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  14. <title>The Woodwork</title>
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  16. <link>http://terrychay.com</link>
  17. <description>You tell that other boy, not to touch the woodwork</description>
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  26. <title>My first dice were the wrong color</title>
  27. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/my-first-dice-were-the-wrong-color.shtml</link>
  28. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/my-first-dice-were-the-wrong-color.shtml#respond</comments>
  30. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  31. <pubDate>Tue, 11 Mar 2025 18:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
  32. <category><![CDATA[board gaming]]></category>
  33. <category><![CDATA[dice]]></category>
  34. <category><![CDATA[Dungeons & Dragons]]></category>
  35. <category><![CDATA[Gamma World]]></category>
  36. <category><![CDATA[J Eric Holmes]]></category>
  37. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7704</guid>
  38.  
  39. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  40. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  41. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>At work, I mentioned my first dice I ever had were the “wrong color” because the Basic D&amp;D set I had, had a chit card, instead of dice. I cut up the card and put them in Silo cups labeled with the die roll.</p>
  42. <p>This got me down a rabbit hole on why they were they were called Holmes dice, why they were the wrong color, and the deal with chits. I found out that it was called Holmes because <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eric_Holmes" title="John Eric Holmes—Wikipedia">J Eric Holmes</a> was tasked with slimming down OD&amp;D rules for this set and my copy included chits because of <a href="https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2021/11/jim-ward-on-why-of-chits.html" title="Young Jim Ward and the Dice Monster—Zenopus Archives">this article explaining why</a>.</p>
  43. <p>(Note that there were two errors in the article, even though it is recounted by Jim Ward himself. First, I’m pretty sure the print runs back then were about 10,000 copies in size, not 100,000. Second, he’s off by one year as this occurred in 1979-1980, not after 1980. I’m sure of the second, because I received my Basic D&amp;D set for Christmas in 1979 and it didn’t have “dice and a crayon.”)</p>
  44. <p>So, even though I have most of my first dice set (wrong color, different manufacturer, missing 6-sider since it didn’t come with it), I decided to get <a href="https://fanrolldice.com/product/dd-50th-anniversary-holmes-retro-replica-modern-inspired/" title="D&amp;D 50th Anniversary Holmes Retro Replica &amp; Modern Inspired Set—Fanroll">a replica Holmes set that I saw on sale on Amazon</a> which came out last year for the 50th anniversary (of D&amp;D).</p>
  45. <p>While I understood that the replica would have much better plastic than the nylon (or whatever) in the original set, I was actually disappointed in the set because of two deal-killers in my mind. First, the 20-sider die is numbered 1-20 instead of 0-9 twice. The 4-sided die had the numbers on the top facing outward instead of on the edges facing inward.</p>
  46. <p>Oh well, as luck would have it, I’m cleaning up my garage which is full of my stuff from my old storage unit and I ran across my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_World" title="Gamma World—Wikipedia">Gamma World</a> box set which has a set of Holmes dice in it. There was an extra 20-sider in there but it was missing the 4-sider. Gamma World is odd because later TSR box sets used a percentile system (Boot Hill, Top Secret, and Gang Busters) and game with 2 10 siders in different colors (Later D&amp;D’s came with monocular dice and a crayon.) This is because Gamma World is based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphosis_Alpha" title="Metamorphosis Alpha—Wikipedia">Metamorphosis Alpha</a>, the first SciFi RPG. It’s possible I lost the 4-sider, but more likely — because I don’t remember owning a yellow 4-sider, only a red one — TSR didn’t include a 4-sider in order to include an extra 20-sider for percentile rolls.</p>
  47. <p>In any case, since I’m not going to use these dice anyway, I decided to take the “modern inspired” set out and store them separately and put the 4 actual Holmes dice I do own in there.</p>
  48. </div>
  49.  
  50.  
  51.  
  52. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  53. <a href="http://terrychay.com/flickr_media/flickr-media-library-54380793855" rel="attachment wp-att-"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1000" height="575" src="https://i0.wp.com/live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_t.jpg?resize=1000%2C575&#038;ssl=1" class="attachment-1000x1000" alt="" title="Holmes dice (future, past, present)" srcset="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_t.jpg 100w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_m.jpg 240w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_n.jpg 320w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_w.jpg 400w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957.jpg 500w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_z.jpg 640w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_c.jpg 800w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_b.jpg 1024w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_f4ab7d7bb2_h.jpg 1600w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_d605170dce_k.jpg 2048w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_e3da44a51f_3k.jpg 3072w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_097ce07e71_4k.jpg 3734w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_68509b2035_o.jpg 3734w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-attachment-id="7705" data-permalink="http://terrychay.com/flickr_media/flickr-media-library-54380793855" data-orig-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_68509b2035_o.jpg" data-orig-size="3734,2147" data-comments-opened="data-comments-opened" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 15 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1741690303&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;6.8&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0095238095238095&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;Horizontal (normal)&quot;,&quot;latitude&quot;:&quot;37 deg 50&#039; 38.90\&quot;&quot;,&quot;latitude_ref&quot;:&quot;North&quot;,&quot;longitude&quot;:&quot;122 deg 12&#039; 58.27\&quot;&quot;,&quot;longitude_ref&quot;:&quot;West&quot;,&quot;exposure_bias&quot;:&quot;+0.25&quot;,&quot;flash&quot;:&quot;Off, Did not fire&quot;,&quot;camera_clean&quot;:&quot;Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;aperture_clean&quot;:&quot;f\/1.8&quot;,&quot;exposure_clean&quot;:&quot;0.01 sec (1\/105)&quot;,&quot;exposure_bias_clean&quot;:&quot;+0.25 EV&quot;,&quot;latitude_clean&quot;:&quot;37.844138&quot;,&quot;longitude_clean&quot;:&quot;-122.216187&quot;,&quot;locality&quot;:&quot;Montclair&quot;,&quot;county&quot;:&quot;Alameda&quot;,&quot;region&quot;:&quot;California&quot;,&quot;country&quot;:&quot;United States&quot;,&quot;exposure_program&quot;:&quot;Program AE&quot;,&quot;focal_length_35&quot;:&quot;30 mm&quot;,&quot;lens&quot;:&quot;Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max back camera 6.765mm f\/1.78&quot;,&quot;lens_info&quot;:&quot;6.764999866mm f\/1.779999971&quot;}" data-image-title="Holmes dice (future, past, present)" data-image-description="" Holmes="Holmes" dice="dice" br="br" United="United" Apple="Apple" iPhone="iPhone" 15="15" Pro="Pro" Max="Max" back="back" camera="camera" 765mm="765mm" 01="01" sec="sec" iso100="iso100" 30="30" data-medium-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_n.jpg" data-large-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54380793855_4eca451957_b.jpg" /></a>
  54. </div></figure>
  55.  
