The Experts Tell Us We're Wrong. But, We Are Not.

I don't pay for TV.  I can afford it, but I can't justify it.  It often feels like I'm one of the last eight people in the US who doesn't pay (outright) for TV in any way.
From what I was able to find online, about 20% of the US does not pay for TV in the form of cable or satellite.  However, a majority of that subpopulation watches online.  Since I live in a rural area, my choices for internet access are limited and I'm currently connected via cellular.  This makes online TV viewing realistically a non-option.  My 10GB data allowance would allow between 10 and 20 hours of streaming viewing if I did nothing else with my data.  I often don't use all my data, but I don't want to shell out extra money for data overages and so my streaming viewing is capacity constrained.
This puts me in the category of around 5% of the US who doesn't pay for satellite or cable and also doesn't stream content online.  I'll trust I'm in good company.  Michael Powell pushed for all-digital broadcast TV.  The over-the-air HD TV is great, but I'm convinced the real reason for this was to push more people into pay TV since OTA coverage is more limited, making OTA TV such a fringe that it can be eliminated.  This would free that electromagnetic spectrum for other uses, but probably not a better internet option for me.  The tyranny of the majority if one believes that TV is a necessity (I do).

This posting isn't about the evil ploy of Michael Powell though.  But, since I don't pay for TV, I end up watching a lot of PBS.  I'm convinced I'm not the target audience for PBS though.  Every time they do their "Pledge Week" they change programming to material I have no interest in.  This is fine since after contributing once to NPR, I'll never contribute again.  That one contribution to NPR has resulted in a solicitation-mail deluge that is hard to comprehend.
PBS and NPR claim to be "commercial-free" which is untrue.  Their commercials are compacted in the week(s)-long money drubbing in the form of pledges and "underwriters."  The difference between an underwriter and a company buying air time in the form of a commercial is unclear to the average viewer or listener.

This posting isn't about National Broadcasting either.

A few Weeks ago, Chris Kimball on did a "Tasting Challenge" on America's Test Kitchen for coffee.  This was likely an older rerun.  His choice and the choice of the "Experts" was Peet's Cafe Domingo.  This coffee was on sale so I recently bought some.  It was good, and tasted...like coffee.

The coffees I buy most often are Kroger's Private Selection Sumatran Mandheling, Caribou Blend and Peet's House Blend in that order.  Perhaps for the same reason I don't pay for TV, store brands end up taking a lot of room in my shopping cart.  Peet's and Caribou typically only leave the store with me when on sale for a good price and/or with a coupon.  They aren't necessarily better, only different.
Growing up in the late 70s/early 80s, "generic" where products of unknown origin and quality in white packaging with black writing.  These were often sold in their own aisle (remember that?).  Now, they are usually called "Store Brands" - or sometimes "Private Label" and are right alongside the Oreos, Tide and Kellogg's boxes in the store.  The products have often improved and sometimes to the point where quality is similar to their branded shelf-mates.  Packaging has also improved, but is somewhat irrelevant.  I can't decide if I miss the black and white packages or not.

Taking a page from branded producers, store brands often have a tiered approach.  Alongside Kroger's Brand are Private Selection and Simple Truth.

If the quality of all products we buy lies on a bell curve, below some quality isn't worth it at any price.  Above some quality is all good enough.  Enter the "Experts" to tell us what we should buy.  Cafe Domingo was fine, but not worth a price premium over Private Selection.  Kicking Horse, Paradise Roasters, Peet's, Caribou, Private Selection - I guess I'd rather wade through the odd bad bag of whole bean coffee than rely on Chris Kimball to decide what is good for me.  Anything but Starbucks, lest we all end up wearing the same Mao Pajamas.
I actually like America's Test Kitchen and Chris Kimball.  I once made their recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and they tasted like chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients
1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 ¾ ounces)
½ tsp. baking soda
14 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1 ¾ sticks)
½ cup granulated sugar (3 ½ ounces)
¾ cups packed dark brown sugar (5 ¼ ounces)
1 tsp. table salt
2 tsps. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven rack in the middle position.  Line 2 large (18×12 inch) baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl and set aside.
3. Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in 10-inch skillet (if possible, do not use nonstick) over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes.  Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes.
4. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl.  Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
5. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated.  Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds.  Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds.  Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. 
6. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
7. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons.  Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet.  Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.
8. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking.  
9. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

