That which Rolls

I drove to Pennsylvania last Saturday to send in my dna test. There’s some NY State law that you can’t get your DNA tested in NY without a doctor so you have to sign a statement saying you won’t take the test in NY or mail it from NY. So I found the closest out of state mailbox to my house and drove there.

This video is from Geneva, NY to Lawrenceville, PA which is a tiny town just across the border. I think there are some missing bits but it’s hard to tell because it’s so fast. After I mailed the test I headed back through Avoca NY to visit a friend I haven’t seen in 8 years.

Time seems to pass so quickly, a bit like in the video. It doesn’t seem like it could have been 8 years already.

30 days of biking has begun. I’m really hoping that I’ll get through the whole month. I have never actually done it.

Day 1, we had plenty of leftovers so I rode around the block before dinner. It was super windy and fairly cold but the sun was still out. I couldn’t figure out which direction the wind was coming from until it became a clear headwind for the last leg of the ride. Before that it would just try to surprise gust and knock me over every once in a while. A microscopic dog that was fenced in startled me and got my adrenaline racing. It sounded like a really big dog… until I looked at it.

Professor Blastoff is one of the podcasts I listen to regularly. It’s one of the only ones I make sure to listen to the day it comes out. It may be the only one now that (unnamed podcast) is on hiatus.

I cannot name this podcast because who knows… you’ll go listen to it and then you won’t hire me or something. It can be offensive, if you’re offended by offensive things. But it’s funny.

Anyway, today I was listening to the Viruses Episode of Professor Blastoff while I was walking through the woods. I couldn’t stop laughing out loud while they were playing “Name that Punky” and I still have a head cold so I probably sounded like a deranged orc crashing through the woods.

After a minute amount of deliberation I have decided that it would be so awesome to get my DNA sequenced that I ordered the kits for Brian and I. They have a 20% discount if you get more than one.

When I put my address in the web form at 23andMe I got an alert box that said NY State doesn’t allow this testing without a doctor’s oversight. My feeling is, that’s stupid. Who has more of a right to know my genetic details than me? And why do I need a doctor’s approval to decide? It seems like one of those rules designed to protect an industry. The test only involves spitting into a tube and then putting that in the mail. I’m pretty sure I can handle that.

I know they’re trying to protect me from having some kind of meltdown if it comes back with the information that I have some kind of genetic marker for a disease. I know that sometimes these tests can have surprising results, like maybe the family history you’ve always believed is a little different than you expected. So I what if I find out that maybe the myth of a Native American ancestor who may have had their ear bitten off in a logging camp or bit someone else’s ear off turns out not to be true? (Not that the DNA test would tell me anything about the ear biting.)

I ordered the tests anyway. It will just involve driving to a different state to drop them in the mail.

I really really really liked this show. We watched the whole series in less than two weeks on Netflix. They’re short. They’re funny. They have ridiculous gory horror effects. And they’re probably/definitely not for kids. This super short 10 second video does a pretty good job of summing up. There is… some “language” so probably not for work.

Brian sent this to me yesterday. He says he thinks this is what I was probably like as a kid.

Yeah… maybe.

In other random news, you can now get your DNA sequenced for $99. What if it turns out I’m a cylon? Actually that would be pretty awesome.

Or preparing food, or cleaning up food, or having food stains on my shirt, etc.

Brian sent me this link yesterday, and I don’t know what it says about me that it appeals to me so much.

How I Stopped Eating Food

“I hypothesized that the body doesn’t need food itself, merely the chemicals and elements it contains. So, I resolved to embark on an experiment. What if I consumed only the raw ingredients the body uses for energy?”

Basically the author is mixing up a glass of fat, carbs, protien, vitamins and minerals every day and drinking that instead of making food. He says that he feels great and it costs less than food, doesn’t require refrigeration, and takes a minimal amount of preparation. Don’t worry, he’s getting regular blood tests to avoid dropping dead.

Oh… and the best part is, he calls it Soylent!

I know it’s kind of crazy, but when I think about how much time in my daily routine is devoted to getting food, making food, eating food, cleaning up food… it’s ALOT of @@#$% time. Sometimes I feel food runs my life.

I love good food. I like making good food when I’m in the mood to. Certainly the requirement that I eat multiple times a day gives me plenty of practice and I get better at making food all the time but if I could provide my body with the fuel it needs AND have all that time to do other things… that could be nice.

Time is worth a lot to me. I never feel like I have enough of it.

I like skunks. I’ve never been sprayed by one or I might feel differently. Some friends of mine have had issues with their dog tangling with skunks on a regular basis and I think they are not fans of the skunk anymore. We got a couple of good pictures of a skunk on the game camera a few nights ago. This one is my favorite.

Here’s a mangy fox. I think he’s mangy. He’s also blurry so it’s kind of hard to tell.

Action Shot! Cat peeing on a tree. Who’s cat is this anyway?

Opposum pals

There were a lot more pictures. I just added them to the end of the garbage cam gallery. Oh… I also made a movie of all the new pictures for some reason… I guess because I can. Compost Cam Video.