  56.  
  57.  
  58. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>You can see somewhere after failing to crayon-in the 6-sider I resorted to inking in the numbers. Good times!</p>
  59. <p>In case you were wondering, you would roll the d20 along with a d6. If you rolled a 4-6 you would add 10 to your d20 roll. I colored in half of my extra d20 in my gamma world set which helped me identify it for percentile rolls as well as make it so I didn’t need to roll a d6.</p>
  60. </div>
  61.  
  62.  
  63.  
  64. <p></p>
  65. ]]></content:encoded>
  67. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/my-first-dice-were-the-wrong-color.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  68. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  71. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7704</post-id> </item>
  72. <item>
  73. <title>#4yearolds</title>
  74. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/4yearolds.shtml</link>
  75. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/4yearolds.shtml#respond</comments>
  77. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  78. <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:27:00 +0000</pubDate>
  79. <category><![CDATA[about my family]]></category>
  80. <category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
  81. <category><![CDATA[4yearolds]]></category>
  82. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7694</guid>
  83.  
  84. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  85. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  86. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>From another parent:</p>
  87. <blockquote>
  88. <p>But now he just launches into diatribes about how we’re so mean and we don’t let him do anything and we’re hateful people because we didn’t let him keep watching <a href="https://www.bluey.tv" title="Welcome to the home of Bluey">Bluey</a> after the agreed upon number was watched <a rel="tag" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="http://terrychay.com/tag/4yearolds">#4yearolds</a></p>
  89. </blockquote>
  90. <p>Yesterday, Benjamin, in tears, was yelling at me that mommy definitely <strong>MEANT</strong> to hit him with her purse, it was no accident, and she’s totally a meany for doing so.</p>
  91. <p>But then, one hour later, I saw them on the couch together as he directed M— what they should build in their Minecraft world on the Switch.</p>
  92. <p>For the last few months, most every night before bed, I ask Benjamin what his “successes” were that day. It’s a fun little ritual that devolves mostly into a time where he watches the text-to-speech write some pretty weird stuff in <a href="http://dayoneapp.com" title="DayOne: Your jounral for life.">DayOne</a> that I have to manually correct later. (He then demands that I text it to mommy and have Siri read back that text to us.)</p>
  93. <p>Yesterday, M— put him to bed and I got this text from her:</p>
  94. <blockquote>
  95. <p>His successes:
  96. “I didn’t tell daddy my successes because they were all about you.</p>
  97. <ol>
  98. <li>we got to play Minecraft</li>
  99. <li>we saw <a href="https://minecraft.wiki/w/Enderman" title="Enderman—Minecraft Wiki">enderman</a>!</li>
  100. <li>we saw <a href="https://minecraft.wiki/w/Creeper" title="Creeper—Minecraft wiki">creepers</a>”</li>
  101. </ol>
  102. </blockquote>
  103. <p>Surprisingly, no mention on how mommy is the worst. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
  104. </div>
  105. ]]></content:encoded>
  107. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/4yearolds.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  108. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  111. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7694</post-id> </item>
  112. <item>
  113. <title>Nothing beats personal experience</title>
  114. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/nothing-beats-personal-experience.shtml</link>
  115. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/nothing-beats-personal-experience.shtml#respond</comments>
  117. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  118. <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2025 17:31:55 +0000</pubDate>
  119. <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
  120. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7687</guid>
  121.  
  122. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  123. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  124. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>I was sent <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/fake-gamer-was-elon-musk-cheating-at-path-of-exile-2.html" title="Gamers Suspect Elon Musk Is a Charlatan—Vulture @ New York Magazine">this article</a> yesterday.</p>
  125. <p>This reminded me of <a href="https://mastodon.social/@rodhilton/109572674700288958" title="Rod Hilton@Mastodon">this gem from a few years ago </a>:</p>
  126. <blockquote>
  127. <p>He talked about electric cars. I don’t know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.</p>
  128. <p>Then he talked about rockets. I don’t know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.</p>
  129. <p>Now he talks about software. I happen to know a lot about software &amp; Elon Musk is saying the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard anyone say, so when people say he’s a genius I figure I should stay the hell away from his cars and rockets.</p>
  130. </blockquote>
  131. <p>(I’m around Elon Musk’s age and was also studied physics. Unlike him, I actually was in graduate school studying theoretical Condensed Matter of fluids away from equilibrium (turbulence), known colloquially as “Rocket Science.” Working in the internet as a developer so early, I ended up with a number of acquaintances who were part of that “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia" title="PayPal Mafia—Wikipedia">PayPal Mafia</a>.”)</p>
  132. <p>All I have to say is, “Welcome to the party, gamers.” <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
  133. </div>
  134. ]]></content:encoded>
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  137. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  140. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7687</post-id> </item>
  141. <item>
  142. <title>Being part of the Pac</title>
  143. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/being-part-of-the-pac.shtml</link>
  144. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/being-part-of-the-pac.shtml#respond</comments>
  146. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  147. <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jan 2025 01:20:02 +0000</pubDate>
  148. <category><![CDATA[about my family]]></category>
  149. <category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
  150. <category><![CDATA[photos]]></category>
  151. <category><![CDATA[bath bomb]]></category>
  152. <category><![CDATA[children]]></category>
  153. <category><![CDATA[La Jolla Cove]]></category>
  154. <category><![CDATA[Minecraft]]></category>
  155. <category><![CDATA[Pacific Beach]]></category>
  156. <category><![CDATA[Super Mario]]></category>
  157. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7679</guid>
  158.  