The Experts will gladly tell us what to buy, but not benevolently.  That is done by the average reviewer.  If Winston Churchill said that the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter, then the best argument against ever buying anything again is a read-through of online reviews.
People are much more likely to complain than express satisfaction - especially in the anonymous and vociferous world of online reviews.  Read through reviews of anything on Amazon (or heaven forbid online reviews of vehicles or electronics) and it is a wonder that anybody buys anything; everything is fatally flawed.
At least we know this, since that is what the Experts tell us.

Enjoy the coffee, Cafe Domingo or not.

Please don't feed the animals - they enjoy being miserable

This can be a brutal time of year.  The enjoyable activities of fall and winter are long over.  Spring seems like it is just about to happen, but there is a lot of winter left to endure.  We do begin to get those initial warm days which are nice for a time, but they enhance the pain during winter's relapse.

As 2013/14 has been a particularly heinous winter, the malaise can be as bad as ever.
For whatever reason, this also tends to be an evil time at work, with more unreasonable demands, irritable coworkers and a general working environment that spirals down to the lowest common denominator.

Last weekend saw one of the brief warm and sunny days.  Heavy rains the few days before washed away most of the salt and allowed a first motorcycle ride for 2014.  Since it is rare to not get the motorcycle out at least a couple times every month in the winter, this was a nice breather.
After a tolerable day yesterday, the forecast calls for a winter storm bringing rain, ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow to the area.  As much as meteorologists get verbally beat up for imperfection in the models, they usually do get it mostly right.  This morning saw everything coated with ice and the predicted unfriendly radar.

NPR had an interesting story earlier this week.  It asked the question (NPR never answers anything) whether something is good due to intrinsic qualities or if there is something else, even chance playing a role.  The conclusion of some research by Princeton's Matthew Salganik was that chance plays a significant role.  The extension of this was that it could apply to things in everyday life as well.
This seemed to be a bit of a stretch based on the brief synopsis of the research, but it validates my belief so it must be true.  I'm pretty convinced that a few simple decisions I made around the age of 15 lead directly to where I am now.
The seemingly small decision to purchase my first car, resulted in my getting a job a few years later at an auto shop, which led to me working as a mechanic a few years later.  With a few Twists, this is the reason I was able to (and decided to) continue in college through graduation, resulting in my current job and current position in life; good, bad or other.
If I wouldn't have bought that car, would I be destitute and homeless?  Probably not, but the tree of events is there.  Seemingly small decisions can end up having huge implications years down the road.

My oldest dog has kidney disease.  As a result, she is on Science Diet K/D.  While every day is different, the food has helped her immensely.  But, she hates it.  She has gone form a beagle who excitedly scarfs down food to picking at it very slowly.  With two other beagles waiting and anxious, she has to be isolated until she eats her food.  In order to encourage her to eat, she gets a combination of dry and canned K/D plus a few spoonfuls of Heinz gravy (no protein).  With this buffet served twice a day, I am surprised she doesn't eat more exuberantly.
Without her knowing it, there is little question this despicable food has improved her overall life expectancy, if not her life.

So maybe there is a bright spot to this horrid time of year.  Wet, snow, ice, cold, mud...
"Knowing that things come to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation prize for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end." - Tobias Wolff

The cold weather is forecast to be in place for longer than normal this year, but it will end.

Even if tomorrow turns out to be unpalatable, I'm confident I'll wake up one day closer to something better.

Three Books Not To Read (and what to read instead)

I only read nine books last year (I keep a list).  This is pretty paltry compared to the early and mid 00s when the average was closer to 25.  There are real reasons for the lower number that aren't important here, but I should hope I'll be closer to at least an average of one a month this year.  I've already read four so there is a chance.

