVOTmiNrjnRFmrD_kHu01yW_ub51sUX5P2qRl-0ZgCI/s1011/polarflow2020.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1011" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2cIbjkN1f5vhhtRjsRA1cFJOZQP9GQWz8zEJp_2TbBltAZ8EHuJgmacK7rGl_NK9x2X3q_Z6u4xSU8MF8vn9-ycnAyVOTmiNrjnRFmrD_kHu01yW_ub51sUX5P2qRl-0ZgCI/s320/polarflow2020.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Calories and heart rate per month<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div></div>
So, these plots show the disruption in April (although part of it was just my loosing my HRM that month), then a steady increase as I got into the swing of things in Summer. Summer was also when I did the Street Parking Endurance program. And then got injured. So Fall was recovery (note a gradual increase in intensity over time) and then December, when I was doing two-a-days during the Christmas and New Year holidays. We also see that HRM have a bias toward endurance workouts, as it is really hard to get into the Red zone unless you are running or cycling.<div><br /></div><div>Looking at my Streetparking logs, I see the following:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4dV1IKG2u9BXesgObmnOLm32EKwsTIqgQqnb07ktvJondnFpLRDbvt7Na7wHsw1doCx5WRHZ5OjILBrxxtSYgWVAjnJtIiZY5AlJJvGTiRX_VySMktCdjIeLHabUoNrSbJSt/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="309" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4dV1IKG2u9BXesgObmnOLm32EKwsTIqgQqnb07ktvJondnFpLRDbvt7Na7wHsw1doCx5WRHZ5OjILBrxxtSYgWVAjnJtIiZY5AlJJvGTiRX_VySMktCdjIeLHabUoNrSbJSt/" width="320" /></a></div><br />Bassically, I continued to do about 5 workouts a week. But a lot more endurance (run, row, cycle), in part because of doing the endurance program (many of which did not get counted here). I increased Buts and Guts. This is generally bodybuilding type workouts, but focused on core and unilateral lower body, which helps in preventing injury. After I went to physical therapy for IT band syndrome in summer 2019, I did Butts and Guts on a regular basis. And less use of the sandbag, since I had other things to concentrate on. (Program A is a kettlebell/dumbbell focused, Program B is a barbell version, Program C is a sandbag version of the same workout)</div><div><br /></div><div>Other things of note: in 2020 I completed The Vault challenge, which was a weekly test workout (in Crossfit there are normal everyday workouts, then there are tests, which are intended to help measure your progress). So The Vault was 25 weeks of one test workout a week. (and done twice each in 2020)</div><div><br /></div><div>Goals for the coming year</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Complete the 2021 version of the Vault.</div><div>2. Complete a challenge that involves nutrition. While there are competition type events in CrossFit, challenges tend to be based on consistency in lifestyle changes, so a challenge is over a month or two and involves nutrition and other lifestyle tracking in addition to workouts. Consistency in workouts is easy for me. (that is just discipline). Tracking nutrition is a new anmial.</div><div>3. Do <a href="http://aerobiccapacity.com/">Aerobic Capacity</a>. Aerobic capacity is a program that focuses on stamina and endurance in CrossFit. While the roots are in endurance sports, this program is done in the context of a CrossFit program, so it recognizes that the endurance and stamina are not ends in themselves, but are as part of a broader fitness goals (CrossFit Metcons can be anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes in duration) But the core of Aerobic Capacity is still the endurance sports (running, cycling)\</div><div>4. Do a power meter workout weekly and work through the introductory power meter program. I got a Kinetic Road Machine off of Facebook Marketplace and added a power meter sensor to it, so I effectively have a metered bike trainer. So the plan here is to do at least one workout a week on the bike trainer and take a one month training program that is based on the power meter)</div><div>5. Monitor strain vs tolerance on Polar Flow. This is the measure that correlates to injury risk, and if I had my current heart rate monitor in August, it would have been flagged that I was at a heightened injury risk. (strain is the recent workout load, tolerance is the workout load over the past four weeks, so strain vs tolerance tells if my workout load has been increasing faster than my ability to adapt to it properly)</div>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-42129469369274017532020-12-31T10:44:00.006-05:002020-12-31T10:44:52.110-05:00Book review: Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28186015-weapons-of-math-destruction" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456091964l/28186015._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28186015-weapons-of-math-destruction">Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6928121.Cathy_O_Neil">Cathy O'Neil</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3598193298">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
There is a popular diagram that describes data science as a combination of math and statistics, computer programming skills, and subject domain expertise; and describes the dangers of what happens when one of those three are not available. But among academics, there is an opposed line of thought that says that math and statistics methods are pure and subject independent. This book is firmly against the idea that algorithms are a defense against bias. The reason may be that while the mathematician/machine learning modeler may be naive, the setting of the implementation is not, and the questions that are being asked as well as the data being used to train models are both affirmative choices where the analyst and customer have agency. And pretending to be a naive analyst leads to errors in the result that have real consequences.<br /><br />O'Neil goes through a number of cases. But while many accounts will go into the "evils" of big data and machine learning, she does suggest good practices that can prevent the dangers. First evaluation of the model. The model should be tested by actually looking at its predictions and seeing if they are true. In statistics this is done through control groups. In data science this is done through holdout test sets. And in her case studies, she points out this is not done. Next, compare the model input data set to the population that will be applied. Again, she regularly points out where this is not done. A third one is the well known make sure that you are not using machine learning to perpetuate an undesirable status quo. (but this argument is too easy)<br /><br />Read this at a book club at work. It spurred a great discussion, that has carried over into other conversations. Definitely recommended to those involved in data science/analytics where people are impacted, and in areas where data analysis is becoming a bigger part of life, so as someone who works with the results of analysis you can ask good question, both while the analysis is planned and performed, and in understanding and questioning the results.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/266417-louis">View all my reviews</a>
lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-24440431106320396152020-08-06T21:59:00.000-04:002020-08-06T21:59:22.005-04:00A data point on the efficacy of fitness trackers<p> You may not realize this, but if you own a smartphone, it comes with a step counter. Because it tries to count steps while in your pocket. (my son can explain to you how step counters work). But the magic in step counting is not being able to count steps, it is mental, it gets you to be more active based on the "if it gets measured it gets done" principle. Meaning you actually have to look at the numbers every now and then to get the motivation to do something about it.</p><p>So, I'm a lapsed runner, but I run a decent amount. I got my iphone 5 somewhere in 2017 (I think) and that is when I now got Apple Health, which lets me see the iPhone step counter. So this is what it shows me for those first few months.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50197286836/in/dateposted-public/" title="Increasing steps as I get better fitness watches"><img alt="Increasing steps as I get better fitness watches" height="400" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50197286836_8e76f09b30_w.jpg" width="225" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<div><br /></div><div>So, I'm hovering around 5,000 steps per day. But I'm not paying that close attention. In early 2018, I get a fitness tracker. A Huawei Fit, because I want it to double as a watch. And it has an immediate effect. I start actually looking at my step count. And realize that the only thing between me and a consistent 5,000 steps a day is taking the stairs 10 flights to my office. And I start doing that every day, at least once. Because when I do that, 5,000 steps in a day is easy.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50196738463/in/dateposted-public/" title="Increasing steps as I get better fitness watches"><img alt="Increasing steps as I get better fitness watches" height="400" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50196738463_76dc0dcb9c_w.jpg" width="225" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Now, 5,000 steps per day is easy. But I actually do real stuff. Like CrossFit, taekwondo, and I occasionally run. And I realize I am actually getting use out the fitness tracker, so I figure it is worth getting a real sports heart rate monitor. Being a former runner (and I already have a Polar H7 chest strap), I stay in the Polar ecosystem (because Polar's definining trait is that it caters to athletes and does not have anything that an athlete does not need) and get a Polar M200. Because it is already generations out of date and I can pick it up for pretty cheap. And then this is what happens around December 2019 (early Christmas present)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/50197286841/in/dateposted-public/" title="Increasing steps as I get better fitness watches"><img alt="Increasing steps as I get better fitness watches" height="400" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50197286841_b637074287_w.jpg" width="225" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></div><div><br /></div><div>Another jump. Actually, Polar does not actually reports steps, it reports activity, which is much more useful. So, instead of thinking about whether or not I am walking up and down 10 flights of stairs, I'm more interested in making sure I take activity breaks (to avoid movement alarms), and getting my activity(ies) in every day.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I am a poster child for how having a gadget gets someone to be more active. And in the era of COVID-19, you can see that April was when we all went into stay at home, and by the next month I had my routine set (10 minute exercise sessions in the morning and around lunch to replace walking up and down the office stairs, and I get my main activity in the evening). And yes, I think I am making my heart rate monitor worth it.</div>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-17941811340087040672020-06-06T17:24:00.001-04:002020-06-06T17:28:24.260-04:00Teaching kids micro:bit and makecode during COVID-19 quarantineA couple of weeks into social distancing, as the kids various activities had shut down with no plan on how to open, we were faced with the question of how to keep our kids occupied. We have generally followed the principle of having one artistic, one physical, and one STEM activity ongoing per child (plus chinese), and for the older one we were trying to fill in the space opened as his robotics (First LEGO League) activity had closed down. And we wanted to have it be somewhat social, as we also wanted him to maintain his connections, as well as make sure there was a community of friends and relationships that may endure.<br />