  159. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  160. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  161. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  162. <a href="http://terrychay.com/flickr_media/flickr-media-library-54247383685" rel="attachment wp-att-"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="750" height="1000" src="https://i0.wp.com/live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_t.jpg?resize=750%2C1000&#038;ssl=1" class="attachment-1000x1000" alt="" title="Benjamin at the Beach" srcset="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_t.jpg 75w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_m.jpg 180w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_n.jpg 240w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_w.jpg 300w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a.jpg 375w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_z.jpg 480w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_c.jpg 600w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_b.jpg 768w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_1424df6aba_h.jpg 1200w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_490b019f93_k.jpg 1536w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_a39a658641_3k.jpg 2305w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_dd203daa63_4k.jpg 2799w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_5c4194bca0_o.jpg 2799w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" data-attachment-id="7680" data-permalink="http://terrychay.com/flickr_media/flickr-media-library-54247383685" data-orig-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_5c4194bca0_o.jpg" data-orig-size="2799,3731" data-comments-opened="data-comments-opened" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 15 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1735911822&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00019000570017101&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;latitude&quot;:&quot;32 deg 47&#039; 32.07\&quot;&quot;,&quot;latitude_ref&quot;:&quot;North&quot;,&quot;longitude&quot;:&quot;117 deg 15&#039; 21.69\&quot;&quot;,&quot;longitude_ref&quot;:&quot;West&quot;,&quot;exposure_bias&quot;:&quot;-0.141&quot;,&quot;camera_clean&quot;:&quot;Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max&quot;,&quot;aperture_clean&quot;:&quot;f\/2.2&quot;,&quot;exposure_clean&quot;:&quot;1\/5263 sec&quot;,&quot;exposure_bias_clean&quot;:&quot;-0.141 EV&quot;,&quot;latitude_clean&quot;:&quot;32.792241&quot;,&quot;longitude_clean&quot;:&quot;-117.256025&quot;,&quot;locality&quot;:&quot;Mission Beach&quot;,&quot;county&quot;:&quot;San Diego&quot;,&quot;region&quot;:&quot;California&quot;,&quot;country&quot;:&quot;United States&quot;,&quot;exposure_program&quot;:&quot;Program AE&quot;,&quot;lens&quot;:&quot;Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max back camera 2.22mm f\/2.2&quot;}" data-image-title="Benjamin at the Beach" Benjamin="Benjamin" learns="learns" the="the" sand="sand" is="is" better="better" near="near" at="at" br="br" Mission="Mission" United="United" Apple="Apple" iPhone="iPhone" 15="15" Pro="Pro" Max="Max" back="back" camera="camera" 22mm="22mm" 5263="5263" sec="sec" data-medium-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_n.jpg" data-large-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54247383685_b6155eb15a_b.jpg" /></a>
  163. </div></figure>
  164.  
  165.  
  166.  
  167. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>My four year old loves to drop the knowledge bombs. (“Don’t you mean knowledge <a href="https://www.lush.com/us/en_us/c/wicked-x-lush" title="Wicked x Lush — Lush">BATH BOMBS</a>, daddy? Haa ha!”)</p>
  168. <p>Most of it is about <a href="https://www.minecraft.net/en-us" title="Miecraft">Minecraft</a>  (facts about <a href="https://minecraft.wiki/w/Enderman" title="Enderman — Minecraft Wiki">Enderman</a>  and <a href="https://minecraft.wiki/w/TNT" title="TNT—Minecraft Wiki">TNT</a>) or <a href="https://mario.nintendo.com" title="Offiicial home of Mario—Nintendo">Super Mario</a> (<a href="https://www.mariowiki.com/Dry_Bones" title="Dry Bones—Super Mario Wiki">Dry Bones</a> and <a href="https://mario.fandom.com/wiki/Grape_(character)" title="Grape (character)—MarioWiki">Madame Grape</a>) none of which I know anything about because I am culturally backward when it comes to video games (“Bath <a href="https://www.mariowiki.com/Bob-omb" title="Bob-omb—Super Mario Wiki. I should have known this from _Scott Pilgrim v. the World—">Bob-ombs</a>, Daddy. Haa ha!”). But very once in a while I still get a peek into the deep logic that child has naturally.</p>
  169. <p>My dad’s house is in the <a href="https://pacificbeach.org" title="Discover Pacific Beach">Pacific Beach</a>  neighborhood of San Diego: Pac Beach or PB for short. When she was alive, my mom, who had a heart condition for nearly her entire life, loved the walking along the beach in PB or falling asleep to the waves crashing in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jolla_Cove" title="La Jolla Cove—Wikipedia">La Jolla Cove</a>  and I want to share those experiences with Benjamin. After we ate lunch, we started to heading to the beach.</p>
  170. <p>“Where are we, daddy?”</p>
  171. <p>“We are in Pac Beach.”</p>
  172. <p>“No, we are in Pac!”</p>
  173. <p>“Huh?”</p>
  174. <p>“Over there is the beach, so this part must be ‘Pac.’”</p>
  175. <p>(It’s hard to argue with this logic: another Benjamin knowledge bath bob-omb gets dropped on me.)</p>
  176. </div>
  177. ]]></content:encoded>
  179. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/being-part-of-the-pac.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  180. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  183. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7679</post-id> </item>
  184. <item>
  185. <title>The skill of writing…</title>
  186. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/the-skill-of-writing.shtml</link>
  187. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/the-skill-of-writing.shtml#respond</comments>
  189. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  190. <pubDate>Mon, 02 Dec 2024 20:30:41 +0000</pubDate>
  191. <category><![CDATA[about my family]]></category>
  192. <category><![CDATA[arts and letters]]></category>
  193. <category><![CDATA[quotes]]></category>
  194. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7672</guid>
  195.  
  196. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  197. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  198. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>I never explained the unofficial motto of this blog.</p>
  199. <p>When I started this blog 20 years ago, I wanted to have a north star guiding me as to why I was doing this at all. I searched the internet for quotes on writing and came across this gem from Edwin Schlossberg:</p>
  200. <blockquote>
  201. <p>The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.</p>
  202. </blockquote>
  203. </div>
  204.  
  205.  
  206.  
  207. <span id="more-7672"></span>
  208.  
  209.  
  210.  
