I mentioned that I was going to try to program a Monty Hall Problem simulator in my post yesterday entitled Losing My Marbles well it turns out that this is REALLY lame. Why? Well it is simple, there really isn’t much to it once you know the mechanics.
Pseudo Code:
Testing “always switch”:
- Pick a random number >= 1, <= 3. This is the door# where the car is hidden. Call this CarBehindDoor.
- Pick a random number >= 1, <= 3. This is the door# the contestant picked. Call this ContestantChoiceDoor.
- if CarBehindDoor = ContestantChoiceDoor then the contestant loses and we add one to LossCount.
- If CarBehindDoor != ContestantChoiceDoor then the contestant wins and we add one to WinCount.
- Go back to 1 (loop).
Testing “always stay”:
- Pick a random number >= 1, <= 3. This is the door# where the car is hidden. Call this CarBehindDoor.
- Pick a random number >= 1, <= 3. This is the door# the contestant picked. Call this ContestantChoiceDoor.
- if CarBehindDoor = ContestantChoiceDoor then the contestant wins and we add one to WinCount.
- If CarBehindDoor != ContestantChoiceDoor then the contestant loses and we add one to LossCount.
- Go back to 1 (loop).
Once this is written… it is painfully obvious that “Always Stay” results in a win 33% of the time and that “Always Switch” results in a win 66% of the time. *sigh* and I thought this would be a fun thing to write.
On a sad note I still wrote the test application and here are the results of a run of 100 million tests of “Always Switch”:
Wins: 66,667,053 Losses: 33,332,947
I was talking to my girlfriend, IrishGirl (@irishgirl31 on Twitter), about the now famous (or is it infamous?) Monty Hall problem:
Contestants on a game show are given the choice of three doors: behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. After a contestant picks a door, the show’s host, who knows what's behind all the doors, opens one of the previously unopened doors, which reveals a goat. He then asks the contestant, "Do you want to switch doors?" Should the contestant switch doors?
If you haven’t heard about it or read about it you should, Jeff Atwood has a great overview or go to the source Marilyn vos Savant -- wow I bet a lot of those PhDs and math professors wish she’d take down their quotes! Wouldn’t it be fun to take a class from James Rauff, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics at Millikin University who said:
I have been a faithful reader of your column, and I have not, until now, had any reason to doubt you. However, in this matter (for which I do have expertise), your answer is clearly at odds with the truth.
and just heckle the hell out of him for being totally WRONG about this? Okay I shouldn’t pick on James… the exalted Paul Erdos didn’t believe the right answer either until a colleague wrote a computer simulation to prove it to him (Hmmm… that sounds fun actually, I think I might write a computer simulation in my spare time tonight).
To me the whole issue is an amazing study in how poor humans really are at understanding probabilities. Casinos know this fact VERY well and I’m sure this human flaw is a major reason casinos do so well, even in a down economy. People throw good money over bad in hope that the odds are NOW magically in their favor! Sorry chump doesn’t work that way!
Anyway I didn’t want this post to be a re-re-re-rehash of the original problem I really just wanted to say that it was a very nice intellectual conversation working through the Monty Hall problem with IrishGirl… because as I’ve learned you can’t truly explain something to someone else if you don’t fully understand it yourself. It took about fifteen minutes to convince her that you should ALWAYS change your initial choice after the host reveals the goat. Always. You will win 66% of the time if you switch and only 33% of the time if you don’t. Hurts the brain, huh?
All of this talk reminded me of how much I truly enjoy problem solving, logic, probability and statistics. I’m not very good at any of those things but I do enjoy having my mind bent on occasion. I’m not sure why but this simple logic problem has always stuck in my head. Yes I was actually asked this question back in the early ‘90s when I interviewed at Microsoft (it was a series of 6 hour long interviews to go from being an “a-“ to a “blue badge”). The answer is very simple but it makes you think a bit and you don’t need to draw a chart to solve it - and I guess that’s why I like it.