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For classmates, our first community that we reached out to were the other kids from his LEGO robotics group. I already had a number of email addresses from organizing an outing, and these were all kids who knew blockly style programming (or Scratch like) and programming in the physical world. The next source was a local chinese parent WeChat group. And we were looking for kids roughly the same age as DS9. And we found one more from a camp that DS9 was in last year.<br />
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The goal was teaching programming, and for this, I choose block style programming, specifically on the BBC Micro:bit. The micro:bit was created for teaching introduction to computer science in Britain. They goal was a microprocessor that had on-board physical inputs and outputs, the ability to connect to other components, and could by taught by middle school teachers, who had a wide range of comfort level in teaching technology, and likely no comfort in teaching programming. Blockly style programming (using makecode) is particularly suited as it had enough range to allow the application of computer science basic concepts, but without issues such as syntax, which in normal text based programming often dominate an introductory computer science course. (in computer science, the concepts are the important part, syntax is merely the implementation. The focus in time and energy on syntax is considered a distraction)<br />
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For materials, my mainstays of Adafruit and SparkFun were both unavailable. Adafruit was designated an essential business, but was focusing on medical suppliers. SparkFun was closed. So we had to source kits from Amazon.com, who was working from stock. The micro:bit itself was available, but kits tended to be from one of the multitude of unknown suppliers.<br />
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For curriculum, I used the book micro:bit in Wonderland from Tech will save us. The target audience was people who could not program, and it was craft based, where the projects all had a programming component and a craft component (that interfaced with the micro:bit board through alligator clips and the touch pads. As an added bonus, there was a motivating reading, from Alice in Wonderland (which many people already owned, but was also free as it was in the public domain on Project Gutenberg.)<div><br /></div><div>Some unit notes:</div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Impacts of shutdown. The micro:bit was generally available on Amazon.com, but the kits of basic supplies were not. There were two sources that were left, the <a href="https://www.techwillsaveus.com/">https://www.techwillsaveus.com/</a>site and various no-name kits on Amazon.com The no-name kits tended to be breadboard based kits as opposed to alligator clip based kits. For elementary and middle school classes, the alligator based kits would have been much better</li><li>Block coding on micro:bit was something the kids took to easily. Even the one who had no programming experience (meaning not even having background in Scratch). Using makecode was easy. By the second week everyone had a microbit (not necessarily a kit) and getting working makecode onto the micro:bit was not hard.</li><li>First hard lesson was the control of the LED light, which was the first lesson that got off the micro:bit board. As this was really the first experience in physical computing, I believe that this is also considered a first milestone in electrical engineering. It took a lot of one-on-one attention to get everyone through this. But all of the other physical computing lessons (touch pads, connecting to sound speaker, other LED light projects) went much easier.</li><li>If-else was not a problem</li><li>Kids enjoyed the sound projects. Both the buzzer, then the music box.</li><li>They also had no problem working through complicated if-else trees </li><li>The big assignment here was to use the microbit as a musical instrument, which meant making lots of sounds (kids like noise)</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><div>Really, the only difficult week was the first experience with lighting a light bulb. While many students had experience with LEGO robotics and things like SPHERO, those kits deliberately hide the difficulties in connecting a controller to something off the controller. So after that, it becomes easier.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I would do differently if I had to do this again, I would use the Sparkfun gator:circuit kit. It breaks out many comment electrical components and packages them along with resistors (needed to make sure that low resistance components like LED lights do not get burnt out) to make a alligator clip friendly board, which is much easier than trying to connect components on a bread board (I think Adafruit has components that do this to, but not packaged in a named kit). Leave the breadboard work for high school or later.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2rXEpBqT26S-pvwT-uWELmQ16-pfkh7ywP677Ps9L5LfKrGfidX_WsPVuL-9B8jSfWaDsIvudtVi1yP72WAF8uJa9w1830Ajb22MVa_GblPjJvdRHwKHpFlYh8z-5HiiI80pR/s1152/zoomclasspicture20200531.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2rXEpBqT26S-pvwT-uWELmQ16-pfkh7ywP677Ps9L5LfKrGfidX_WsPVuL-9B8jSfWaDsIvudtVi1yP72WAF8uJa9w1830Ajb22MVa_GblPjJvdRHwKHpFlYh8z-5HiiI80pR/s320/zoomclasspicture20200531.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As this whole teaching kids programming experience was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it could be :-) there is going to be a follow-on. But instead of having the focus be technology and computing, the goal will be to actually use these skills to do something, so we are going to take the Sparkfun gator:science kit, which has electronic sensors that can be used with the microbit to create data collection lab instruments, as the basis for an investigative science course. And in true co-op style, there will be a team of parents who will be trying to teach the kids science. :-)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh86QSBdeoW2PRLye5VFPX_YmIa_3XnjCMJwh2zM5fvmWLEqmx9nLeULfK-vNJgqXkpRDZ9FhAwqqZpfMzj7VBbBTmkh__mwIAs3fz1r0DJJplfa_7vFexQKtpAVTt5LTRJT9_zI0JsjEu1Hrplb8JURqe0uErHiQhZq8aUJ8oi83MRUADtAWT0Vfunmwv1HfF6-EbdTNCijJOS8_o1pWA9Tg=s600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh86QSBdeoW2PRLye5VFPX_YmIa_3XnjCMJwh2zM5fvmWLEqmx9nLeULfK-vNJgqXkpRDZ9FhAwqqZpfMzj7VBbBTmkh__mwIAs3fz1r0DJJplfa_7vFexQKtpAVTt5LTRJT9_zI0JsjEu1Hrplb8JURqe0uErHiQhZq8aUJ8oi83MRUADtAWT0Vfunmwv1HfF6-EbdTNCijJOS8_o1pWA9Tg=s320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div><br /></div>lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-18560088498779714342020-05-25T22:42:00.003-04:002020-05-25T22:43:10.940-04:00Parenting month 111: Online school during COVID-19So, everyone in the world is dealing with COVID-19. One universal experience are the kids experiencing shelter in place. Schools around the world closed or moved to remote learning.<br />
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So our kids have both moved to online learning. Just as both of us academic parents moved to online teaching. They have gone through many rounds as everyone; kids, parents, teachers, administrators; have been figuring things out as we go, trying new things, discarding things that were too hard, trying for what works while minimizing the pain over the perfect.<br />
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We do have the advantage that our kids generally like being around us. So the first few weeks they were very happy to have both of us around all of the time. Of course, DS9 eventually started to realize that mommy and daddy school is considerably more demanding than regular school (the cost of having picked two academics to be parents. From the day he was born we joked that he clearly was not thinking things through when he picked his parents, probably was thinking about food)<br />
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Our schedules have settled into a pattern. In the morning both kids have to check their schools communication channels. Both schools at one point had several information channels to check, which definitely caused problems, but they have settled into one location for DD6, and two places for DS9. Both kids generally finish their school work before lunch (with minimum help from parents). Then comes mommy and daddy school, which generally includes piano, chinese, math, and extra curriculars.<br />
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Most enrichment programs closed down due to COVID-19 at the same times the schools did. Although a large number of asian parents in the area were talking about pulling kids out of school for a couple weeks before PA schools actually closed down (we were only one day ahead of the PA announcement). Eventually, many enrichment activities went online, using Zoom (just like all of our work places). TKD started up online fairly quickly, and our kids joined in once a whole cycle started as online. Ballet started online with the Pittsburgh Ballet using online kids classes as an outreach to maintain contact, and now the closer in schools are starting up online classes starting with the summer camps. The LEGO robotics school DS9 is in is going online for camps, they have procedures of how to do in person (limited numbers, distancing) but we'll see if they actually carry them out (if WPA remains in yellow, I expect that they would definitely do so if WPA goes to green status).<br />
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For math, we are somewhat putting it on hold while they still go through school. It is a little easier now that our university work is done, but as their school winds down we will add that back in. DS9 will go back to Beast Academy to finish off level 5 (which will reach the end of the Art of Problem Solving Beast Academy series for the younger students). We will be exploring the main AoPS at some point. DD6 is still not ready for Beast Academy, so she will do a couple of books from the Life of Fred series. Like Beast Academy, it is a math series that promotes learning to think about math instead of drill and kill (the way most American learn math, and learn to hate it). She is doing it online with a friend, which seems to be cause for much laughter in the room.<br />
