A few small changes to Almost Fit, and an apology
In case you haven’t noticed with my references to software analogies, occasional odd conversational mannerisms, and interspersed star trek/star wars/80’s TV quips, I am a bit of a geek. While my wife has worked hard to reform my lifelong social and fashion ineptitudes, at heart, I still want a lightsaber.
I may also fly stunt kites. And know a thing or two about 3D animation.
As part of this curse, I also tend to like to read the stats of my blog, even down to the nitty bits of mindnumbing server data, looking for clues about well, you all. Don’t worry, I don’t know anything about what you did last summer.
That is my other hat - the security software engineering hat. But I digress.
No, for Almost Fit, what I find most interesting is [geek alert!] a) errors in the logs [and thus why I am leaving my current hosting company soon], and  b) [geek alert at DefCon 5!] patterns in the configurations of the computers that visit the site. Again, nothing personal is to be found there - it’s all fascinating minutia like the number of Windows computers vs. Macs that visit, and so forth.
So here’s the apology: Somehow, for months now, it has escaped my attention that 76% of the visitors to Almost Fit have a screen resolution of 1024×768. Being geekish and all, all of my computers at home (yes, multiple - I had as many as 6 not long ago, that I actually USED…I may need an intervention) had the biggest screens I could afford, with resolutions set to extremely high numbers. Prior to today, this site’s layout was not ideal for 76% of the people stopping by. OK, let’s be honest - it looked like crap, and was difficult to read. For this, I sincerely apologize.
But I am changing my ways. If you noticed that Almost Fit looks slightly different, it’s because I’ve essentially reduced the size of the header image and moved things around a tiny bit (whoops - there goes that geek gene again). I hope it helps. And I’ll try to do better in the future. In the coming weeks I’m hoping to complete an overhaul of the site, and hopefully it will be received as an improvement. And if not, I may have to sponsor a “big monitor” contest.
Photography on Almost Fit
I wanted to mention a word about the photographs on this site, as I’ve had several folks comment on them (favorably). All photos on the site were taken either by me or by April, unless otherwise cited/noted. We are both artists, so photography is one of many manifestations of that.
At any rate, if you are interested in reusing the photos on your personal blog or purchasing high resolution versions, please see this page on our photographs. I’ll be setting up a portfolio site soon as well, which will show a much broader spectrum of photos that are available.
Back to the salt mines. Thanks for reading.
“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.â€
We all have our own aspirations of course - and some of us are still trying to figure out what those are. Whether your goal is to set a lifelong, positive example for your children or to lead a mora of Spartans into battle armed to the teeth - The biggest prerequisites for success in any endeavor are that you must be moved, committed, and determined to accomplish the task. And as important, you have to do the work that is required to get there. For me, getting a handle on my physical state is part of that work.
If you are interested in living a life that is remarkable, making changes that will ultimately benefit both yourself and others on a grand scale, and living a life that is uniquely your own, consider 
Ed. Note: This post is a personal checkin on my weight loss progress using the simple technique of 
As is 
The weather in Northwest Oregon has finally turned to hot summer days, with no end in sight. As a result, our garden is going crazy. Rather than a long and boring diatribe of the finite details, here’s a high level list of what’s been happening:
When it comes to food, exercise, and our obsession with obesity, the French appear to break all of the rules of Western thought. By and large those who live a traditional French lifestyle eat for pleasure and satisfaction, they often smoke (arguably a stereotype), and they drink regularly. Despite a diet proportionally high in things like saturated fats, the French have remarkably low rates of heart disease and obesity. Welcome to the French Paradox.
The truth is that the French typically live 3 years longer than we do, with only an 8.3% rate of heart disease, and a low occurrence of obesity (though sadly this is increasing as Western ways infiltrate French daily life).
How can you implement the French approach? What do the French do that allows them to eat what they want, when they want, and still not gain weight?
Mix in a random watermelon cracked over the rocks at the swimming hole, multiple green salads, and some eggs and bacon for breakfast, and you have a portrait of a workable vacation diet, including indulgences.
On the fishing side, sad to say there wasn’t much to be had. We drove up a fire trail to a local lake only to be greeted by a shore full of dead fish. Apparently there had been an algae bloom in the local lakes and it was killing the fish. I haven’t confirmed that, but it was what I was told by a friend who had read it on his way up. At any rate, very little fishing took place, but that was alright - even just making the mindspace for it was peaceful. In a sort of Zen substitution for the serenity of fishing, I spent a good amount of time creating natural art pieces, such as the cairn pictured above.