There are three sets of marbles: all white, all black, and mixed white & black
There are three velvet bags (think Crown Royal – as in you cannot see through them)
Each bag has a label attached to it: White, Black, or Mixed
Each bag contains one set of marbles
The labels on the bags are guaranteed to be incorrect
How many marbles do you need to pull to correctly re-label the bags? Explain your answer.
The full title of this post is “Alimony: The Gold Digger Tax and why I refuse to call it spousal maintenance” but I thought that was too long for a blog post title. Hell it’s almost too long to Tweet!
Washington state calls alimony “spousal maintenance” – I can only imagine this is because alimony has a negative connotation and this state is so god damned bleeding heart liberal and so politically correct that we can not possibly call something what it is… we must call it something less offensive so the that lazy gold digging sack of fat that receives the alimony feels better about extorting money from an ex spouse for doing abso-fucking-lutely nothing.
With child support and alimony combined I pay my soon-to-be-ex (STBX) $34000 per year. That means that for doing nothing she earns more than 37.71% of the US households! On top of that there is no tax on $16000 of that (the child support portion) so really <insert some math stuff here> she makes more than like 40% of US households. She does not work. She watches a LOT of FoodTv and eats a lot of bon-bons I guess.
So then STBX puts ME on the spot when my son wants to do things like computer programming camp this summer and tells him “if Dad can’t pay for it then you can’t go.” Unfair! I pay his mother $16,000 per year for child support (well a bit less than half of that is for his little sister but you get my point!). Son, if your lazy-assed Mom would get a JOB then she could use the money I pay her every month for things like computer programming camp!
Did I mention that this lazy, unemployed Gold Digger has an iPhone? Yep she and my son (he bought his with his own money, sure, but she pays the monthly bill!) BOTH have new iPhones. WOW.
We found a great post from the Small Business Server team on how to join a Windows 7 machine to a SBS 2008 domain. From that post:
This article details the known issues with using Windows 7 BETA as a member of an SBS 2008 domain. The steps in this article are for test purposes only. If you are using Windows 7 BETA you may encounter the following issues:
- Cannot join Windows 7 client to the domain using http:\\connect.
- IE 8.0 cannot open links on the SBS gadget.
- Cannot connect to Windows 7 client using RWW.
The only problem is that we migrated our SBS 2008 from a SBS 2003 install and in the process we’ve found that several GPOs are missing:
- Windows SBS Client - Windows Vista Policy
- Windows SBS Client - Windows XP Policy
- Windows SBS Client Policy
- Windows SBS User Policy
One of those GPOs “Windows SBS Client Policy” is mentioned in step 3 of the post mentioned above. Well I searched high and low for a way around steps 3-7 – trying to create the missing GPO, tried searching through all of the GP.XML files in \Windows\sysvol\domain\Policies\ to no avail. I spent about three hours trying to figure out how to complete these steps. Finally I just decided to “connect” the Windows 7 computer and viola it worked. *slaps forehead* I could have saved myself a few hours had I just tried it earlier!
In the end success and I’m happy the SBS team is blogging and posting solutions for Windows 7!
This is part two of Starting to Mountain Bike with my GF!
Saturday afternoon while eating breakfast and watching playoff Hockey (yes gentlemen IrishGirl is THE perfect woman!) I do the requisite pre-first-ride maintenance (reflectors--, water bottle cages++, GOOD lube on chain++, warning stickers--). We get dressed, fill up a couple water bottles and head to our local trail, Des Moines Creek Park. I’ll save a longer description of this trail system for another post but it IS the home of the Wednesday Night World Championships! The coolest thing is that DCP is about 10 minutes from our houses!
We get to the trail head and are ready to head out… I can tell IrishGirl has a few butterflies and I’m just trying to play it cool… truth be told I’m so excited (giddy?) to be there with her but I’m also a bit nervous – what if she hates it? Bottom line – and I think all my friends can attest to this - I am honestly just happy to be on a bike. The fact that she wants to be out there with me is SO amazing!