  211. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>Around that time, I also bought an <a href="https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/IPod_photo">iPod Photo</a>. I had dreams of recording my ideas before transcribing them — which I never realized — so I decided to advantage myself of the free laser engraving that Apple was offering at the time.</p>
  212. <p>Unfortunately, it didn’t fit, so I trimmed it down to: <em>Write to create context for another to think.</em> which is how that became the unofficial motto.</p>
  213. <p>Over time, I realized I engage in three different forms of writing: normally, programming, and with photography. That’s how I ended up adding this as a motto to my Twitter profile in 2006: “light writing, word loving, <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/2764.png" alt="❤" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> coding.” I like the regular writing bridges the other two. I hope, whether it’s in code, or with photos, or just here, I am still creating context.</p>
  214. <h3>Why I finally wrote this down.</h3>
  215. <p>A bot at work asked, “What’s one of your favorite quotes and why?” and so here this is: finally written down. So meta.</p>
  216. <p>As a side note, one of my co-workers posted the meme: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RgN9ijwE4">Have you ever had a dream like this?</a></p>
  217. <p>And another posted the video where he’s grown up and explains what he was thinking:</p>
  218. </div>
  219.  
  220.  
  221.  
  222. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  223. <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe title="I Accidentally Became A Meme: Have You Ever Had A Dream" width="1000" height="563" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3U9P4-ac0Lc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
  224. </div></figure>
  225.  
  226.  
  227.  
  228. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>I’ve noticed that until recently Benjamin would constantly do this same sort of stuttering when he’s talking — or, as I like to call it, “ dropping the knowledge bombs on us.” Part of it is because he is left-handed and his old preschool didn’t realize this; the rest is his mind is so clearly so far ahead of his mouth.</p>
  229. <p>It’s happening less. I think, like his dad, he’s learning to have his mouth speak as fast as his mind races. He’s become quite the talker!</p>
  230. <h3>Wait, does this mean there’s an official motto?</h3>
  231. <p>Of course, but that’s a different story for a different time.</p>
  232. </div>
  233. ]]></content:encoded>
  235. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/the-skill-of-writing.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  236. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  239. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7672</post-id> </item>
  240. <item>
  241. <title>McDonald&#8217;s and Regressive Taxation</title>
  242. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/mcdonalds-and-regressive-taxation.shtml</link>
  243. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/mcdonalds-and-regressive-taxation.shtml#respond</comments>
  245. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  246. <pubDate>Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
  247. <category><![CDATA[business and economics]]></category>
  248. <category><![CDATA[food and wine]]></category>
  249. <category><![CDATA[appstore]]></category>
  250. <category><![CDATA[BART]]></category>
  251. <category><![CDATA[Big Mac]]></category>
  252. <category><![CDATA[commuting]]></category>
  253. <category><![CDATA[McDonald's]]></category>
  254. <category><![CDATA[taxation]]></category>
  255. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7661</guid>
  256.  
  257. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  258. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  259. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>I finally got around to moving my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_card" title="Clipper Card—Wikipedia">Clipper Card</a> onto my iPhone Wallet.</p>
  260. <p>I used to have a problem losing my keys, wallet and/or iPhone until I read in a biography that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman" title="Richard Feynman—Wikipedia">Richard Feynman</a> used to keep his wallet in the same pocket to prevent the same thing. That, and because they say that you should wear through your denim jeans the same way to give it “character,” meant ten years ago I adopted this system, and got rid of the FAIL of tagging all my shit with the then-very-unreliable bluetooth tracking stuff.</p>
  261. <p>This is a circumlocutious way of saying that for the last decade, my cell phone is always conveniently in my right pocket while my wallet (with Clipper Card) is in my left pocket. As I’m right handed and the sensor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit" title="Bay Area Rapid Transit">BART</a> is on the right side of the turnstile, I would have to do this weird cross-body yoga <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-pattern">anti-pattern</a> in order to get my bicycle onto the commute trains. I resolved to go into the office more often recently, so this was low-key bumming me out.</p>
  262. <p>After jealously admiring how easily regular commuters used their mobile phone to zip through in front of me, I decided to sunset the physical card which apparently <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_50" title="Super Bowl 50—Wikipedia. My Clipper Card was a limited edition one in honor of SF hosting the SuperBowl, which, according to Wikipedia was in 2012.">I’ve used for the last 12 years</a>.</p>
  263. <p>Also, about half the time, the reader would say that I need to see the operator because of some weird RFID interference shit with all the other crap I have stuffed in my supposedly &quot;minimalist&quot; wallet. WTF? Why should I tolerate this first world problem when we have the technology?</p>
  264. <p>A quick google search and some weird phone-on-card jingo and now I can just put my phone on the sensor and magic shit happens. I can also recharge my card from my Apple Wallet instead of using the machine every so often, depending on how many times I had the patience to hit the “add $1 to your card” button last time I loaded it.</p>
  265. <p>…</p>
  266. <p>But this massive quality-of-life improvement somehow made me think about McDonald’s this morning, maybe because I didn&#8217;t have time to eat breakfast…</p>
  267. </div>
  268.  
  269.  
  270. <a class="wp-block-read-more" href="http://terrychay.com/article/mcdonalds-and-regressive-taxation.shtml" target="_self">Continue reading about how your McDonald&#8217;s app is a regressive tax after the jump →<span class="screen-reader-text">: McDonald&#8217;s and Regressive Taxation</span></a>
  271.  
  272.  
  273. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><h2>Context to think about contactless payment</h2>
  274. <p>I noticed that dishonest people have been complaining about inflation, and some of them are using the price at McDonald&#8217;s as an indicator of this. This is probably related to the popularity of the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/274326/big-mac-index-global-prices-for-a-big-mac/" title="Global price of a Big Mac by country — statista">Big Mac Index</a>: a freakonomics-circle-jerk-bullshit idea that the price of a Big Mac is the best way to compute the cost-of-living adjustment between countries.</p>
  275. <p>I’m sure the price of the Big Mac has skyrocketed post-pandemic — I, if anyone, should know this, I&#8217;m like <a href="http://terrychay.com/article/ou-est-le-boeuf.shtml" title="Où est le boeuf?">an idiot savant of McDonald’s</a>: so much so that a former franchise owner innundated me with McDonald&#8217;s T-shirts, sweaters, and stuff which are in my clothing rotation.</p>
  276. <p>But here&#8217;s the thing, I&#8217;m 100% sure a significant factor in the price of the sandwich is the introduction of the McDonald&#8217;s App. According to conventional wisdom, I usually get ~30% &quot;discount&quot; in &quot;savings&quot; by ordering through the app either via some promotion or using points to buy something outright.</p>
  277. </div>
  278.  