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My contribution to teaching kids during COVID-19 has been teaching a programming with micro:bit to kids we have met from a few sources, mostly the LEGO robotics (their online program had not started yet) and chinese families. In addition to the materials at microbit.org and micromag, we used a book "microbit in Wonderland", which had a craft feel to it for relating computing to the physical world. Most (but not all) of the kids had exposure to Scratch (scratch.mit.edu), but generally the act of connecting physical items like lights, speakers, and conductive surfaces (aluminum foil) was new (outside of packages systems like LEGO robotics). I suspect most electrical engineering professors would tell me that my experience of everything getting much smoother after we go to the point of controlling light bulbs is a known fact of life. The whole "teaching pre-teens programming online" experience has gone off much better than expected, with the parents telling me that the kids show off the weekly homework projects. And having 7 out of 9 effectively make it to the end is probably a good record :-)<br />
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So, the end of the online school year is in sight, and I sense that teachers and kids are going for survival to the finish line (my university reminded faculty from the beginning of the online teaching period that the goal was survival, not perfection) So the next phase will be replacing the usual summer camps with either online versions or us working at home (or parent run groups, coop style)lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-33634447184079140112020-05-04T15:37:00.000-04:002020-05-04T15:37:08.093-04:00Senior capstone during COVID-19This is the month of COVID-19. Both University of Pittsburgh and Geneva College (our employers) announced that they would be delayed the week after spring break on March 11 (pushing back opening until March 20. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania declared that all educational institutions be closed on March 17. Which also meant that our kids were not returning to school.<br />
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For looking ahead, I had told our senior capstone course during their midterm presentations on March 6 that COVID-19 was coming, and that they should expect it to be here before they returned from spring break. Chatter among the Chinese community in the north hills of Pittsburgh was about when to pull the kids out of school, first in dread of the return of college students from spring break, then after that watching COVID-19 march toward us when it reached Cleveland. And we pulled our kids Friday March 13. That day, our school district announced that everyone should be prepared to not come back to school from the weekend, somewhat jumping the gun on the Commonwealth's announcement, but basically being correct.<br />
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All the schools (universities and kids schools) went on a one week pause while all of the teachers figured out how to convert their classes to online for the foreseeable future. For me, this first affected the Pitt Industrial Engineering Senior Capstone course, which had corporate sponsors. Once Pitt announced the delay of school, I sent a message to all of the students:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">As you have heard, the University of Pittsburgh is postponing the start of classes until Monday March 23. The extra week is to give faculty a chance to make a plan to move to online delivery of classes. While the university and school of engineering are working on setting policies and plans, I can offer the following:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">1. Note that while the classes are suspended, society as a whole, including your clients, is moving forward. Please contact your sponsors and discuss working arrangements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">2. For team meetings, have a discussion on how to hold these as many students may not be on campus. I recommend the use of collaboration software. For my own work, I am planning on using Microsoft Teams and I recommend it as one alternative. For those who do not know, MS Teams is a collaboration suite that comes with Microsoft 365 Online (those of you who use Outlook online or MS Office online with Box are using 365 Online) Information is located at <a data-mce-href="https://www.technology.pitt.edu/services/microsoft-teams" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; color: #00748b; text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.technology.pitt.edu/services/microsoft-teams" style="border: 0px; color: #00748b; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">https://www.technology.pitt.edu/services/microsoft-teams</a> It includes text chat as well as video chat, screen sharing, and whiteboard sharing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">3. After you have determined how your group will work, please contact your faculty mentor and discuss how you will continue to work with your mentor. Note that faculty are still available to assist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">4. One major issue that was highlighted in the methodology presentation was how to work with the lack of data. You are encouraged to discuss this with faculty (subject to your mentor). In particular, the field of input modeling within simulation includes methods for working with limited data (I have discussed this with many projects, and the long term feedback from the clients is that the resulting models have been useful). In addition, many subject areas have standard methods of soliciting expert opinion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">5. For end of term activities, there will be meetings at </span><span data-mce-style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">the school of engineering this week and next to discuss how these will be modified. I will inform you as they get made.</span></span></div>
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Specifically, was the need for a continuity of operations plan
On March 16 I sent out:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Reminder to all groups. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 1. Please send me and your faculty mentor the report specified in 2 by the end of today. Also, let me know as much as you know about (3), (4), (6). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 2. You should have your next meeting with your mentor scheduled. As per recommendations, this should be a virtual meeting. Make sure that you have a videoconference method that you have complete access to (i.e. no time limits) (Note: as Pitt provides you with an account MS Teams is such a method. The faculty should be getting enterprise Zoom accounts soon, but that requires the faculty be present in the meeting.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 3. Professional Note: What we are doing is called a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP). While not always done, there are many management recommendations that any organization have one that covers loss of key personnel, loss of access to facilities, and potential disasters. Ideally (but not always done) this is exercised on occasion. E.g. I volunteer with Red Cross for disaster response operations in western PA. Every now and then, we have an exercise where the staff are hands off, to confirm that the volunteers can manage a regional disaster response in it entirety without staff participation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> ---- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> The Capstone program coordinators had a meeting this afternoon. </span><br />
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> The Design EXPO is cancelled. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Please inform your sponsors. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I need a report from each of the teams by Monday to understand your status and resource needs. </span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What is your plan on remote collaboration (again, I am recommending Microsoft Teams as a collaboration platform if you have not chosen one). Have you tested the collaboration platform? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What is the status of team members (i.e. where are they geographically) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">For teams that are not substantially done (substantially done means you are running models and analyzing results), what needs are remaining? What is your plan on meeting those needs? </span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If your needs are data related, you should anticipate the possibility of not being able to collect data. Do you have the expertise to work with minimal available data and generate appropriate probability distributions (Note: these are topics from probability and from simulation) Is your faculty mentor able to help you? If not, I (Luangkesorn) am the faculty with the most research and practical experience with knowing what can be done with limited to no data.</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> Discuss with your sponsors your plan for ongoing collaboration. In particular, how the final presentation will be done. Note: Pitt has Microsoft Teams accounts for all of you (see previous message) and I recommend that as a presentation platform if they do not have one. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> As the EXPO is cancelled, your company presentation (if recorded) will be your final presentation. You should have the presentation recorded and have your faculty mentor(s) and myself invited. Check with your sponsor if there are any security considerations. If you are not able to make a recording or invite the faculty to your company presentation (or if there is not a company presentation before finals week), we will have to make another arrangement (i.e. a presentation over Microsoft Teams) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">For all teams, check with your faculty on if there are any limitations on your reaching out to other faculty and getting assistance. You must do this. In the past, there are faculty who have gotten very angry about their team consulting with other faculty, even at the point where the team was fearful of project failure. You need to have an affirmative response that consulting other faculty is acceptable with no reservations. Do not wait until you need help to get this taken care of. My instructions from the department are to ask for permission to respond to your request from help, and to allow the team to fail if the answer is no. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As I mentioned on the first day of class, during senior design, life happens. Back then, I was thinking of individual events, but this is clearly something much larger. Just as I said on the first day, be flexible and take care of each other. While I asked about geographic locations earlier, also check on everyone's physical and mental states. We are all human, and everyone's situation, especially those at home, is different.