We ride for a little bit on a paved trail just to get the hang of things then we head into the woods and start the climb to the top of the system… at one point I had to tease her with “well after this last little climb we’ll be at the cemetery” but really she made it up with no problem! I’m very impressed -- for never having mountain biked before this girl has chops! Sure we stopped a couple times but remember YOUR first ride? While pedaling hard up a steep little climb/embankment hitting roots and exposed rock will STOP you if you’re not used to it! We take a quick break and look through the chain-link fence at the cemetery. I’ve always wanted to get in and look around (we both have a love of cemeteries) but I’ve never seen an opening in the fence. On this trip we decide that instead of exploring it was time for the down-hill! In the back of my head I’m hoping that, like the rest of us mountain biking freaks, that she’ll be addicted after flying top-speed down some nice single-track!
I guess you could say I was right! On the way down I hear all sorts of giggling, laughing and screaming (happy kind) from behind me! It was SO awesome to hear! I had a HUGE smile on my face the whole time. Once at the bottom she wanted to do more and more and more! I had SUCH a great time. We’ve been out three times so far (with more planned this weekend) and I can honestly say I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed cycling so much! I think IrishGirl thinks I’m humoring her but I am not… mountain biking with her has been so much fun! =D Maybe we should start on this list of tricks??
Here is a link to the details of ride number 2!
EDIT: I forgot to mention IrishGirl’s first mountain biking accident! SO we ride a little over 5 miles, some of which is pretty gnarly single track – no it isn’t a hard-core downhill but there are a fair amount of roots, rocks and mud. Irish comes out TOTALLY unscathed! I was so proud of her! We get back to my truck, lean our bikes up and she is SO excited she jumps into my arms… in the process really clocking her knee cap directly against the edge of the door jamb of my truck! OUCH! Honey – your FIRST mountain biking injury!
So Marti (@irishgirl31) and I have been talking for a long time about buying her a bike. We finally got serious about it a few weeks ago and me, being the “expert” asked her a few questions and proudly determined that she needed a cruiser or hybrid bike. So we headed to a few LBSs to get a feel for sizing and pricing.
So we leave the LBS to go run a few other errands and while driving my AWESOME GF says something like… “you know I think I’d rather mountain bike.” About a million things went through my head – not a single one negative mind you – I was stunned. Mainly I got this image of her and I in the woods all wet and muddy… but I digress! So we talked about mountain biking and basically I summed up road and mountain biking like this:
Road Biking = “you will fall a lot less often but when you do it will hurt bad. Falling at 15 – 50 MPH and hitting pavement while wearing spandex and you are going to get hurt.”
Mountain Biking = “you will fall a lot more often. Roots will jump out and bite you. But more than likely you will be going 7 – 20 MPH and you will more often than not land in mud, grass or a bush (just hope its not a blackberry bush!). You may get scratched up but you’ll more often than not pop up and go on with the ride”
YES there are exceptions. YES you CAN get hurt mountain biking. I do know this… but we’re not going to be doing any extreme downhill (at least THIS summer!).
So we returned to the LBS with a new goal… to find a nice entry level mountain bike suitable of my @irishgirl31! She stood over and sat on a nice mid-level offering from Specialized. The size was 15” and it looked like it fit pretty well (I’m NO expert on sizing others. I know what I like but I don’t know how to help others.) but we wanted the entry level model – mostly because it came in an AWESOME color scheme, black and lavender!
So we ordered away and prayed to the Gods that it would come in before the weekend (this was a Tuesday night, I believe?). Finally on Friday afternoon after a few days of saying to each other “God I hope we get to mountain bike this weekend” I told her to just call the shop – they might be busy and forget to call her – she did and her bike was in! YES… so I picked her up after work and we headed up the shop. We walked in and they had The Specialized Myka HT all ready to go! This really is a GREAT little mountain bike… aluminum frame, V-Pull brakes, solid components and most importantly a super color-scheme!