  279.  
  280.  
  281. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  282. <a href="http://terrychay.com/flickr_media/flickr-media-library-54136582008" rel="attachment wp-att-"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="460" height="1000" src="https://i0.wp.com/live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_t.jpg?resize=460%2C1000&#038;ssl=1" class="attachment-1000x1000" alt="" title="My McDonald&#039;s Order on Oct 30th" srcset="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_t.jpg 46w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_m.jpg 111w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_n.jpg 148w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_w.jpg 185w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c.jpg 231w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_z.jpg 295w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_c.jpg 369w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_b.jpg 472w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_5642fc485e_h.jpg 738w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_423abd9edf_k.jpg 945w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_8407ef65ac_3k.jpg 1290w, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_d4d55ac567_o.png 1290w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px" data-attachment-id="7663" data-permalink="http://terrychay.com/flickr_media/flickr-media-library-54136582008" data-orig-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_d4d55ac567_o.png" data-orig-size="1290,2796" data-comments-opened="data-comments-opened" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1730290654&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;Horizontal (normal)&quot;}" data-image-title="My McDonald&#8217;s Order on Oct 30th" data-image-description="" My="My" s="s" Order="Order" on="on" Oct="Oct" data-medium-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_n.jpg" data-large-file="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54136582008_b34e09ec7c_b.jpg" /></a>
  283. </div></figure>
  284.  
  285.  
  286.  
  287. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>In economics, there is a distinction between &quot;nominal&quot; and &quot;actual.&quot; <strong>Nominally</strong>, I&#8217;ve &quot;saved&quot; 30%, but I&#8217;ve probably got a 5% <strong>actual</strong> discount.</p>
  288. <p>The reason is that if everyone uses the app to purchase our Big Macs — which we sometimes get for &quot;free&quot; when we accumulate 6000 points — McDonald&#8217;s would cover this by raising the nominal price of the Big Mac to compensate by the same amount. Fast food is pretty fucking competitive — as loyal as I&#8217;m to McDonald’s, I&#8217;m totally cool with swapping it out for a Big King at Burger King or an In-N-Out double-double — depending on my access to those and my mood. So the net price is fixed by the demand curve vs. their costs and profit margin.</p>
  289. <p>Why 5%? Well not everyone is using the App every time. Some people are rushed, or casual walk-in/can&#8217;t-be-bothered-to-download it, or simply don&#8217;t have access to a smartphone and/or credit card. Those people won&#8217;t/can&#8217;t use an app. So, I&#8217;d guess that McDonald&#8217;s has inflated the nominal price of the Big Mac by 25%. Those of us using the app are getting a 5% discount; The non-app people are paying 20% more vs. the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_hypothesis" title="The Null Hypothesis—Wikipedia">null hypothesis</a>.</p>
  290. <p>The null hypothesis is a world where the McDonald’s App either didn’t exist at all, or never got so high an adoption which basically happened because a global pandemic trained everyone to build a habit of contactless ordering and payment.</p>
  291. <p>So, when seen another way, my 5% discount is subsidized by everyone who isn’t using the app paying 25% more than they should. Since most of those people don’t because they don’t have access to credit to use an app or the income to afford a smartphone — either because they are a school kid or poor — then basically the poor are subsiding the rich at McDonald’s. This is known as an effective <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regressive_tax">regressive tax</a>.</p>
  292. <p>Regressive taxation is shit for our social order. But I guess it is okay since it means my burger and fries cost me an average four bits less than it would if they weren’t taxing walk-ins and the poor.</p>
  293. <p>Of course, at a certain point people wise up and stop eating at McDonald’s or they will have to introduce menu items they can discount that only they would order and I wouldn’t (which would be difficult since the only thing I don’t eat on the menu is diet soda). Oh wait, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-value-meal-deal-bda434c5a939b610a9c1fc09446a38d1" title="McDonald’s plans $5 US meal deal next month to counter customer frustration over high prices—AP News">they did that shit</a>! Well now you know why they had to.</p>
  294. <p>…</p>
  295. <p>Why did I order just a burger and fries in the screenshot above? Look at the deal: the discount was free fries with a Big Mac order which netted me a 30% nominal savings. I was at the office and soda was free so this is how I maximized my discount. Oh, and after I picked up that order. I hit 6000 points so my next Big Mac is free.</p>
  296. </div>
  297. ]]></content:encoded>
  299. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/mcdonalds-and-regressive-taxation.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  300. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  303. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7661</post-id> </item>
  304. <item>
  305. <title>A new leaf?</title>
  306. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/accidentally-saw-some-election-returns.shtml</link>
  307. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/accidentally-saw-some-election-returns.shtml#comments</comments>
  309. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  310. <pubDate>Fri, 08 Nov 2024 15:32:49 +0000</pubDate>
  311. <category><![CDATA[about me]]></category>
  312. <category><![CDATA[religion and politics]]></category>
  313. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7637</guid>
  314.  
  315. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  316. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  317. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>Totally unrelated (or not), my son told me his “success” yesterday was that he got to present both his “clue can” and his “share day” in preschool back-to-back. The day previous, he “hadn’t been listening to the teachers” and “had to spend some time in the babies class” and couldn’t present.</p>
  318. <p>His share day item was a fallen leaf he found from the plum tree over the driveway of our new house.</p>
  319. <p>…</p>
  320. <p>Since just before the election, I was doing so well at avoiding any direct knowledge of what was going on with politics. Deleted Twitter, didn’t open Apple News, moved any political blogs into a folder I don’t read, and unrecommend anything about US politics. Almost made it through the week.</p>
  321. <p>This morning someone at work noted that there was a perfect tie for city council in District 1 in San Francisco (11,001 to 11,001). I went to confirm it was my old district because it is amusing to think that M—’s and my vote — if we hadn’t just moved away — would have decided it. Unfortunately, I accidentally saw the presidential returns for city at the top. Harris won with 80% of the vote in the city.</p>
  322. </div>
  323.  
  324.  
  325. <a class="wp-block-read-more" href="http://terrychay.com/article/accidentally-saw-some-election-returns.shtml" target="_self">Continue reading about stuff that triggers me after the jump →<span class="screen-reader-text">: A new leaf?</span></a>
  326.  
  327.  