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If you have questions or concerns, or even if you need a human contact, contact me.
</span></li>
</ol>
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Over the next few weeks, as classes were in turmoil from uncertainty, a number of students were sending me notes of thanks for providing structure for how to work with all the turmoil. Many noted the slight irony that one of the most unstructured courses they had (capstones are supposed to be about the students taking on management roles and providing their own direction) suddenly became one of the most structured courses they had (my directives were to create a Continuity of Operations Plan, so they had a well defined task that gave the rest of their semester structure) while all of their other faculty were still figuring out what the rest of the semester was going to look like.</div>
lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-78867004656810742662020-01-01T18:08:00.001-05:002020-01-02T08:45:38.343-05:00Home gym in December 2019Here is the current state of my basement gym. The basement is used by myself and my two kids for exercise of various types (we are trying to get my wife to use it too :-) ) Nothing here is too impressive, since if I ever wanted to use higher end stuff, the YMCA is available, but I think that everything here is good enough for our needs and they way we train (taekwondo, bodyweight, CrossFit)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Floor and taekwondo equipment</td></tr>
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The most important part of the gym is the floor. When we moved into the house we bought 3/4" thik squares and covered the basement floor with it with the intention of using it for taekwondo practice and bodyweight exercises. The floor is big enough that one of us can do our taekwondo form. It gets used for bodyweight exercises and as a workout area for CrossFit (Streetparking.com) workouts. The second most important part of the gym are the instructional materials. We have several decks of Stack 52 exercise cards and more recently the posters illustrating various exercises for bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbbell, suspension band, stretching, etc. As my kids get older, they get cleared to use more of the posters, card decks, and equipment. This corner shows our taekwondo training equipment. Two Century (ATA branded) Wavemaster standing bags loaded with sand (50 lbs on the small one, 100 lbs on the regular sized one). We have a large kick pad, a pair of focus mitts, a target pad, and two kick pads. Not pictured are our practice weapons and some agility equipment (agility ladder and cones).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/49305357128/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Basement gym strength and cardio"><img alt="Basement gym strength and cardio" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49305357128_7d2a8ce729_c.jpg" width="800" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Power rack and cardio</td></tr>
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The previous owner of the house did not know what to do with this nook and used it to store junk. In the beginning (i.e. from just after I finished grad school), I had a 40 lb dumbbell set with handles and plates along with a bench. Over the past two years I bought a short CAP Barbell power rack, a standard barbell, and an adjustable kettlebell from Fitness Gear (Dick's Sporting Goods) that uses standard plates. I also have been buying additional plates as my deadlifts used up all of my plates and I have around 250+ lbs of plates now. Generally, I use the barbell for only power type lifts (deadlift, squats, presses). For olympic type lifts (clean, jerk, snatch) I will use sandbags or kettlebell. The adjustable kettlebell is so much better for dynamic movements compared to the dumbbell handles that I don't use the dumbbells so much any more. The power rack is used for power lifts with the barbell (and bench for bench presses). It is also used for pullups. And it is a mount for the suspension trainer and the resistance bands. The rack is not bolted to the grounds, so I use the sandbags and plates on the support legs to weigh the power rack down and add stability.<br />
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I also have two RepFitness sandbags that I've had for about 1 1/2 years. One is 50 lbs and is my normal use. The other is 65 lbs that I use for heavier olympic lifts., and as my fitness improves, I will add weight to it. In the lower right corner are sand kettlebells, 10, 15, 20, 25 lbs. I like these because they are safe around the kids, so DS9 and DD5 are cleared for sand kettlebell use and can do deadlifts, goblet squats, upright rows. DS9 can also do presses and KB swings. They are also good for a warmup, 20/25 lbs is a good warmup weight to get loose. The sandbags and sand kettlebells are what I use if I want to take a workout outside, as they won't break on the driveway. The CamelBak HAWG (in DCU) is used for rucking, I load it with a 25 lb plate.<br />
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For cardio equipment, I got the Schwinn AirDyne and the Sunny magnetic rower off of Facebook Marketplace. I probably like the rower more, but DS9 is cleared to use it and he tends to use it when we are working out together. I can get more intense faster on the AirDyne, but I can probably go for longer on the rower. I had first bought a hydraulic rower off of Facebook Marketplace, but when I figured out that I would actually use cardio equipment, I bought the magnetic rower and eventually sold off the hydraulic rower, for more than I paid for it.<br />
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Last corner is the DIY pylo box (16" x 20" x 24") and the steppers (church sale) The kids use the stepper when I use the box for stepups or jumpovers. Also in this corner are physical therapy equipment. The balance board, stability disc, and foam roller. I started using these when I was in PT for IT band syndrome. The medicine balls (6, 10, 14 lb) in the corner are also approved for use by DS9 and DD5. Also are the various electronics. The Amazon Fire stick connected to a monitor and bluetooth speaker provides background music. A kitchen timer and Gymboss timer provides timing. Then I have a Polar H7 chest strap HRM, a ScoreIt band for counting rounds, and the obligatory whiteboard. I have recently gotten the Polar M200 heart rate monitor, and I have started using it to record all of my workouts.</div>
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The two biggest benefits of the home gym are the convenience and that the kids can us it. I am down here at all sorts of hours and I really don't have a regular daily schedule. So this flexibility is great. For CrossFit, I can arrange the equipment as needed, and I pretty much have everything (at a low level). The kids often join me for the CrossFit workouts, and we have a wonderful time warming up together, and then figuring out the appropriate scaling options for each workout. Then we have the space for TKD. We would never get this at any gym or fitness facility, where kids are quite unwelcome (for safety reasons). It is probably my favorite room in the house, and our go-to when we need to get the kids out of a funk. (or me for that matter)<br />
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At this point, with various equipment collected over a decade, this gym looks pretty complete. I cover strength and cardio, power and olympic weightlifting, along with a pretty complete set for martial arts. The need to keep space around the power rack clear and the desire to have a large open floor space fights any urge to collect anything else. And behind all of this is a belief that it is better to spend effort on skill development over equipment (which is why this gym is focused on free weights)<br />
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For programming, I use StreetParking https://www.streetparking.com, which is an online CrossFit style programming at $19/mo. This setup with free weights and lots of floor space works out just right for it. They have several versions of the same workout (same stimulus) each day, A is dumbbell/kettlebell based and can include running and the pylo box, B is barbell based, C has other equipment such as sandbags or the rower/air bike. Then there is shift which is a simplified version of A. When the kids are with me or I have also done something else (TKD), I do shift. Otherwise I do A or C (kettlebell or sandbag) depending on if I am feeling particularly badass (sandbag!). Weekly, they also have a range of accessory programs. I usually do endurance (run, row, or bike). They have two strength based programs, power (lifting) and olympic. Over the summer when I started physical therapy I started doing Buts and Guts regularly, because these exercises tended to match the PT exercises hitting my legs in different directions unilaterally. There is also a program called Suns out-guns out, which is semi-jokingly the bro-sessions you may find in most commercial gyms or fitness magazines focusing on arms and chest. They also have special programs for specific goals. I did a 20 back squat progression last year. This summer I was doing a pull-up progression where there were three sessions a week with added exercises built around building up to pull-ups.<br />
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So, my standard workout is to take one of the Streetparking workouts. A second workout is focused on taekwondo (but this or physical therapy often becomes the warmup) where we (with kids) do a warmup/stretch routine, a few body weight exercises, forms (poomsae/kata), and bag work. A third type of workout are bodyweight workouts. There are two forms. One is the kids work off the posters and pick one upper body, one lower body, and one trunk/core exercise and we do rounds and reps. A second form is to take the Stack 52 exercise cards and draw 10 random cards. The last type of workout is cardio. This is either the rower or airdyne (my son likes to claim the rower) and I pick one of the Streetparking endurance program workouts on hand depending on what type of interval we want to do.<br />
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lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-60780953153772002012019-12-31T15:56:00.000-05:002019-12-31T15:57:19.871-05:00Parenting Month 106: A rounded lifeIn one weekend in December, DS9 had the following:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Taekwondo mid-term testing as a 2nd degree black belt</li>
<li>Chinese final exam</li>
<li>University music prep department piano recital</li>
<li>Elementary school choral concert (Small Ensemble)</li>
</ul>