Some of the books I've read over the last decade (when I started keeping the list), I've read because I 'thought I should.'  These are very often classics or books espoused to be influential or on some of the Top xx list of books.
Three stand out that I'm glad I read.  Not because they are good, but because they are terrible.  I've previously mentioned Under the Volcano, so while it could be included here, it won't explicitly be.  Admitting I don't think these books have much in the way of redeeming qualities is an invitation for criticism as these books have strong defenders, "It changed my life."  I do think they could make good roughage for a goat.
Sure to inflame even more passion, I'm suggesting alternatives that are similar in flavor, but worth far more than the paper and ink.

Book 1:  On the Road by Jack Kerouac
What is most surprising about this book is that it is a story where absolutely nothing happens.  There really is no plot.
It is widely told that Jack Kerouac wrote this in one feverish event on one scroll of paper.  It doesn't matter whether this is true or not, but the stream-of-consciousness is evident throughout the book.  In addition to bringing a tedium to much of the book, it also means that what doesn't happen in the book could be mixed up in any order and essentially be the same book.
Tolstoy is quoted as saying there are only two stories ever written:  A man goes on a journey and A stranger comes to town.  On the Road is both and neither.  Since this book is credited with helping to start the "Beat Movement,"  it says something about that movement.
Of the three books, On the Road is probably the least objectionable.
Read Instead:  A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren
This book tells the story of the fringes of society, the lost soles who are made better through hardship if also low ambition.  While it is set in the '30s, it could be set at just about any other time in American History by changing some of the details.
In contrast to Jack Kerouac's book, it has a beginning, middle and end and includes trivial things like character development.  Nelson Algren (and A Walk on the Wild Side) is said to have been influential to the beginning of Hunter Thompson's writing, specifically his book Hell's Angels.

Book 2:  Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
I'm probably not the right generation to have read this book and I've never self-injected drugs so I'm probably not the right audience.  How this book consistently ends up on many of the top-100 lists says something about the types of people who popularize these lists.  William Burroughs has an interesting life-story and his various biographies are worth investigating, if a bit on the hairy side.  William Burroughs was quick to point out that Naked Lunch was not a novel and part of the intent was a book that could be opened up to any page at any time an read.  Mission accomplished, gibberish published.
The book has several parts repeated verbatim so I guess it could be gibberish repeated as well (with apologies to Robert Frost - And miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep).
The best part of the book is the epilogue not published in the original version where William Burroughs gives his theories of drugs and addiction based on strong personal experience.
As an aside, the movie Naked Lunch written and directed by David Cronenberg is excellent.  The movie contains the essence of the book within an actual story that includes a lot of the commentary that William Burroughs might have been trying to communicate if he wasn't quite so drug addled.  Naked Lunch is one of the few exceptions where the movie is much better than the written prose.  "I advise avoiding the book." -Charles Poore
Read Instead:  The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
It would be almost too easy (cliche') to advise reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but The Rum Diary is a much better book (the movie version of The Rum Diary is beyond terrible though).  Like Naked Lunch it is loosely based on autobiographical events while Hunter Thompson was living in Puerto Rico and tells the story of a man realizing something lies beyond the lack of accountability many of us wish we could live in.  "There was an awful suspicion in my mind that I'd finally gone over the hump, and the worst thing about it was that I (sic) didn't feel tragic at all, but only weary and sort of comfortably detached."

Book 3:  The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I have a hard time deciding whether The Catcher in the Rye or Under the Volcanoe is worse.  The Catcher in the Rye tells the story of a self-absorbed student.  After being expelled from school, Holden Caulfield goes on a field trip to New York to rid himself of all the phoniness exposed in the world.  J.D. Salinger is reported to have done little writing and publishing after the attention given to The Catcher in the Rye but perhaps that happened too late.
Read Instead:  Sounder by William Armstrong
Sounder was one of those books I read in junior high, reread as an adult and was very glad that I did.  It tells the story of a share-cropper family in the Jim Crow South.  In addition to the more obvious themes of race, justice and of gaining maturity, it also touches on deeper subjects such as loyalty, and justification for doing wrong.