  328. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>This explains what happened when Biden dropped out. Since I’ve been paying attention (2004), the Democratic presidential candidate has always had a larger percentage of the vote in a city like San Francisco, so it wasn’t 3rd party, or enthusiasm for Trump, or whatever — it’s lower Democratic turnout, plain and simple.</p>
  329. <p>Even though I skipped past it as fast as possible, <span title="&quot;I" rel="tooltip commentary">it did depress my fragile mood</span> to have been right about people pushing Biden out. Of course, I didn’t like having people gloat at me for the last few months about how I should eat crow about being angry and scared when that happened, or how wrong I was to even believe nobody should have pushed him out. I no longer want to be the I-told-you-so-but-with-facts-on-my-side mirror of them.</p>
  330. <p>That was why, on election day, I woke up and decided to not be the person who has to be right. Nor will do I want to fall again into the politics-as-sport / pay-attention-to-things-I -can’t-control — and what a deep fall it’s been! “We won!” When all I did was vote and donate some $ for merch — no more that I would for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.</p>
  331. <p>The vast majority of it has been a poison for my soul for the last 22 years. I can act correctly politically enough to look at myself in the mirror about who I am and what sort of world I’d like Benjamin to grow up in. I can do all that <strong>and</strong> not have a bitter person staring back at me.</p>
  332. <h2>Political aside (one last time — hopefully with less holier-than-thou shit… but probably not)</h2>
  333. <p>M— is right that we were right to have felt sick with Biden being pushed out even if our preferred candidate was the replacement. I voted for Kamala Harris every time I could and only missed two times in total: once when she first ran for DA before I became a resident, and the other time she dropped out before the presidential primary in 2020. I was excited to vote for her. She didn’t push out Joe Biden. She made the best with what position she was thrust into, ran an excellent political campaign, and simply lost due to circumstances beyond her control.</p>
  334. <p>M— noted to me later, that these people didn’t vote because they don’t care about the issues, they didn’t vote <strong>because</strong> the issues that were being presented were so big and so beyond their ability to affect it that they simply opted out. By focusing on Trump, Project 2025, Gaza, tariffs etc. and not the things people care about that affect them <strong>and</strong> they have some agency over, we froze them from voting. The pundit class — yes the liberal part especially — was part of that, while the Democrats in the trenches working for 30 years to turn Texas blue, running and losing, were most definitely not. She is proud to be a Democrat; I need to check my party registration because I don’t remember if I stopped being “Unaffiliated.”</p>
  335. <p>Democrats have a huge hill to climb because a lot of their base has been eroded into non-voters, though perhaps only temporarily. My guesses is this is due to general disgusting turn in political discourse in America has broken the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_voter_theorem">Mean Voter Theorem</a> by easily manipulating them into non-voters. “<span title="&quot;only" rel="tooltip commentary">Luckily</span>” the Republicans are so terrible at governing they’ll get voted out every time they have power because they’ll crash the economy or find some dozen new ways to make more vulnerable people’s lives miserable, and there wasn’t a big, long enough to to fix much of what they messed it up last time, and how close we are to all that for them to cause the electorate to forget. They can’t actually pass any policies; they can only destroy stuff.</p>
  336. <p>(Heck, I don’t think the rich will even get their tax cut this time around, just a brief stay of execution. At this point there’s a significant number of the 0.01% who would prefer to be taxed more, not less that I’m not sure most of them even want it. After all, a lot of insanely rich people were on Team Kamala even if many were misguided on how to be so.)</p>
  337. <p>It does show how easily manipulated and insidious (politically, not to judge them) the “blame the Democrats” crowd is as a bloc, because the Democrats aren’t poisoning the well, the Republicans and the “lie-beral media” are. If anything, the sort of person who blames the Democrats is a huge contributor of poisoning the well for the average voter, and shows how easily and how they can be manipulated to play their part — an easy psychological trap is being exploited: this person can “win” by pushing Biden out, “win” by voting for the better side (Democratic or 3rd party), and “win” by blaming someone else for what <strong>they</strong> actually caused (losing the election because they turned off so many potential allies that regular people collectively said, “Fuck it!”), free from the direct consequences of what they have wrought (safe in their liberal local city/state enclaves… as am I), while the people actually trying to help others and make a real difference are targets of their ire (“worse than MAGA” or “the real problem” or “this is why you should’t find common ground with &lt;insert my enemy&gt; in my enemy-centered world”).</p>
  338. <p>Apparently how we <strong>feel</strong> about our vote (or not voting) became more important than what actually happens as a result of it. I was wrong and others were always right that the “solution” was for us to become more like them. I just didn’t realize that we both wanted the same stupid outcome: to feel good about acting against our interests.</p>
  339. <h2>M— dropping a truth bomb on me</h2>
  340. <p>I’m so lucky to have M—. She is truly my better half in so many ways, it’s become obvious the definition of “half” is being stretched here — like when Benjamin takes a huge bite out of his favorite candy and then gives me “half.” So much of what makes us “better” is with her, and not me.</p>
  341. <p>She’s recently re-read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People">7 Habits</a>, and just shared with me a new (to me) anecdote about Steven Covey that is in either the new edition or the audiobook form. He was asked “What habit do you have the most trouble with?”. “Habit 5. <em>Seek first to understand, then be understood</em>, I have to work on that one the most.” he says. He said his children always complained about how he didn’t follow that one and he would tell them, “It’s hard to listen when you are always right.”</p>
  342. <p>M—, of course, brought this up as her way of telling me my mouth is always open and I need to fucking shut up and listen more. After the election, she resolved to stop keeping her true self bottled up, and her true self had been wanting to drop that truth bomb on me for years now. Besides, she only married me for the hoppa baby anyway. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> Of course, being the better half, she did it by first recounting that anecdote and then saying, “You know, you’re a lot like Stephen Covey.”</p>
  343. <p>…</p>
  344. <p>I don’t know how I’m going to listen more on this blog — it’s not exactly a two-way street here. But it’s been so long nobody is reading at this point — you are on Instagram, or listening to podcasts, or repeat watching a much funnier version of this shit on TikTok, or, — if you are still so old school as to still be reading at this point — paying for someone to tell you some insightful shit on in some paid newsletter you subscribed to.</p>
  345. <p>Because of that, I’m going to act like The Woodwork is a safe place to get these toxins out of my mind so I can be a better person out in the real world. Kind of like a good BM for my brain. I suppose, not that long ago, I’d have concentrated this into 140 characters and put it on Twitter (but you may have missed that I’m not on that anymore — I don’t slow down to watch a train wreck).</p>