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This covers sports, language, and a double dose of arts. The only thing he was missing was something in math and sciences (next year, if he continues robotics with First LEGO League, there will be something around this time of year).</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Cefa4gJAK/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">DS9 TKD black belt midterm testing. In case anyone is wondering, I outrank him by one day :-). #tkdfamily @wexford_ata @jack_1329_</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-12-14T04:02:01+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 13, 2019 at 8:02pm PST</time></div>
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One of the hazards of parenting in upper middle class suburban America is the parenting arms race, which is magnified among asians. All of the children we are in contact with are actively participating in a range of enrichment activities, many with a goal of an admissions package to get into a college of the parent's dreams (we do not always know the children well enough to know about their dreams). And looking down the road, from the complaints of parents whose children do not get into the desired schools despite these efforts, it does not seem to be consistently successful.<br />
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When we talk to other parents, we are dizzy trying to keep track of everything they do. Even DS9 feels busy to us, but then there are kids who can double up on every dimension (DS9 activities are roughly orthogonal to each other)<br />
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Even though DS9 did not cover many of the standard enrichment activities that are meant to lead to a selection, DS9 has been passing most selection stages he encounters (accelerated math, advanced programs, teams, music auditions). Fortunately, he does not have an appreciation for what this means, so he has not been participating in the posturing that is already observable in his peer group.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/49306759637/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Marshall Elementary chiral concert - Small Ensemble December 2019"><img alt="Marshall Elementary chiral concert - Small Ensemble December 2019" height="360" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/49306759637_fd16c27b36_c.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DS9 is in lower right</td></tr>
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At this point, DS9 is happy with the activities he is in. He enjoys the competence. He enjoys the experience (most of the time) and he alternates between enjoying and despising the activities that lead to that competence (like most adults). And at this age, there is too much between now and college admission time to know what path the kids will take as they mature and develop other interests, and there are too many kids at his level to know if his trajectory will continue.<br />
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For her part, DD5 is in the early stages of the same. She does drawing (with a chinese teacher), piano, and taekwondo, enjoys all three pretty much all of the time. And is noticeably happy, almost all of the time. Almost the ideal of what you want out of a 5 year old.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6D0RIBgyL7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">DD5 turn for belt testing at @wexford_ata. She told everyone that she is looking forward to contact sparring and she is going to practice on big brother and daddy. #tkdfamily</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-12-14T16:31:33+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 14, 2019 at 8:31am PST</time></div>
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Just as with DS9 at this age, the kids in her peer group are all more heavily involved in activities than she is. And just like him, we will see how this turns out.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6MUMH4AgwR/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#streetparking workout. Row/bike/taps, bent over rows and push presses. We had a long discussion on options for each segment. @streetparkingmembers @scoreitband #homegym #garagegym #fitfamily @garagesqwod</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-12-17T23:44:25+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 17, 2019 at 3:44pm PST</time></div>
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lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-78533991810611620122019-09-28T21:57:00.000-04:002019-09-28T21:57:16.958-04:00Parenting Month 103: CompetitionWe have been of the opinion that competition is good for the kids. They are placed in a safe environment where they are under stress, but only after preparation. We also believe that the benefit of the competition is not the end placement, but the preparation for the competition and the act of competing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48811134397/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Mentally rehearsing his forms"><img alt="Mentally rehearsing his forms" height="800" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48811134397_8a59aa64c1_c.jpg" width="800" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visualization prior to competition</td></tr>
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DS8 is exposed to competition in a few forms. The most obvious are Taekwondo and piano. And the pattern are the same: maintaining focus through the performance, attention to multiple details during practice, a transition from individual skills practice to sequences, an intensive ramp up to the actual competition focus on ever tinier points of performance, which closes with a focus on principles, calming techniques at the beginning of a performance.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48811327892/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Saang jae baang form in competition"><img alt="Saang jae baang form in competition" height="450" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48811327892_c0d34e2b5b_c.jpg" width="800" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saang jae baang at Kaminski's ATA Steel City Songham Classic</td></tr>
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And so far, he has done well. In TKD DS8 competes in the competitive division, and regularly goes up against kids who sport state and district champion badges (earned through a competitive points system across tournaments over a year). And he is competitive in forms (non-contact sequences of moves that are designed to imitate facing two opponents). But not in sparring (he does not have the aggressiveness needed to be good at sparring).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48811331482/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Shim jun in Tournament competition"><img alt="Shim jun in Tournament competition" height="450" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48811331482_a8f114d6f4_c.jpg" width="800" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shim jun at Kaminski's ATA Steel City Songham Classic</td></tr>
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But we notice the other kids and adults. While the ATA is pretty good about reigning in the worst of the in the moment actions of sport parents that are sometimes noticed in American culture, you still see some of the signs. Parents keeping detailed notes on scoring and other competitors. Kids who clearly are not used to not winning. Kids who have clearly traveled for the purpose of tournament competition. The types of conversations that go on the sidelines and the kids reactions.<br />
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But here in suburban America, competition exists in other venues even without tournament dates. My son has gone through several rounds of selection within the school system. And while the intent of the selection is a good one, identifying students who can move ahead of the main group and give them the opportunity to grow a year with every year, the attitude taken by the students and families may not be so healthy. One selection that my son went through is fairly rare, but well known among ambitious families, is placed as a goal for kids to aspire to, years before the time comes for selection.<br />
And the kids know the stakes and what it means to be one of those selected. So much that it becomes more than just parents pride in being selected, but there is a danger of elitism among the kids, and a letdown when they are not among the selected.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48810989256/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="9-10 yr old boys receiving their pre-competition instructions"><img alt="9-10 yr old boys receiving their pre-competition instructions" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48810989256_c910883ae7.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-competition pep talk</td></tr>
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What makes competition good is that it is always good to be in the company of those who are good. There is a saying in many domains of expertise, if you are the best in the room, you are in the wrong room. So, for those who are who are in the ballpark, this is an opportunity to see what good really looks like and it provides something to aspire too, or to recognize there are others just as good and you can spur each other on to be better.<br />
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But, when the goal of competition is the winning, eventually, one will reach the point where the competition is better than you. And you will no longer win. Sometimes it is because you were never exposed to that level of competition before (something we see alot of in university freshmen). Sometimes it is because you have a view of your capabilities that is not based on a sober assessment. So a culture or attitude that you will always win runs into the hard reality provided by the outside world.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48811133222/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Post competition bowing out"><img alt="Post competition bowing out" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48811133222_d69de31c52.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post-competition bowing out</td></tr>
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Our goals in competing are to provide the experience in preparing for something hard where details matter, learning how to deal with pressure in the moment and being able to perform with no opportunity for correction, being exposed to quality competition, and knowing you have done your best and are continually getting better. Whether that is taekwondo, piano, math, or any other aspect of life. And experience the joy in being capable and competent.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two third place medals</td></tr>