In retrospect, On the Road, Naked Lunch, and The Catcher in the Rye made an impression on me, even if it was a negative one; these books are much more memorable than other books I read and honestly enjoyed.  A world with only positives would be pretty monotonous so I guess there is at least one redeeming quality.
These books make it tragically hard for me to pick up other titles that I think I should read.  I have picked up books such as Gravity's Rainbow many times and put it back down every time out of the sheer horror its promise induces.  However, I also avoided A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, but finally read it about three years ago and really enjoyed it, especially since the edition I read contained both the US and the UK endings.
The reading of these books doesn't have to be an either/or.  But, definitely make time to read A Walk on the Wild Side, The Rum Diary and Sounder.

Flame on.

Weltschmerz

Triaphilia:

1. The fear of the number three.
2. The belief that bad things happen in sets of three. 

It is nowhere near my birthday, but three things happened in the last three days to make me feel very old.
I've never really felt old on my birthday.  There have only been two birthdays where I did have a sense of decrepitude.
The first was when I turned 28.  At some point in grade school like everyone else I learned simple math.  One test problem was to calculate how old I would be in the year 2000.  I correctly calculated 28.  While many childhood memories are gone forever, I vividly remember thinking about the age of 28 and how impossibly old that was.  That stuck with me on my birthday in 1999.
The second birthday when I felt old was when I turned 36.  Shortly after I started working after college there was one of those horrible forced department social events.  One of my new coworkers was sitting across a picnic table from me and was making derisive comments on my age.  When I asked how old he was, he replied, "36."  Looking at this guy across the table I thought he looked significantly more ancient.  When I turned 36, I recalled the incident and wondered if the past years working for that company had resulted in new hires thinking I was much older.

The Three Incidences in the last Three Days:

I don't understand the compulsion to do this, but occasionally birthdays are celebrated at work with small posters proliferating how old someone has become.  Friday was such a day with one coworker.  Knowing about when he started with the company, I assumed we were close to the same age, but he has maintained the frat-boy look for around 20 years now.  For some unexplained reason, the posters in this case hit a raw nerve coupling that frat-boy look with the reality that we're nearly the same age (he's a few years younger).

I had to ship a small package by FedEx and stopped by a local office down the street from work.  In front of me in line was a woman and presumably her daughter shipping an overnight envelope.  The daughter was a bit animated, almost hyper and the banter between the two females the FedEx clerk suggests they stop by often.  I merely had to drop off my prepared box and the woman and her daughter were blocking the door as I tried to leave while they looked at a postcard (or something).  As I worked my way around them, I saw the girl attempt to suck in her words as she said, "You almost stopped that old man from leaving." to her mother.

I woke up this morning, early as usual.  As I made coffee, I had a few eyebrow hairs just in my peripheral vision that were an immediate and significant annoyance.  I grabbed my rarely-used electric razor to cut the offending bastard hairs away.  In a brief instant, a significant portion of one eyebrow was gone.  This prompted a bit more looking and the horror of bushiness that my eyebrows had become before being scythed by the razor.  Wisely, I only briefly tried to further trim my way to some sort of repair.

I'll be living with this one for a while.  They will grow back slowly to their old-man disheveled appearance and I will embrace them.  I briefly thought about cutting them off completely to see if anyone would notice.  Eyebrows are an anomaly.  I strongly suspect most people would notice a difference in my appearance, but not be able to figure out what it was due to - at least for a few minutes.
I could pretend I was Bob Geldof from the end of Pink Floyd - The Wall.

Which brings up a good point, have you seen recent pictures of Bob Geldof?  Maybe I shouldn't worry too much about how my appearance may have changed over the years.

Weltschmerz:

1. Mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state.

Book Review: Poachers Were My Prey by RT Stewart as told to Chip Gross

I don't remember exactly when it was but I remember the incident very well since it was so unusual.  I was on my way back from target shooting (with a truck full of gun stuff) and stopped by a local hardware store.  As I was leaving, a man came up to me and started talking to me about hunting; asking me what I hunted, where.  Asking if I knew of other places to hunt, other people who hunt.  The topic wasn't necessarily too odd, as I've had brief passing conversations about hunting while getting gas or the like after a day in the field.  But, the depth and direction of the conversation was very unusual.

