Events

Toystory, a Holstein bull with surprising stamina, died in November. Toystory was ...a titan of artificial insemination who sired an estimated 500,000 offspring in more than 50 countries. Over nearly a decade, Toystory shattered the record for sales of the slender straws that hold about 1/20th of a teaspoon and are shipped using liquid nitrogen to farmers around the world. A unit fetches anywhere from a few dollars to several hundred. When he died on Thanksgiving Day, Toystory had surpassed 2.4 million...

One more quick note: despite the cold and rain (and traffic), three of us had dinner last night at The Oval Room in the District. Fantastic. We all would recommend it. After dinner we walked two blocks to my friend Barry's house: We didn't knock on the door, but one of my colleagues swears someone waved to her from the North Portico.

I had nothing to do with this: It was a commuter’s worst nightmare: a Metro train abruptly stops, goes dark and fills with smoke in a tunnel in downtown Washington. Before it was over, one woman was killed and more than 80 passengers were suffering from respiratory problems and other health issues. [A]uthorities now believe they know why the train, which had just left the L’Enfant Plaza station, came to a halt about 800 feet into the tunnel. The National Transportation Safety Board said “an electrical...

Yesterday I only logged 4,447 steps for 22.4 kg, my least-active day ever since getting a Fitbit on October 23rd. It's galling, too, because at this writing I have 994,008 lifetime steps—which would have gone over 1 million yesterday had circumstances been different. Today I should hit that mark, if only because I'll have to navigate to and from the DC Metro, around Reagan and O'Hare, and...huh. No, it's not a sure thing. At least it's not raining in either DC or Chicago today. That will help. But wow...

Even if it weren't rainy and getting dark outside, this isn't the most appealing view I've ever had from a hotel window: At least I've managed to convince some of my team to head into the District for dinner tonight.

Back in July, I turned off the motion sensor on a hotel thermostat so that it would cease cycling the A/C and waking me up whenever I stopped moving (which one does when one falls asleep). Now I'm at a Hilton Garden Inn outside Washington and the thermostat may have a motion sensor, but it's not clear. It has an all-or-nothing understanding of how to heat or cool a room, and it's paired with a very loud HVAC unit. Fitbit says I got more than 6 hours of sleep last night because the Fitbit device doesn't...

One of the consequences of being willing to jump on an airplane to take care of a client matter is, of course, one gets sent places to take care of client matters. And this is how I find myself, not yet a full week into my new job, in Northern Virginia. At least it's above freezing here, so I got my Fitbit goals for the day. Plus, it looks like I'll hit 1 million lifetime steps either tomorrow or Tuesday—"lifetime" counted from when I joined Fitbit in October. So that's kind of cool. Also, I once again...

Sure, it's -17°C, and it's been colder than that the last six nights in a row, but let's put this in perspective: last year was way, way worse: The new year has opened very wintry bringing the city major league doses of snow and cold. Through January 9 temperatures have averaged a frigid -10.9°C and there have been 193 mm of snow. But, it was much colder and snowier during the same period last year with temperatures averaging -13.4°C and the city buried under nearly 509 mm of snow. With clear skies and...

I may have more time later today. Maybe. Via Gulliver, the Telegraph asks, "What happens when someone dies on a cruise?" ("Given that 40 per cent of cruise passengers are over 65, it's a fairly common problem.") How do browsers store your passwords? A group is driving—not flying, driving—a 747 to Burning Man. Back to work.

However, with -13°C snow blowing around at—no joke—59 km/h, it looks like this: I still will never move south of Interstate 80. Never. This is just character-building weather, and it will pass. See? These guys (Titus and Honey Baked Hamlet) know how to stay warm: They trotted over to the Euchre Meet-Up last night. Parker didn't, because J's is just far enough from home that Parker would have been too cold. (He usually attends.)