I had promised to buy Irish some accessories when we picked up her bike so we shopped around a bit and finally threw the new bike in the back of my truck for the ride home – of course as we’re backing out of the parking spot I realize I left the manual hanging from the handlebars so I hop out grab them and hand them to Irish. SIDE NOTE: Shouldn’t bicycle manuals really be called “don’t sue us books?” I mean really they contain ZERO useful information. All they say can be summed up as “Don’t ever ride this bike. If you do ride this bike and you fall off or even if it breaks because of our negligence you can’t sue us.”
Back to the story. Well Irish kinda looks at me while holding her manual and says shyly “I wonder why this manual has a big 17" on it?” OH SHIT… they ordered the wrong size? There goes our weekend plans! DAMN! We pull over a few block away from the shop and I have her stand over the bike… well it looks okay, really but I’m NO expert! Hmmm… we decided to head back to the shop. Luckily when we arrive the owner of the shop is inside (I’ve purchased a few bikes from this location and know the employees fairly well.) and we tell him our dilemma. He is AWESOME… he comes outside and watches Irish on the 17” (Yeah that’s a hard job – watching a HOTTIE ride a bike around the parking lot!) he then brings out a 15” (same model, wrong price-point, same geometry) and we both agree that she actually looks better on the bigger bike! This is where the customer service of a LBS comes into play… he promises us that if she rides it for the weekend and she doesn’t like it that she can bring it back and he’ll order her the 15” size no problem! Wow… that is awesome! The peace of mind knowing that we were free to try this bike out and NOT ruin our weekend plans and still be able to change our minds was awesome! Stay Tuned for Part Two tomorrow… our first few rides!
Allo Fuckers, for it is I, Irishgirl. Since Steve lost the Super Bowl bet, I get to post on his blog. And this is it!! In case you don't remember, let me do a quick recap for you. Steven lost, I won! Ha ha ha. Although the Steelers did win the SB, we were playing by points (yes, I'm a girl and I know about point spreads) and the Steelers did not, I repeat DID NOT beat the point spread. Which means that you lovely people get to read a post about ANYTHING I want and Steve does not get to edit OR delete it *evil laughter*. All I will say is that this IS NOT a geek post!! So here's your disclaimer: If you're looking for Geeky stuff, cum back tomorrow. If you're open to a new experience, please cum in!
I read a lot of diverse blogs. I read blogs by widowed fathers raising 1 year old daughters, by cyclists (Win Susan!), by same sex couples trying to conceive and by single Dads and Moms on the dating scene. Spring has sprung and one theme seems to be Universal in ALL the blogs I read....SEX!!! And not just your run of the mill vanilla sex, I'm talking about in the backyard, while hiking, under the stars, in the parking lot of Wal-Mart S-E-X. And even more specifically, oral sex. I, for one, am a HUGE fan of oral sex. I LOVE giving and getting. Have you noticed the tongue ring yet? DUH!!! Don't worry this isn't a post on tips and technique...although that would make a great post. I'm talking about warning signs.
Now some people (usually women) demand a warning before their "partner" is about to cum. IDK if its because they don't like the taste or just don't want the shock. I say screw you, there is nothing better tasting in the World then...U know what? Never mind. If you are really and I do mean REALLY intune with your partner, you know when its about to happen. And I, for one, find no greater pleasure then being able to bring my BF to climax with nothing more than my mouth. But, it begs to ask the question, should women start giving men a warning sign too?!?
I mean its the same thing isn't it??? What if HE doesn't really want to have to "swallow"?? Shouldn't He also have a choice in the matter? I think as women we take this for granted. We just lay back and let him do all the work without even a courtesy tap or a "Oh Baby, I'm gonna cum." Usually by the time we reach climax its too late for the poor Bastard.
Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not some Irish Whore who goes around "going down" on every Lad I meet. In fact, I have to be pretty comfortable with my SO to be that "initmate". Coming out of a bad marriage, I can honestly say that there were 2 days a year that I dreaded, his birthday and Valentine's day. Seemed like those were the "BJ" days of the year and I dreaded them. Now, and possibly TMI, I can't get enough. In fact, that's pretty much ALL I want to do. *shrugs* maybe its because I've FINALLY met "the one" and I want to please him in any and every way. Whatever the reason, its Heaven.
So hit me up, what do you think? Do you require a warning? Do you give a warning? Or do you just let 'er rip???
I honestly try to NOT say disparaging words about my STBX (Soon To Be eX) . I truly do. I can’t shut up about this one.
I want the whole world to know my STBX is a selfish bitch. Period. There is no “oh there are two sides to every story” no “well I’m sure you’re not perfect, Steve.” She is selfish and controlling and manipulating and has NO regard for our children. Period.
Earlier this week my best friend (of 27 years) invited me to his granddaughter, Tayler’s, birthday. It is this coming Sunday. I do not have visitation with my kids this Sunday so I politely asked the STBX if I could take our 3 year old daughter, Zoe to the party. I’d be gone for maybe 3 hours. She said no. It is not just that she said no, but how she says it… here is our email conversation – yes I added emphasis and comments, sorry had to. Oh AND this is after I let her take the kids to a birthday party last weekedn… on MY WEEKEND!!
ME: Zoe has been invited to a birthday party at 1:00 on Sunday. I'd like to pick her up 12:30 and I'll have her back as soon as the party is over - plus 30 minutes for drive-time.
STBX: No
ME: Awesome... thanks so much. I let you take them Saturday and now you don't reciprocate. So you wonder why I never want you to take my time away... you NEVER give it back.
STBX: So Zoe will not be going to the party on Sunday I take it, because unless I go she won't be going.
ME: How can you do this? I let you take them Saturday. You NEVER reciprocate. NEVER. You wonder why I hate you SO much? Because you are a mean heartless bitch. You'd better never ask for time on my weekends again. Period.
STBX: I guess I should email your lawyer that you won't let me have the kids for their aunt's birthday then which happens to be on your weekend since we know you won't want to go to a family party. You see I am not forbidding Zoe to go to this party I just want to go with and I have every right to attend (every RIGHT… these are MY friends NOT yours. Wait – you don’t HAVE any friends. Wonder why?)
ME: You ARE NOT INVITED! Jesus so YOU ARE preventing Zoe from going. You can rationalize anything!
STBX: Besides is there really a party because I haven't seen any invitation? So I guess Zoe will miss out and be none the wiser since she didn't know about it to begin with. But she will know about her aunt’s party and she will not want to miss that. (what a manipulative BITCH!)
ME: You are not invited Brenda. Period. You are such a horrible parent. Who would do that to their daughter?
STBX: Where is the invitation and was it addressed to Zoe? Since she is with me I have every right to go. They will NOT be there unless I am with them. So you can make up any lie you want to I don't really care or you can be the bigger person. Without me there will be no party for our kids.
ME: OMG you don't even realize how selfish this sounds!
I can’t even begin to fathom the type of parent who would manipulate their sweet innocent 3 year old daughter in such a way. It is sickening. I just want to puke. She wonders why I left and why I want a divorce? WOW. Wake up and smell the coffee!
How can I prevent this? How can I make my STBX see what she is doing is wrong? I really think she has mental problems. This just isn’t right. I’m at my wit’s end.
Ahhh the innocence of children. Last time my kids were over for the weekend my three year old daughter, Zoe asked: "Daddy why do you have a step stool in your bathroom?" It caught me off way guard. I just stared at her blankly for a good 15 seconds. Then managed a meager, "ummmm... I don't know." Luckily at 3 “I don’t know” seems to be a satisfactory answer.