I think I originally heard about the book Poachers Were My Prey by RT Stewart from the local electric company newsletter.  With the end of the local hunting season and cold weather, this is a good time to catch up on my reading.
The book chronicles several undercover investigations of RT Stewart as he worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  It is coauthored by Chip Gross, who has also worked for the Ohio DNR and who has written many other things I have read (mostly in periodicals).  The book is a fascinating read about many of the cases Mr. Stewart worked and his progression as a career wildlife officer.  The first chapter is an attention grabber but it did make me angry.  It tells the tale of a group of poachers who were routinely killing many deer anytime they felt like it by spotlighting at night.  Thinking to the years when my personal hunting hasn't panned out well, it is hard to know if similar criminal activity could have played a role.  Some years, just getting a doe within shooting distance has been a challenge.
From there, the stories continue to antler-chaser poachers, to profiteering from wildlife to any manner of wildlife violations and beyond.  At the same time, Mr. Stewart talks of the toll that working under cover takes in his personal life, while still loving what his career is.

It was hard to read the book and not think to the close encounters I have had with poachers.  In the most flagrant example, I was helping a friend move a motorcycle in my truck and picked it up at a friend of his.  This man had apparently just been hunting at a local large land owner's property (well known in the area - I'll call them the Fountain's) and bragged how he had a doe right in front of him and he should have "blasted it" - all told while mishandling his 20-gauge shotgun in his kitchen.  When I commented on the fact that it was well before the Ohio gun season this friend of a friend got aggressive (still holding the shotgun) and his wife said something to the effect of, "Oh, those hunters are the worst, they just seem to do what they want."  To this day I regret not calling the the Ohio poacher phone line (1-800-POACHER).
It is easy to interact with people (criminals) who flagrantly ignore hunting laws and treat wildlife violations as degrees of bad - If I only do xx, I'm not near as bad as that guy who is killing deer every night by spotlighting from the road.  But that is a race to the bottom, humans can rationalize all sorts of illegal, unethical and disgusting behavior.

And that was my major frustration with the book - and having read other work by Chip Gross I was disappointed.  There was no mention of the fact that while the criminal taking of animals gets a lot of attention, the vast majority of us hunters are enjoying being in the field and following the rules, even when they might be a little frustrating.  Since shooting an animal or catching a fish isn't really all that hard, but doing it within the rules and confines of fair chase brings satisfaction that no poacher will ever have.
Anybody who shoots wild game might be a hunter, but the difference between a Sportsman and a Poacher is a very clear, bright line.  There is no grey area.

After reading the book, I appreciate that it was written.  In the real world of limited resources, the fact that states like Ohio put effort into enforcing wildlife laws and deterring the illegal taking of game is good to know.  And, the book was an interesting and exciting read.

One of the stories in the book talks about an operation very close to where I live, and the hardware store where I had the odd hunting conversation.  It happened around the time that there was obviously undercover operations in my area.  The information gathering tactics mentioned in the book sounded very similar to what I remember about the conversation.  Mr. Stewart sounds like he mostly dressed as a Western Dandy which is not what I remember about the gentleman from that conversation, but I can't help bunt wonder if it was an ice-breaker looking for information.  More likely, it was just some oddball hunter or something...probably.

I'm headed south in a short time to go hunt wild boar in South Carolina.  It will be a good break from work to act as a Sportsman for a few days.

(Almost) Running Out of Fuel in the Middle of Nowhere

I'm sure I have run out of gas at some point in my life, but I don't remember ever actually doing it.  I know it hasn't happened in a long time and has been infrequent.  I have never run out of gas while on one of my motorcycles, but the closest I came is vivid.

It was 2008 and I was headed east across British Columbia.  Rain throughout the day had been sporadic but after over two weeks on the road in Northwest North America, rain was almost a friendly companion.  Weather from Alberta to British Columbia to the Yukon and Alaska is always a bit unpredictable.  And, in early June it had ranged from warm to well below freezing with precipitation in all forms.