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lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-74463584262466527142019-09-09T23:27:00.001-04:002019-09-09T23:27:38.545-04:00Film review: Meru (2015)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/547f2244e4b09257c91d7bbf/1421818486945-ISWHFLMV9CJGYH1MZAYT/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kM2SnoNX4jofmDuLfxVeyQV7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1UfLHp_G_LPkk7CLWvvqzmVXF4beG5AuT4oZ9gF0LEuDrNEw4A1CnthN4sEhA6M5VLw/Meru-1069-%C2%A9JimmyChin.jpg?format=2500w" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="800" height="212" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/547f2244e4b09257c91d7bbf/1421818486945-ISWHFLMV9CJGYH1MZAYT/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kM2SnoNX4jofmDuLfxVeyQV7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1UfLHp_G_LPkk7CLWvvqzmVXF4beG5AuT4oZ9gF0LEuDrNEw4A1CnthN4sEhA6M5VLw/Meru-1069-%C2%A9JimmyChin.jpg?format=2500w" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jimmy Chin leading on an ice path on the 2008 Meru attempt</td></tr>
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Meru is a documentary about three elite climbers; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Anker" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Conrad Anker">Conrad Anker</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Chin" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Jimmy Chin">Jimmy Chin</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renan_Ozturk" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Renan Ozturk">Renan Ozturk</a>; and their two attempts to take the "Shark's Fin" route on Meru, a 4,000 near vertical wall of rock that is the last part of a 21,000 climb up rock and ice. It is styled as more technically challenging than Everest, because it combines a difficult ice climb and a difficult rock climb. Anker and Chin are represented as climbers who have been on many expeditions before, Ozturk, while an elite climber, was the new person on the team.</div>
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The movie's focus is on the two attempts at this route, one that has never been completed before. And in between there is much discussion of risk. The movie interviews the climbers, other elite climbers, and family members and they discuss a lot about risk. Family members talked about thinking of a sibling or spouse who could very well die on a mountain. The climbers spoke about other elite climbers they knew who had died on climbs, and some of those climbs were relatively normal.</div>
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There was a period of my life where I was regularly doing some activities that were inherently dangerous. And the possibility of dying was not something I cared about. I think at the time my view was that I was in the moment, and when life ended, it ended. I like a line from Conrad Anker, these activities are dangerous, but we approach them with skill and knowledge, and when we take risks, with do so knowingly and deliberately. And if we should have an accident, our thought is one of profound embarrassment, because it meant that we did not know that we had crossed the line of too much risk. Jimmy Chin had a line about the excitement of it all, the rush comes because we are doing something that is in fact dangerous. So it is different than say an amusement park, which has speed but is under control.The thrill comes from mastery, that danger is faced, examined, and confronted, and overcome, while always under control. And the glory (to the extent there is any) is from knowing that you could go up to that line, but always recognize it and back away before crossing.<br />
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The documentary is about two attempts 2008, and 2011. The first attempt failed after they lost three days in a snowstorm, and their limited amounts of food led them to turn back a mere 150 m from the summit. And this is almost an example of their skill, to have the judgment to turn back even when they were so close.<br />
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The film then talks about risk in another way. Chin and Ozturk suffered a pair of accidents while on a commercial shoot on a ski slope. Ozturk was severely injured, Chin was caught in an avalanche. So the lead into the 2011 climb was both of them recovering from this, both physically (Ozturk was nearly paralyzed in several different ways) and mentally.<br />
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What sold this was the discussion about risk. Climbers and other sports are often viewed as crazy daredevils looking for thrills. There is a thrill, but it is not from the excitement. The thrill comes from bring to bear knowledge, skill, and judgment in an environment were all three are needed, and surviving in the face of real danger.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/547f2244e4b09257c91d7bbf/1421818506135-GMFAR3EA49SQBF6AUIHL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kHYEsTRPA0UdTby5F1DLbbR7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmyh-8_5GJNvrfz4o4yOfLSykf4ZRXzKke68Ry0eHHI-2y-lE87Z8Wfq9IyU1mrqQK/Meru-1738-%C2%A9JimmyChin.jpg?format=1000w" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="532" height="320" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/547f2244e4b09257c91d7bbf/1421818506135-GMFAR3EA49SQBF6AUIHL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kHYEsTRPA0UdTby5F1DLbbR7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmyh-8_5GJNvrfz4o4yOfLSykf4ZRXzKke68Ry0eHHI-2y-lE87Z8Wfq9IyU1mrqQK/Meru-1738-%C2%A9JimmyChin.jpg?format=1000w" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conrad Anker on the "House of Cards" pitch</td></tr>
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lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-72331081863554541612019-09-08T20:06:00.003-04:002019-09-08T20:06:50.831-04:00Parenting month 102: 5 year olds know everythingAs we start the new school year, we have a new milestone. DD5 is starting Kindergarten! Our school district does only half day so just like big brother she is going to a nearby catholic school, which has full day kindergarten and two working parents can figure out how to make schedules work.<br />
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So, at this point, DD5:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Taekwondo: following daddy and big brother, she does TKD. And she now goes into testing with a go-to show-off move, (something she can do that the other tigers (age 4-6) do not). Last time it was repeated round kicks. This time they are kicks that are as high as her head. The other thing of note is that some of the teachers figured out that she can actually learn the forms (standard for 4-6 yr olds is that they follow the teachers in forms) Of course, that means that they make her do this in class. In one sense, special attention is a good thing. But DD5 has figured out that means they are extra demanding.</li>
<li>Ballet: At this point, she just does her own thing. Thing is, she actually does know the standard positions, and she could do these dance if she wanted to.</li>
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So, at this point, she has figured out many ways of earning praise, and there is certainly a show off element here, as well as showing the adults in the room she is a good girl when big brother (or someone else) is being bad.</div>
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For kindergarten she</div>
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<li>Figured out that having another chinese girl in the school means that they have a secret language (chinese) they can use.</li>
<li>Tells the reading teachers that the books they are finding for her are not at her level.</li>
<li>Is pretty sure she knows everything.</li>
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So, DD5 is very entertaining (always has many things to say), but is potentially trouble (in a good way for a 5 year old)</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B11rXg6ABU6/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">TKD testing at @wexford_ata</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-08-31T18:38:50+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 31, 2019 at 11:38am PDT</time></div>
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lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-33979969849623981692019-08-25T22:51:00.002-04:002019-08-25T22:57:06.143-04:00One year of Streetparking and CrossFit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I started CrossFit with <a href="http://www.streetparking.com/" target="_blank">StreetParking</a> a year ago. So my fitness journey started with running and hiking. I have done 6 marathons plus three Rachel Carson Challenges (34 miles), plus an assortment of half-marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks. I was at the point where a half marathon did not require any special training, I could basically do one on a day's notice. But then as I had kids, and the running diminished. Eventually I took up taekwondo, mostly because my son enjoyed it. As I approached black belt, I realized that at that point I could not call myself a beginner much longer (I always try to be a beginner in some aspect of life) so started looking at weight training to supplement TKD. I went to a trainer at the YMCA, but that really was not what I was looking for (weight machines bore me, and I wanted something I could do at home. I was doing some movements with dumbbells, but wanted actual skill work. At this point, in my basement gym I had:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Mats: ~240 square feet of matted floor (3/4" mats for TKD)</li>
<li>Dumbbell handles and 92 lb of plates</li>
<li>Stepper </li>
<li>Bench</li>
<li>Total Gym (unused)</li>
<li>1 20 lb sand kettlebell</li>
<li>Free standing punching bag</li>
<li>Assorted TKD punching and kicking targets</li>
<li>Suspension band</li>
</ul>
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I started looking around at programming, and I discovered <a href="https://www.instagram.com/myleslifts/">https://www.instagram.com/myleslifts/</a> videos as he was trying out Street parking around the same time. Also <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thegymlabrat/">https://www.instagram.com/thegymlabrat/</a>, https://www.instagram.com/jecker/ https://www.instagram.com/schoes84/ where posting videos as they were trying it out and I copied a few of those, some workouts on the public instagram, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/streetparking/">https://www.instagram.com/streetparking/</a>, and I thought that this was 1. doable, and 2. tough. and a great complement to TKD.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, one year later, I have been averaging 5 workouts a week (on top of TKD) I now have:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>2 sandbags (1 currently at 50 lb, the other currently at 65)</li>
<li>282 lb of plates</li>
<li>4 dumbbell handles</li>
<li>2 standard bars (1 5', 1 6')</li>
<li>Adjustable kettlebell + a handle for KB swings.</li>
<li>3 medicine balls (6, 10, 14 lb)</li>
<li>Jump rope</li>
<li>Pylo box</li>
<li>Magnetic rower</li>
<li>Power cage</li>