Probably not all that funny funny unless you know:
01) I am 6'3" and can reach anything and everything in the bathroom (and really the entire house) without a step stool
10) My GF is 5'5"
11) She, too can reach everything in the bathroom
I've lost a lot of weight over the past several years. Sometimes it surprises people who haven't seen me in a while. The first thing they usually want to know is what pill I tried or fad "brussel sprout and rice cake" diet I've been on. To say it shocks them when I tell them that it was through hard work and dedication, is an understatement. The conversation usually goes something like this:
Fat Acquaintance: "WOW!! You look great! What have you been doing to lose weight?"
Me: "Nothing special, eat less, exercise more. You know, what most experts suggest" *shrugs*
FA: "oh, really?" *disappointed tone.* "so you haven't been popping 12 magic pills a day?"
Me: "No, sorry, no silver bullet here. I just try to eat right and eat less. Definitely exercise more. It's been a lot of hard work and sure there have been some set backs, but well worth it!"
FA: "Oh....hmm...well good for you" *still disappointed, kicks the ground* "Well I just got done with the latest brussels sprout and rice cake diet, don't know if you can tell. Yeah, its big over in Europe right now. I coupled that with the exploding colon pill last year and I lost 30 pounds!!"
Me: "Reeeeeaaaaalllyyy" *raises eyebrow* (and just look at my pictures, people NOTICE when I raise an eyebrow!) "So tell me more about it. How'd that work for you?"
FA: "Like I said, I lost 30 pounds but then I gained it ALL back plus 10 pounds. You know how those holidays are?" *elbows me in ribs*
Me: "No, not really. You know, you should really just save all that money that you're spending on pills that don't work and put it towards a gym membership. I guarantee that eating less and exercising more is a much better payoff."
FA: "Yeah, but I don't know, memberships are so long term and well it just seems like such a...commitment and I don’t know… work."
Me: "Riiight! Because anal leakage and eating nothing but brussels sprouts seems so much more...appetizing!"
Look, I don't want to seem like an ass and honestly, I'm probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet. I will help ANYONE with their health and fitness goals. For example, I love bicycling and I will ride with any of my friends, regardless of their fitness level and I’ll truly enjoy the time in the saddle. On the other hand I'm not going to lie to you folks, losing weight and keeping it off is HARD work. I've worked my butt off (literally) and I hate it when people try to throw their crack-pot ideas my way. You know like when I say that I’ve lost close to 80 pounds and a FA says something like..."well once I lost 20 pounds eating only Oreos." Really?!? How'd that one turn out for ya? Ready for your insulin shot yet? Bottom line, yes losing weight is very hard but like the saying goes, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. Isn't living to see your grandchildren worth sacrificing that second helping of twice baked potatoes?
So in order to keep conversations like the one above more interesting for the FAs of the World, I'm considering changing my mantra from "Eat Less, Exercise More." To "Eat Less, Exercise More and Have lots of amazing sex." Yep you read that right, have lots of amazing sex! See what I've also come to notice is that when I'm with my GF I'm not hungry. I don't even think about food. All I think about is how amazing her company is, how beautiful she is and how much sex with her ROCKS! We can spend a whole weekend in bed eating nothing but crap and I will STILL lose weight. I'll give you an example: our last weekend getaway was in Reno. We ate maybe one big meal a day. It was usually at 2pm and would consist of steak and LOADS of carbs. We drank some really great red wine (some beer too) and usually topped it off with a decadent dessert. Ready for the kicker? I STILL managed to lose 7 pounds!! That's not too bad of a fad diet now is it? So the next time I run into FA, I envision the conversation going more like this:
Fat Acquaintance: "WOW!! You look great! What have you been doing to lose weight?"
Me: "Nothing special. I've been eating less, exercising more <pause for effect> and having TONS of sex!"
FA: "Oh...really?" *excited tone and totally interested* "Tell me more about your diet!"