I was on the Yellowhead Highway or CA16.  Traffic in Prince George was tolerable, but more significant than much of the trip had been.  As I approached and left the city proper, I saw a sign that said something to the effect of:  No Petrol for 200 km.  I quickly calculated how long I had gone since getting fuel and what that distance might mean in the miles I am more familiar with and knew I was fine for that distance with an acceptable safety margin.  There are three possible reasons I was wrong:

1. I am bad at math (I work as a scientist where math, including rapids approximation is needed daily so I don't think this is true but it is possible). Since much of the trip was in Canada, including the Alaska Highway, I should have been pretty good at knowing when I needed fuel - early and often.
2. Having just passed a number of slower moving vehicles, I wasn't anxious to get behind them again on a long stretch of wet road.
3. I wanted a little adventure added to my day.

I proceeded on.
The weather improved and cool temperatures warmed slightly.  The scenery was wonderful as it had been for virtually all of the trip.  At some point, while doing the normal monitoring of gauges, I looked at the odometer and fuel gauge and got the distinct feeling something wasn't right.  Luckily, time on roads like the Yellowhead allow for thinking and I calculated things would be closer than originally thought.  Shortly thereafter, I calculated again and saw that there was very likely no way I was going to make it to the next known fuel location.

I had a few options.  The smart thing would have been to backtrack to Prince George.  I hate losing time and my arrogance wouldn't let me do that.  I could proceed and hope my math was right the first time (it wasn't).  Or, I could slow down and conserve fuel by running at around 50 mph.  Previous experimentation had told me this was near the most economical way to run a Goldwing.

I also don't always do slow well, but it was the option I went with.  I had only gone a few more miles, when around a curve, I saw a resort-type building under some form of construction with a large red sign proclaiming:  WE NOW HAVE PETROL.  I don't know how I happen to have fallen into this, but there was a prayer of thanks.  The "NOW" is burned into my brain as it implies only recently they had not.

Lake Purden is a remote area in North Central British Columbia.  It was not the most remote place on the trip, but close.  There is no electrical in the area.  There is no copper land line into the area.  There were very few facilities.  What was odd, was that while the resort was obviously under construction, the gas pumps looked ancient.  I wasn't going to argue with the discrepancy.

Approaching the the gas pumps in the muddy gravel parking area, each pump had a huge "divot" a few feet across and at least a foot deep making "parking" impractical at best.  My SO jumped off the bike and went into the resort since the pumps had signs saying to get help at the cafe.  Several minutes later, she returned with a very cute young girl, the pumps were turned on, which was apparently an exercise in itself with success not assumed.
Being in a remote area (with only generator electricity, etc.), I expected the fuel to be expensive and it was.  The stated cost was CA$2.00/liter.  This equates to approximately US$7.60/gallon.  2008 was an expensive year for fuel, but even the high average in remote areas was $4.00/gallon.  Gas sales were rare at the resort, but I would have happily paid twice that much.  It was, however, the only gas stop of the trip where I did not fill the tank.

After handing over the ransom, we headed out again through the treacherous parking area and while pulling through another trough in the gavel, an enormous rock reoriented itself and whacked into the belly pan I had installed on the GL1800 prior to heading into the North Country.  The location and size of the dent that rock left in the belly pan told the story that without it, the coolant reservoir would have been destroyed, and remotely possible the lower engine case as well.  Save number 2 in a very short amount of time.

McBride came soon enough down the road which was the stop for the night.  As a slightly  more traveled location, there were several hotels and restaurants...and ample fuel.
The bike may have made the distance by slowing down and it was a lesson to fill gas when the opportunity presents itself.  The peace of mind that the fuel from Lake Purden brought was definitely worth it.  In fact, at two loonies per liter, it was a bargain.

What Is Healthy - and a (sort of) Book Review of The Heavy by Dara-Lynn Weiss

Definitions:
Healthy:  in good health
Health:  the state of being free from illness or injury
Heavy:  of great weight; difficult to lift or move
Fat:  (of a person or animal) having a large amount of excess flesh
Obese:  grossly fat or overweight

CDC Definitions (Body Mass Index = Weight / Height^2 * 705):
Underweight:  BMI under 18.5
Overweight: BMI 25 - 29.9
Obese:  BMI 30 or above
(and where does the seemingly arbitrary constant of 705 in the calculation come from?)