<li>Assorted resistance bands</li>
</ul>
<div>
This month, my birthday present to myself was a one month membership at a local CrossFit Box, which includes their Group Fundamentals class, the standard on-ramp to CrossFit. While I've been doing the movements, Fundamentals is meant to lead the standard powerlifting (deadlift, squat, and press) and olympic lifts (clean and jerk, snatch) with good form.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Some thoughts:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Learning new movements. In the course of doing the workouts, there are always movements I just don't have the skill level to do. So I scale them (use an easier movement that provides a similar stimulus, or uses the same set of muscles). But in warmups, I will try to push my abilities, and the eventually, when a movement shows up, I can actually do this. </li>
<li>Increasing the weight. At all times, I know how much weight I can:</li>
<ol>
<li>stand up with (deadlift)</li>
<li>lift to my shoulders</li>
<li>Lift overhead</li>
<li>any of the above a few times</li>
<li>any of the above many times</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<div>
And everytime I increase one of these, I celebrate</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Community that celebrates. Streetparking is done online, and what you really get is the other members who are also posting. And this is a group that struggles honestly. The discussions people put on their workout posts come alive when you also did the workout, because your body reacts the same way as their's did at the same points in the workout. And it is fun to say I felt exactly the same way at the same point in the workout.</li>
<li>Parenting. Street parking is marketed as not for the super-serious athlete, but for the athlete who is also holding down a job, is raising a family, or has a weird schedule. And its most loyal following are probably the parents. Because Streetparking workouts have so many options and scaling methods that my kids can work out with me. And not only is that something I could not do in a gym, it is legitimately fun. I get an honest workout, my kids get an honest workout, and we enjoy our time together. And we have never done a WOD where we were grumpy at the end. We warmup and stretch together, and both of my kids actually enjoy the exercise of writing out the workout and figuring out what scaling options each of us will do. And my kids are actually learning the movements along the way from watching me.</li>
<li>Parenting 2. Because what we do is like what these CrossFit competitive athletes do, my 5 yr old will watch CrossFit competition videos and talk about watching people exercise too much, just like us. And she will watch these athletes and ask if that is what I do! yes, my 5 year old thinks I'm a full on badass!</li>
<li>Attack weaknesses. I am still picking up new movements. Some notable ones are clean and jerk, the KB snatch, box jump overs, burpees, wall walks, and most recently, my first double unders. Everyone of these represents something that at one point I could not do, but I can do now.</li>
<li>Travel. There are so many scaling options, when I travel I have a few ways of doing this. I can use dumbbells at a hotel, there is often a bodyweight only. And more recent, I can bring a sandbag with water filler bags or my DIY pocket Monkii bars (suspension band trainers) along. </li>
<li>Programming - The goal of CrossFit style programming is constant variation, which means that your weaknesses will get targetted on a regular basis. In each workout, there is a discussion on the desired stimulus scaling options and how you can choose the appropriate scaling option. And the idea that I know I choose the correct scaling option because I finish the workout in the right amount to time is a great means of feedback. In the large, the StreetParking newsletter has been a wealth of information. I have a project with my university strength and conditioning coaches, and I comment I can speak with them on a fairly knowledgeable level about their area of expertise because of we have learned from the coaches through the newsletter.</li>
<li>Goal is consistency. StreetParking has a mantra that it will value and cheer on consistency over everything else. In particular, it will cheer consistency and improvements over performance. Which is so much different than a place that celebrates being a badass! So the reality that some days I'm up for different levels of work than others is not as big a deal as just showing up and pushing with whatever I have to bring with me today.</li>
<li>Flexibility. Doing these at home gives me flexibility with time. While I can get to a gym during the summer, during the school year my time is at a premium. TKD gets three sessions a week (and I am fortunate that they have they are flexible in which sessions I show up). So CrossFit happens when it can. And when I do have an evening open, I want to spend that time with my kids. And online programming (that scales down as far as needed for strength, skill, or equipment) makes that work.</li>
<li>Coaching. Every time I have shown up at a Box, I get a little bit of individual coaching (same is true at my TKD school) And that little bit has always been valuable. There is always a progression of improvement in technique in one movement or another. And the coaches have that as their focus. This is a difference from coaching that is motivational in terms of performance, or seems to be generic in nature.</li>
<li>Balance. There are many potential optimization objectives in fitness/training. There is endurance, power, strength, size. CrossFit focuses on performance and conditioning, with the side effect of improving all of the desired potential goals to some extent. And since I already have a sport, this is quite helpful, as it improves conditioning and strength across multiple time domains.</li>
<li>Efficiency. CrossFit is just incredibly time efficient due to its focus on intensity. One hour of CrossFit (including warmup and technique practice) feels as hard as a couple of hours of weights or several hours of roadwork. And this helps, as one of the reasons I don't run like I used to is the difficulty of justifying hours of roadwork after kids.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
Thank you to all the coaches at StreetParking for the programming and education. Also thanks to the coaches at CrossFit Iron City and CrossFit Pine Creek for their attention to everyone one in the gym.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And finally, thank you to all the StreetParking members whom I have shared the joys and struggles of our fitness journeys. Keeping it real on the struggles, celebrating every success and joy along the way.</div>
<div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B1PuTS4gFOP/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#streetparking 5 rounds of 1 minute farmers carry, 20 burpees, 20 sandbag ground to overhead. After round 1 DD5 asked me to set up a DVD. After round 3 I had to pick up DS8 from an activity. Frustration ended on round 4, because as I was setting up DD5 wanted to join in. That is why I have a #homegym #garagegym #fitfamily @streetparkingmembers</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-08-17T00:53:20+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 16, 2019 at 5:53pm PDT</time></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzy9P2BgR2B/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#streetparking shift. We started out with a warmup then TKD weapons and bag work. The main workout was 15 minutes of inchworms, shoulder presses, and air squats. She made it 10 minutes, then joined me again after a 3 min break. And finished it off with the mandatory collapse on the floor. #homegym #garagegym #fitfamily @streetparkingmembers @scoreitband</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-07-12T00:14:34+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 11, 2019 at 5:14pm PDT</time></div>
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lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-9114819747918924342019-07-30T23:05:00.002-04:002019-07-30T23:05:56.508-04:00Parenting month 101: EducationA major theme of the past month was education. We live in a fairly competitive school district, especially among the asian population. We agreed early on NOT to be the kinds of parents who expected their kids to be at the top of the class, because there are too many crazies here who do, and we did not want to pay that kind of price in time and effort.<br />
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Probably the most well known expression of this is Kumon, the chain enrichment center which exists to provide many opportunities to get more practice in things like math problems and other academic skills. The problem, as noted by a recent speaker at Pittsburgh Chinese Youth Center, is that practice only helps in skills development and speed. But in real life, there is no benefit of perform academic tasks faster, and academic skills are actually not what is important. What is important are the ability to learn new skills and the ability to solve problems. Neither of which is improved by repetition of learned skills. So what are parents concerned about the academic achievement of their kids to do.<br />
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First is the recognition that academics is not the only place this question shows up. Every coach will say that the motivations of children change day-to-day, and that it is the parents that keep the kids in the long haul, where the benefits do not show up until the children get older. But it has to start early. As it is in youth sports, so it is in every other aspect of life. But, also like in sports, the way to get there is not by specializing early, it is by giving the child challenge in the form of variety. And at the higher levels, this means having the child learn to face and work through challenges.<br />
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So in what our children do, this is how we want to approach it. For music, it means that the goal is not to repeated play the same piece over and over again until it can be note perfect, it will be to work learn hard pieces until it is understood enough to become expressive, and to move on before it gets too comfortable. In martial arts, the goal is not to learn and do a sequence of movements, it is to improve every single time a movement is done, until every aspect of it is right (and knowing that mere mortals will never reach that state of perfection). For the academics, it is encountering problems that you have not learned to do, and learning how to attack them until the solution comes out.<br />