Me: "You heard right. No silver bullet, no magic pill. Just eat less, exercise more and have lots and lots of sex!"
FA:"OH! WOW! That's awesome! Good for you. Don't know if you can tell but I lost 30 pounds. Of course I gained it all back plus 10 more pounds. I just got done with the European brussels sprout and rice cake diet. It sucked." * totally excited now* "Man! Your plan seems so much more...FUN!!!"
Me:"Yeah, its pretty simple. See, when you have an incredibly hot partner who you are VERY into, you really don't feel much like eating. Then if you have copious sex (especially vigorous sex!) you burn calories! So really you are exercising more AND eating less. Dude, trust me. The exercise is SO much more fun!"
FA: "WOW! Well sign me up!"
Me: "It's great that you're excited, but you're just going to have to find your own hot partner... I can't help you there!"
So here are my amended tips (I should really pay more attention to myself) for losing weight:
track my daily food intake avoid fast food at all costs track my weekly progress take my daily supplements eat 6 small meals per day read Men's Health and other health and fitness related information (blogs, books etc.) drink lots of water blog about my progress have lots of sex
I previously wrote that I Work With Very Smart People in where I gave kudos to my co-worker, Neil Chelo, for being a very smart guy and figuring out that Madoff was a fraud many years ago. At that time I was super-excited because Neil was on CNBC and Fox Business News. Well today a camera crew from 20/20 is on site here in the lovely Tacoma, WA office of Benchmark Plus! You can tell this is a MUCH bigger deal. The CNBC guy brought his camera, tripod and a light. These guys brought SO much equipment it is silly!
When I hear more about when Neil’s segment will air I will update my blog!
I’ll quote my girlfriend for the intro to this post:
For those of you who don't know or didn't watch, the laminated list grew in pop culture thanks to "Friends" . This is a list of 5 people (usually celebrities) that if you ever met and had the chance, would fuck with no consequences from your significant other. It would have to be consensual sex between the two people, but please, who wouldn't want this!
Here I share with the world my “Laminated List” – enjoy!
| Danica McKelar | |
 | What can I say? She is smoking hot and smart brilliant. How smart? A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA with a degree in Mathematics and the co-author of a ground-breaking mathematical physics theorem which bears her name (The Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem). She even has an Erdos number of 4! WOW! Holy crap Danica talk statistical mechanics to me while I… ummmm YEAH! |
| Jessica Alba | |
| 
| Oh Jessica how do I lust after thee? Let me count the ways… *sigh* I think all those episodes of Dark Angel with Ms. X5-452 in leather have really warped my mind. Throw the “dorky” quality as shown in Good Luck Chuck that I love and well if she had a mathematical theorem named after her she’d be #1 for sure! AND OMG she has such cute feet. Not nearly as cute as my GF’s feet – she has THE hottest, cutest feet ON THE PLANET. Yes I worship Irish’s feet and I’m NOT ashamed to mention it! |
| Mila Kunis | |
| 
| Mila Kunis is simply sexy. Her voice is sultry (yet I might have to ask her not talk during sex or I might see images of Meg Griffin). Of course I thought she was hot in That 70s Show but I hated her bitchy character. I LOVED her in Saving Sarah Marshall and that performance is really vaulted her into my top five! |
| Gina Carano | |
| 
| This choice was tough. I wanted an athlete on my list and I tried to find a hot female cyclist and while there are plenty of good looking cyclists none of them did much for me and I would have really been pushing the “celebrity” part of the laminated list doctrine. Unfortunately cycling really isn’t that popular of a sport in the US. I decided to go with Gina Carano… I’d argue that a UFC fighter is a celebrity. She is hot, cleans up VERY nicely and could kick my ass FOR SURE… I’d love to grapple with her in the bedroom! Reverse mount baby! |
| Kat Von D | |
| 
| My final choice was easy! Kat is SEXY. She oozes sexuality. I LOVE tattoos. I love piercings. I LOVE the fact the she’s on my GF’s list too so if we were ever lucky enough to supplant Nikki we could have a nice LONG “Laminated List Threesome!” OH YEAH BABY!!! |
| | |
I’m sure you’ve all heard of Bernie Madoff by now and if you haven’t the short version is that Mr. Madoff is the alleged perpetrator of of one of the largest ponzi schemes in history. The losses could top $50 billion dollars. Yes Billion. Just google for ‘Madoff fraud’ and you can read all of the news for yourself.
