this week i

like medicare research because, to paraphrase a colleague, "old people have more amazing problems."

scrounged around and found my generic cover letter to potential employers. won't need that again. also found this confusing writing sample and my certification of ministry.
am impressed by the new r mapping package cshapes, described in the latest r journal. finds the centroid, calculates distance matrices, tracks country boundaries back to the 1940's.

celebrated emma's birthday..

..and america's too.

was hypnotized by the ballet.

watched spain defeat paraguay in south africa while drinking brooklyn beer in a korean spa in queens.

took over the bar for the formal celebrations.

caught up with gabe, first time since his return from afghanistan.

headed out to coney island.

watched joey chestnut eat more than fifty hot dogs in less than ten minutes.

walked eskimo.

learned that coconut juice is a reasonable substitute for normal saline iv fluid when a tropical developing country becomes a disaster area.

made it to jersey city by sunset..

..for a late afternoon picnic..

..and views through the trees.

read..

(1) russian oligarchy - 'he is the richest man in russia, one of the richest in the world. a week before he had a meeting with dick cheney. that this kind of access, and prominence, can't guarantee you immunity is hard to believe.'

(2) shutting down a bank - 'we are going to treat the banks the way the lilliputians treated gulliver, and tie them down with lots of little ropes.'

(3) publishing tomorrow - 'new technologies do not await permission. they are..as nonnegotiable as earthquakes.'

(4) 'five guidelines for european policy'

7/8

this week i

attended the washington dc r users group meeting. learned webscraping - systematically extracting data from websites. powerful, but most of its uses seem borderline illegal, like capturing hospital data when you're supposed to buy it.

generally dislike campaign finance laws, but thought twice. 'corporations are legal fictions. they have no opinions of their own to contribute and no rights to participate with equal voice or vote in politics.'

understand why b.p. franchise owners might not replace certain sign bulbs.

presented a poster outlining the key findings in our medicaid expansion population brief at the academyhealth conference, a.k.a. health policy disney world.

highly recommend boston..

for glorious mistakes

h-bombs

ancient-by-american-standards churches

red hot summer days

cool american knights

spicy tuna, mango smoked salmon, and yes of course sweet potato eel sushi

imaginative shoppes: party novelties..

the first in free book-borrowing

..& rice krispies ice cream cones

duck-toured with naomi, proudly displaying her..

expored m.i.t. and adjacent museum.



interacted with the midsummer night's dream-themed donkey show.

7/1

this week i

unveiled our medicare advantage health plan tracker data update.

mapped out substance abuse hospitalizations by new york city neighborhood for tracy.

work hard now, because the future exponentiates everything.

ate cupcakes at the finnish embassy.
listened to the student loan at national geographic.

brought lunchables to the bela fleck/chick corea wolftrap concert.


headed off to assateague..


sat on the pristine beach.


saved a life.

expedited our campfire.


hunted by night..

..by blood-red moon (zoom in).

saw some porpoise dolphin something creatures. and birds, also hunting..

..and kings of the mountain..

..and mounds of grilled turkey + avocado.

love this place.


read a little..

(1) faux revolutionaries

(2) physics revolutionaries "the second revolution..changed the way we think about almost everything, not only in physics but in chemistry and biology and philosophy."

(3) emotional response to the haitian earthquake

(4) "atomic bombs on intercontinental rockets"

(5) "the streets of bogota are safer than washington dc's."

6/24

this week i

rented the car on the left, ♥ how california allows symbols on vanity plates.

crossed the bridge..

..for the views.

judge a city by how few chain stores i see, rank san francisco high on my list. also keep score by..

rolling plains, vantage points

food that's great looking, tasting

free doggie bags, fantastic murals

responses to hollywood

beachmountain hikepaths

bikes, wired buses, and

saint francis of assisi.

love this map showing county-to-county migration in the united states.

watched the doctors without borders movie. less surgical action than i expected, but still informative.

read some articles..

(1) cass sunstein vs. peter orszag on incentivizing best medical practices.

(2) deep blue's defeat of a human chess champion.

(3) a south london teenager on the kibbutz

(4) "to praise facebook for its 'clean' design, akin to celebrating tract housing."

(5) tension in iran "i have no doubt that large changes are on the horizon. the question is how and when."

6/17