  346. <p>So here it is. We all gotta pee and poop somewhere, and this is my safe space. Feel free to not read this. I’m just going through some things.</p>
  347. <h2>Return to (better than before) form</h2>
  348. <p>When it comes to politics, I want to not waste an insane amount of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Surplus">cognitive surplus</a>  on what I can’t control. I need to use just enough to know who I’m going to vote for and what causes I’m going to donate to. That takes a pitifully small amount of effort at this point — not any more than the amount I paid attention back before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil">George W. Bush did his axis of evil speech</a>  and I almost drove off the road. Before that moment, I never had even voted. Before that moment, most of my friends would call this place “the Left Coast” while actually living here. After that I became active — eventually too active. None of you were with me because I hadn’t yet started this blog. I voted for the first time, and joined the loser club, and, after that election day <a href="http://terrychay.com/article/buying-blue-state.shtml">now twenty years gone</a>, I became resolved and started this blog actually.</p>
  349. <p>After 20 years of wasted thought on “religion and politics” I have enough of a bank account of knowledge to do know how I’m voting. And, I’m not going to change anyone’s minds there, and that goes against the motto of this blog.</p>
  350. <p>I want to put some of that surplus into just being a more joyful person instead of some crazy fucking Cassandra who nobody can stand and is generally unpleasant to be around. For the last eight years, I’ve been the latter and that’s why I’ve barely written anything because that person is trash and has nothing good to say.</p>
  351. <p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/tychay/">I started this blog</a> with the motto I had had engraved on my iPod at the time: “write for another to think.” At some point it must have become “write to be right, and fuck others” which is why I haven’t been blogging.</p>
  352. <p>Fuck that guy, I’m turning over a new leaf.</p>
  353. <p>Or, as Benjamin often puts it: “Daddy shhh! Stop interrupting mommy!”</p>
  354. </div>
  355. ]]></content:encoded>
  357. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/accidentally-saw-some-election-returns.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  358. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  361. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7637</post-id> </item>
  362. <item>
  363. <title>On winning the lottery</title>
  364. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/on-winning-the-lottery.shtml</link>
  365. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/on-winning-the-lottery.shtml#respond</comments>
  367. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  368. <pubDate>Thu, 10 Nov 2022 23:26:10 +0000</pubDate>
  369. <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
  370. <category><![CDATA[American Physical Society]]></category>
  371. <category><![CDATA[Francis Ree]]></category>
  372. <category><![CDATA[grad school]]></category>
  373. <category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
  374. <category><![CDATA[Las Vegas]]></category>
  375. <category><![CDATA[lottery]]></category>
  376. <category><![CDATA[money]]></category>
  377. <category><![CDATA[physics]]></category>
  378. <category><![CDATA[statistics]]></category>
  379. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7622</guid>
  380.  
  381. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  382. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  383. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><blockquote>
  384. <p>If you received $10,000,000 tomorrow, would you continue to work?</p>
  385. <p>“Good one since someone got <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/08/1135068822/powerball-jackpot-drawing-delayed#">the powerball top price</a>.”</p>
  386. </blockquote>
  387. <p>Yes, I would continue to work.</p>
  388. <p>In grad school, A classmate who would precede a lot of things with, “If I won the lottery…”</p>
  389. <p>Finally I got sick of it and said, “Why the hell do you want someone to give you money you didn’t earn?” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/25/heres-why-lottery-winners-go-broke.html" title="2017-08-25 Here's why lottery winners go broke—CNBC">I still feel that way</a>.</p>
  390. <p>Also in grad school, the the lottery reached a huge sum (<span title="&quot;1988," rel="tooltip commentary">at the time</span>). My advisor sat down, and as an exercise <span title="&quot;While" rel="tooltip commentary">computed there was a positive ROI to buying a ticket</span>.</p>
  391. <p>Deciding that he it would be a crime against his discipline (theoretical condensed matter physics, which is mostly a lot of statistics) to ignore this fact, he went out of the office, next door to the local gas station to buy a lottery ticket. When he got there, in front of him was a colleague, a statistical physics professor, and soon behind him came another colleague. (I came in there later but it was to get a refill on my 64oz <a href="https://www.johnsonventures.com/bigfoot-food-stores" title="BIGFOOT FOOD STORES—Johnson Ventures, Inc.">Bigfoot</a>).</p>
  392. <p><a href="http://terrychay.com/tag/francis-ree" title="articles on here about Francis Ree">My uncle Francis</a>, whom my son is named after, was also a theoretical condensed matter physicist. Every time we met up at the <a href="https://aps.org" title="APS: Advancing Physics">American Physical Society</a> March meeting, The first thing out of his mouth was when and how we were going to get a ride to the closest riverboat blackjack casinos. There was even a rumor that <a href="https://qz.com/work/1249513/was-a-convention-of-physicists-really-banned-from-las-vegas">we never got invited back to Las Vegas after 1986</a> — all those tables full of statistical physicists refusing alcohol and doing the minimum bet for hours until, suddenly, the shoe was in their favor and they all switched their bets at once, but separately.</p>
  393. <p>Ironically, it looks like Casino memory is just under 40 years. They will learn the error of their ways <a href="https://march.aps.org" title="APS March Meeting March5-10, 2023, Las Vegas, Nevada">next year</a>. If only Francis were alive, I’m sure he’d come out of retirement to attend  and make a few bucks at blackjack with me.</p>
  394. </div>
  395. ]]></content:encoded>
  397. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/on-winning-the-lottery.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  398. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  401. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7622</post-id> </item>
  402. <item>
  403. <title>A baby&#8217;s sense of order</title>
  404. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/a-babys-sense-of-order.shtml</link>
  405. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/a-babys-sense-of-order.shtml#comments</comments>
  407. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  408. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Sep 2021 17:56:25 +0000</pubDate>
  409. <category><![CDATA[about me]]></category>
  410. <category><![CDATA[about my family]]></category>
  411. <category><![CDATA[childhood]]></category>
  412. <category><![CDATA[Cooking]]></category>
  413. <category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
  414. <category><![CDATA[medical]]></category>
  415. <category><![CDATA[speaking]]></category>
  416. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7612</guid>
  417.  