One of my co-workers, Neil Chelo, suspected Madoff of being fraudulent years ago. He and his colleagues even tried to warn the SEC! One of Neil’s colleagues, Harry Markopolos testified before congress on Wednesday.
Excerpt from the full congressional testimony of Harry Markopolos (which can be read here):
Just as there is no “I” in “TEAM,” I had a brave, highly trained team that greatly assisted me throughout the 9 year Madoff investigation. Let me introduce the key team members to you. Neil Chelo, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM) checked every formula, math calculation, modeling technique presented to the SEC from 2000 to the present. From late 2003 to the present, as Director of Research for Benchmark Plus, a Tacoma, WA based $1 billion plus fund of funds, Mr. Chelo went out of his way to interview key marketing and high level risk managers at several Madoff feeder funds.
The Wall Street Journal ran an article today that mentions Neil several times.
Mary Thompson from CNBC interviewed Neil yesterday… you can see the resulting news segment on CNBC’s site. We even took pictures of the lights and cameras (thanks Jeremy)!
Kudos to Harry and Neil for standing up and trying to get the word out! I’m very proud to work with such smart people here at Benchmark Plus!
UPDATE: Neil was on Fox Business News Today.
Did two three workouts yesterday neither none of which were on a bicycle. *waits for faithful readers to get up off of the floor*
The first was a Crossfit workout. Crossfit is an evil spawn of Satan workout regime. From the Crossfit wikipedia entry:
CrossFit workouts typically call for athletes to work hard and fast, often with no rest. Many CrossFit gyms use scoring and ranking systems, transforming workouts into sport. Many CrossFit athletes and trainers see themselves as part of a contrarian insurgent movement that questions conventional fitness wisdom
Our workout yesterday was:
Five rounds for time of:
15 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet
21 burpees
Time of 21:30 Jeremy did 4 rounds, Ryan and I did 3 rounds. It sucked. Bad. I don't think I could have done any more 'burpees' without really hurting myself. I was dizzy, my face was numb, I was getting a headache, my back hurt, I felt like I was going to puke. So we will have to work up to doing as many sets as the site suggests but wow still a killer workout in 21 minutes. I can barely move today… you all know the feeling, where you can’t shampoo your hair very well because raising your arms above your head is almost impossible.
The second was yoga. Our normal Tuesday night class. It was great, as usual, but really tough considering how bad my legs and arms were hurting. The class was packed which made it very warm in the studio no not quite hot yoga warm but I was sweating up a storm! The GREAT part is that I felt better after class than before.
I’m glad yoga helped me to stretch and loosen up because my third workout of the night was the BEST workout I can imagine!
The SuperBowl bet with my girlfriend has been determined! Irish has taken the Arizona Cardinals (+7) and I have taken (of course) the Pittsburgh Steelers (-7)
- The loser is the winner’s slave for the day. Read this how ever you want.
- The winner gets to write a post to the loser’s blog. No editing and no deleting by the winner. The winner may comment on the post but only once!
I’m also going to ask publicly here, my sweet, if we should also include a third item which is a post written by the winner about #1 the ‘slave for a day’ posted to BOTH blogs with no editing by the loser? Let me know!
Stay tuned folks this could be a good bet! So pull for the Steelers to win by MORE that 7 because the pictures* will be MUCH better!
* sorry folks we’ve already agreed no naked pictures… errrr… not that we have any of each other.