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So, we did not do Kumon (the standard in our area), but a few years back we discovered the Art of Problem Solving and have been going through the Beast Academy curriculum. And we have been looking for the types of activities that will provide what strength and conditioning coaches call stimulus, that provide opportunities for the kids to learn problem solving techniques and we will lean away from the activities that reward recall and repetition. And look for others going along the same path.lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-67322505740299452392019-07-12T21:51:00.002-04:002019-07-12T21:51:53.765-04:00Parenting month 100: rockets and wandsThe highlight of the month was a vacation to Florida. Our vacation was in 2 Acts: Space Coast and Orlando.<br />
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On the Space Coast we were on Cocoa Beach. Known for its surfing beaches and for its proximity to Kennedy Space Center. We spent time on the beach.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGvjBVgHJ2/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">morning run on Cocoa Beach along with soengham 1 and Shim Jun forms @wexford_ata #theplacetobe #tkdfamily</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-06-24T20:08:16+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jun 24, 2019 at 1:08pm PDT</time></div>
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and did obligatory side kicks and forms<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGv1ZIgGGr/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Morning sidekick on the beach @wexford_ata #theplacetobe #tkdfamily</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L 🔑</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-06-24T20:10:46+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jun 24, 2019 at 1:10pm PDT</time></div>
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We also woke up at 2 AM to watch a launch of a Falcon Heavy. Well, T and I did. and the rest of the family got woken up by the rumble of engines and the bangs of the sonic booms.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48175678297/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Falcon Heavy launch 6/25/2019 viewed from Cocoa Beach"><img alt="Falcon Heavy launch 6/25/2019 viewed from Cocoa Beach" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48175678297_ba087dd0a1_z.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Launch of Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center as seen from Cocoa Beach</td></tr>
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The next day we went to Kennedy Space Center<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Space Shuttle Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48172131711/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Kennedy Space Center"><img alt="Kennedy Space Center" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48172131711_f10918d274_z.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Going through the tubes of the mock space station</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the controls of a shuttle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturn V engine</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entryway to Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center</td></tr>
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Part 2 of the trip was Orlando, where the highlight was Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter. T got a wand that he used to cast spells, which is what the majority of the day was spent doing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the bridge to Hogsmead</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48175547396/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Universal studios Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter"><img alt="Universal studios Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48175547396_23ea28a85f_z.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Talking to a wizard to pick a wand just for him</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riding Hagrid's Cycle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casting a spell</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dragon at Gringott's Bank. Underneath was T's first roller Coaster</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diagon Alley</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48176189311/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Universal studios Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter"><img alt="Universal studios Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48176189311_51293d5e3b_z.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casting a rain spell at Diagon Alley</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/48175676632/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Universal studios Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter"><img alt="Universal studios Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter" height="640" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/48175676632_0e90a31314_z.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making water in Diagon Alley</td></tr>
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T also got to go on his first roller coasters. One at Diagon Alley, one in Hogsmead, and a Transformer's and a Fast and Furious rides.<br />
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We think this was a trip worth remembering.<br />
<br />lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-78461484901009289932019-05-24T13:18:00.001-04:002019-05-24T13:19:25.253-04:00Parenting Month 99: CompetitionsThis past two months was marked by competitions in Taekwondo and piano. In taekwondo T moved up a division, while in piano this will be his last year in this age group. So he did well in piano, but middle of the pack in taekwondo, where the differences between the kids who are really serious and everyone else is apparent.<br />
In piano, we know that this is also the point where the easy progress ends and it starts to take serious work to get better.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BvY89cRAnsC/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">First time competing in a competitive ring at a Taekwondo tournament. As usual,smallest kid in the ring. #tkdfamily</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lluang70/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Louis L</a> (@lluang70) on <time datetime="2019-03-24T11:46:13+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Mar 24, 2019 at 4:46am PDT</time></div>
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What is the point of competition? Especially at this age? There is the standard answers of the discipline of following instructions, of being able to see what it looks like to be good. It is an opportunity to socialize with kids who are doing the same things you are and that you will grow up with through the years.<br />
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The other thing that is starting is the concept of working up to something big. In TKD, we spent three weeks of both some individual classes and more intense time with my son in preparing for the tournament. Similarly for piano, the teachers are telling the kids that the competition is coming and they have to be more serious. And the kids pick up on the fact that the adults are being more serious. Also we spend time focusing on smaller things than normal.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lugerla/40871818283/in/dateposted-public/" title="Piano recital at CMU"><img alt="Piano recital at CMU" height="281" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/40871818283_2eeefa7c1f.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
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Is it worth it? Sometimes, the attention to detail taxes the attention span at this point. For TKD, we can go through the whole thing, but we can only improve a limited number of points of improvement in a session. I suspect that piano is much the same. The benefits is the idea that the details matter, and that you are preparing for more than doing as well as the friends you see in class every day or week, but you are up against a standard that you have not seen. And then having to deal with the stress of the event itself where a very specific performance matters with no redo. And they should be very aware of the true quality of that one performance. The ability to handle yourself under the attention of a crowd is invaluable, regardless of the quality of the performance.lugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13592469.post-32293253668019885102019-05-12T20:06:00.000-04:002019-05-12T20:06:49.566-04:00Using an Adafruit Circuit Playground as a Makey Makey fruit pianoOne of the inspirations for the Adafruit Circuit Playground (CP) was the Makey Makey (http://www.makeymakey.com/), which provided a way to use touching conductive objects as input to a computer. Because of this, Makey Makey is commonly found in schools and maker faires as a means of connecting the world to electronics.<br />
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Because the CP has 8 capacitive pads, it should be possible to do something similar with the CP. Using the serial monitor output, we can see what the CP registers through each pad, and set thresholds for an action, for example, lighting up an LED or playing a tone.<br />
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The first version of the Makey_cp used the Capacative touch pads directly to drive the LED and the speaker. By observing the capicative touch pads on the serial monitor we can see that the steady state value of the pads was between 1 and 10. Touching the pad increased the value to around 30, but often an adjacent pad would also increase in value as a finger affects the electric field around the adjacent pad. So we set a threshold on the CP capacitive to 20 for use as a finger piano. In addition, we use the switch to turn on and off the sound.<br />
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The sound is tuned using the pitches.h definition file, which has the tones for each potential note. As the CP has 8 touch pads, this is enough for a full octave of a major or minor scale.<br />
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To serve as a Makey Makey, the pads need to be connected via alligator clips to something that can conduct electricity, such as fruit or a metal conductor. Because such objects have capacitance, the noise level on the CP touch pads increases. In order to increase the signal from touching the pads, the person touching the pads should be connected to a power source, in this case we use alligator clips to the 3.3V out pad of the CP. This leads to the CP to detect a value of approximately 150.<br />
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Next, we attach alligator clips to the eight capacitive pads and to fruit. This creates a fluctuating reading around 20. We find through the serial monitor that touching the fruit while connected to the 3.3V out leads to a capacitance reading of around 225. The threshold is thenlugerpitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06540243428506140293noreply@blogger.com0