  418. <description><![CDATA[This morning, Benjamin and I had to get a blood test. I guess this makes us blood brothers. It&#8217;s been about 8 years since my last test. Now that Benjamin is one year old, his pediatrician wants him tested for lead as a precaution since housing in San Francisco can date back to when paint [&#8230;]]]></description>
  419. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This morning, Benjamin and I had to get a blood test. I guess this makes us blood brothers.</p>
  420. <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tychay/51475904633/in/datetaken/" title="Ready to go out"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/live.staticflickr.com/65535/51475904633_0e9d078196_z.jpg?resize=640%2C480&#038;ssl=1" width="640" height="480" alt="Ready to go out"></a><script async="" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  421. <p>It&#8217;s been about 8 years since my last test. Now that Benjamin is one year old, his pediatrician wants him tested for lead as a precaution since housing in San Francisco can date back to when paint and pipes had lead.</p>
  422. <p>When getting him ready for the visit, I got him dressed. He started repeating &#8220;sosh&#8221; when I was putting on his socks. I mistakenly thought the lab could get a sample from his foot, so I skipped putting on his shoes.</p>
  423. <p>He saw me pick up his sandals, and ran at me yelling &#8220;shoosh!&#8221; But when I dropped them in his diaper bag, he wasn&#8217;t having it at all. He associates his &#8220;shoosh&#8221; with going out, thought this meant I was leaving without him, and started crying.</p>
  424. <p>It took all of five seconds, but that was five seconds too long for my son.</p>
  425. <p>…</p>
  426. <p><span id="more-7612"></span></p>
  427. <p>I was three or four years old when, for the first time, my dad offered to cook my brother and me eggs.</p>
  428. <p>&#8220;How would you like your eggs,&#8221; my father asked us?</p>
  429. <p>My brother instantly replied, &#8220;Sunny-side up!&#8221;</p>
  430. <p>After some thought, I shouted, &#8220;Sunny-side down!&#8221;</p>
  431. <p>Dad told me, &#8220;There is no such thing as sunny-side down.&#8221;</p>
  432. <p>&#8220;They do! If there is sunny-side up, there must be sunny-side down!&#8221;</p>
  433. <p>Pulling out a frying pan from the cupboard, &#8220;No, they don&#8217;t. Choose something else,&#8221;</p>
  434. <p>&#8220;I want sunny-side down.&#8221;</p>
  435. <p>&#8220;How about I make you sunny-side up,&#8221; my dad reached into the refrigerator.</p>
  436. <p>I was super pissed to having to eat a sunny-side up egg (which I flipped over and made a mess of). So pissed that to this day that I can recount this story an almost half-century later.</p>
  437. <p>…</p>
  438. <p>The small change of possibly going outside without his shoes was a clear violation of Benjamin&#8217;s sense of order.</p>
  439. <p>It&#8217;s fascinating that he only started being able to repeat words in the last week and it&#8217;s been less than a month since he started stacking my Coke cans instead of just pulling them out of the box and rolling them into random places in the apartment.</p>
  440. <p>Soon everything will need to be done a certain way.</p>
  441. <p>I, however, plan to learn how to cook an egg over-easy before Benjamin gets old enough to ask his daddy for a fried egg.</p>
  442. <p>…</p>
  443. <p>Of course, in hindsight, it was obvious that <span title="I call this my Theranos moment." rel="tooltip commentary">a pin prick wouldn&#8217;t draw enough blood to check his lead levels</span>. Mommy went with him while I waited in the waiting room. I could hear him crying a lot longer than the few seconds this morning between me putting away his shoes and when he, realizing that I just went into the foyer to put on my shoes,  ran into my arms to be picked up.</p>
  444. <p>In the car after we dropped Benjamin off in day care, M— said, &#8220;They took it out of his arm like an adult. They had a lot of trouble finding his artery. The nurse said he did so well, even though he started crying.&#8221;</p>
  445. <p>&#8220;Yeah, I bet other babies…&#8221;</p>
  446. <p>&#8220;…loose their shit,&#8221; she finished laughing! &#8220;Yeah, it started when the nurse pulled his arm and started tapping on it. Benjamin was like,  &#8216;I don&#8217;t know what this is, but I know I&#8217;m not going to like it.'&#8221;</p>
  447. <p>Like father, like son.</p>
  448. ]]></content:encoded>
  450. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/a-babys-sense-of-order.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  451. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  454. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7612</post-id> </item>
  455. <item>
  456. <title>An ass-kicking</title>
  457. <link>http://terrychay.com/article/an-ass-kicking.shtml</link>
  458. <comments>http://terrychay.com/article/an-ass-kicking.shtml#respond</comments>
  460. <dc:creator><![CDATA[tychay]]></dc:creator>
  461. <pubDate>Fri, 30 Apr 2021 18:16:00 +0000</pubDate>
  462. <category><![CDATA[about my family]]></category>
  463. <category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
  464. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://terrychay.com/?p=7526</guid>
  465.  
  466. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  467. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  468. <div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><p>One year ago today:</p>
  469. <p>Marie is starting her third trimester. Late last night, she started to spoon me. &quot;Wait, where is your body pillow?&quot; I asked.</p>
  470. <p>&quot;Right now, you are,&quot; she mumbled as she tried to fall back asleep.</p>
  471. <p>…</p>
  472. <p>&quot;Oh!&quot; I exclaimed.</p>
  473. <p>&quot;Yeah, the baby is kicking. Did you feel that?&quot;</p>
  474. <p>&quot;Oh! there it is again… and again!&quot;</p>
  475. <p>&quot;He&#8217;s really active right now.&quot;</p>
  476. <p>&quot;Yeah, I&#8217;m can feel it on my butt cheek. Our son is <span title="&quot;We" rel="tooltip commentary"><strong>literally</strong> <em>kicking my ass!</em></span>&quot;</p>
  477. </div>
  478.  
  479.  
  480.  
  481. <p></p>
  482. ]]></content:encoded>
  484. <wfw:commentRss>http://terrychay.com/article/an-ass-kicking.shtml/feed</wfw:commentRss>
  485. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  488. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">7526</post-id> </item>
  489. </channel>
  490. </rss>
  491.  

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