Most years around the end of the year I get a health screening at work.  Things often slow down between Christmas and New Years so it is a good time to do this.  I knew I had bulked up a bit since the last screening; a stressful year means that food choices often contained some less healthy options.  Also, my hunting had been less than stellar this year so the low fat wild game I tend to eat a lot off was not as available as it usually is (this did mean I ate a lot more baby-back ribs this year, mmmmmmmm.)
My weight was put just into the overweight category.  I'm not surprised by this although my activity level has remained pretty constant.  I still walk between three and five miles most days and in general, my food choices tend to be healthy.  I have almost unmeasureably low LDL (bad) cholesterol, and high HDL (good) cholesterol.  Outside of weight, all other numbers are near the ideal limits.
This prompted me to look into what the CDC considers healthy (defined above).  If we look at the median height man in the US of 5'10" we see that a BMI of 25 splits healthy from overweight and this equates to about 173 pounds.  At the lower end of the healthy range is a weight of about 123 pounds.  Being about this median height, I don't know what it would take to get at the lower end of healthy, but it would probably require a good long methamphetamine run to achieve that drugs over food emaciated look.  Simply put, I don't think the CDC guidelines represent reality.  Reinforcing this, based on the %body-fat my health screening gave me, I would have to lose well over 100% of my body fat to reach the lower limit of the CDC's health guidelines - and I'm already short on upper body strength.

The health screening came on the heels of reading Dara-Lynn Weiss' book The Heavy.  Spoiler alert, while the book is about Ms. Weiss and her overweight daughter, "The Heavy" in the book is actually Ms. Weiss, as in pushing for changes in her daughter.
I'm not sure how this book ended up on my read-list but I resisted for quite some time.  I was expecting this book to be by some self-righteous preachy bitch pushing the latest health trend de jour of raw milk and kale (or something).  I picked up the book in the library many months ago and flipped open the book to see how it was written.  The part I happen to flip through did make Ms. Weiss seem like a psycho (if you've read the book, I happened to open it to the hot chocolate episode).  With not much else to read around Christmas, I finally read The Heavy.
I was wrong about the book.  What is described in the book is a frank and honest journey about weight loss.  I appreciated that the approach used was a sensical math - calories in vs. out approach. Far from a tale about how well a health craze worked, the author admits that processed foods (in moderation) are sometimes a realistically good choice figuring in the time commitments most people face.  After reading the book, I followed that up to see what the reaction to it and Ms. Weiss' Vogue article was.  While the reviews of both were mixed, I believe the vilification of her is off-base.  Much of the criticism revolves around pushing weight loss on a young child.  Part of a parent's job is to teach good habits in childhood so the bad don't need to be unlearned in (young) adulthood.  Kids are taught at a very early age that hitting and lying are wrong, even though the ramifications of both are minimal in kindergarten.  I don't understand how it is less appropriate to teach healthy eating habits.
I think her methods are open for discussion and she is potentially overzealous, but with no shortage of fat people (apparently myself included), it is a goal that should be shared, not maligned.
The book was well written and tells the complete story well.  I think there are a couple fair criticisms of the story.  Writing about the situation in Vogue was really, really dumb.  The same story (told in brief as opposed to the book) in a different magazine which doesn't pray to the god of heroin chic would likely have been better received.
The other criticism is believing the CDC guidelines as some kind of gospel.  Ms. Weiss and her daughter's picture in Vogue do not show two people on the verge of being overweight (she addresses this picture in the book, but her explanation falls flat).  Extending this argument, if two people were shown - and both were at the lower end of the CDC healthy scale, it would probably be hard to suggest that there wasn't some horrible eating disorder causing severe malnutrition.  

So the CDC says I'm overweight.  I'm just going to say I'm corpulent and will continue to eat relatively healthy, and walk my dogs almost every day.  But, maybe I'll also lay off the bags of extra thick flavored chips.