2010-01-06 - How to iron properly

This is another skill that I 'knew' how to do before. I was never officially taught how, just sort of figured it out well enough to get by. Part of it is due to not really owning nice clothes- and also due to the fact that I only need a well-ironed shirt a few times a year. I know it's not a really complex thing but there are certain intricacies I was unaware of.

"Divide and conquer"-Patrick. The first of several tips to ironing. I'm lucky enough to have a roommate who knows a thing or two about dressing well. He owns clothes that you can't just throw into a washer/dryer- clothes that you actually need to take care of. I see him ironing his shirts for work on a regular basis- a ritual that few people in the engineering discipline need to worry about. He was taught by his uncle and now that knowledge has been passed on to me.

Things I got from my lesson:

• Work on the item in sections.
• Once you start a section, finish it.
• Move the iron the length of the section you're working on, not the width.
• For resilient wrinkles, use steam. For belligerent wrinkles, use stream.
• If you end up using water- iron it until it's completely dry. Wet spots will wrinkle if they air dry.
• Never linger with a hot iron- but don't be afraid to press hard as long as you're moving.
• Don't be afraid to use the tip of the iron- it works just as well and you need it for the tighter areas.
• When doing the sleeves- or pants- remember you're ironing the front and back simultaneously. Any wrinkles on the back will be pressed through to the front so straighten out both sides before you start.
• On sleeves and pants- respect the seams that are there. Don't misalign them and make shadow seams- you'll look stupid.
• Don't screw with the yoke- leave it to the professionals. (the thing in the middle)

Just because I'm still a dumb college kid doesn't mean my shirts have to look like a dumb college kid ironed them. Now I can travel with nice shirts with confidence, knowing that if my shirts become wrinkled in transit I have the power to correct it. Had to learn some time. Thanks Pat.

Update 1

Off to a great start with the suggestions- here are a few I have received so far. Keep them coming!

Skills:

Learn how to drive a rear wheel drive vehicle in the snow

Split wood with an axe

Throw an axe

Surf

Straight shave

Cook various things

Knowledge:

Tensors (fuck you Josh)

Oceanography

Mutual Funds

How to draw chemical structures

How medicine works- basic pharmacology

Tentative schedule for the rest of the week:

2010-01-06 - Learn how to iron shirts and pants properly

2010-01-07 - Learn how to get rid of mold on a bathroom ceiling (necessity)

2010-01-08 - Learn how to get blood stains out of fabric

2010-01-09 - Learn how to polish shoes and boots

2010-01-10 - Learn how to treat hypothermia

2010-01-05 - How to get to Logan by car

GPS - duh. I've lived in Boston for four years now and I know my way around really well by just about every means of transportation other than car. It's something that I don't need to know how to do so I never cared to learn it. On the rare occasion that I need to go someplace by car I just use GPS like every other civilized human being. I don't like that. I feel that things like GPS are undeniably useful but at the same time incredibly bad for your brain. You don't need to think anymore and you don't need to remember anything anymore. I've been to Logan a number of times but still use the GPS as a crutch. It's not that hard to remember!

So last night we had to go from my apartment on Mission Hill to Logan. There are a few ways to get there and I've probably taken them all at one point or another. When it came time for directions I immediately went for the GPS and immediately got frustrated with myself. It's not that hard to find your way downtown- then to Storrow drive- and then there are about 100 signs that say 'Airport'. The GPS did more harm than good because I spent more time looking at it for directions than I did looking at signs and using common sense/sense of direction. I knew how to get there but I had more faith in the GPS than I did in my own memory. Another factor is that it's always more difficult to remember a route if you're not the person driving.. When you're using GPS it's basically the same thing; you're not actively looking for sites or signs or mental landmarks to retain for the next time you go there.

We got to the airport just fine and I made it a point to actually remember how I got there and vowed to never use GPS for such a short and simple trip again. GPS is great for uncharted territory or when you're lost- but for the sake of fighting off premature Alzheimer's I'm going to encourage you all to rely on your GPS less often. Back when we were kids people knew how to use maps and their heads and I think there's something to be said for that.

2010-01-04 - How to make a blog

So with my goal of learning something new every day for an entire year I needed a way to catalog all of it. Making a 'blog' is a really easy way for me to do that and simultaneously share it with all of you.

I guess it's not just that I 'learned to make a blog' - it's also generating the idea and method for writing this thing and learning how to write- that's a big one to work on. I'm figuring out the format or style for the posts. Some of them will be instructions and some will be more just reflections. It's a way for me to quantify and qualify all of the things that I'm learning.

I could take the higher, more philosophical view of the whole thing- the value of knowledge and learning and living. Really though, I just want to know how to do a bunch of stuff. My friends are really smart and capable people- a wealth of knowledge from various backgrounds at my disposal. It would be a waste not to take advantage of knowing people like them (you).

Enough with the mission statement. I learned how to make the account- make posts- choose and edit a template. I'm pretty particular about things so everything had to be just right. I didn't like the width of the body of the text with this template so I had to go into the html and change it; I had to look up how to do that. So even in just setting up a blog to keep track of all the things I'm learning I had to learn how to do something else. Try to go a day without learning something- I dare you.

2010-01-03 - Drive in snow

Leaving the mountain was a bit of a process. Over the course of the weekend 20 inches of snow accumulated on the car with more on the way. Great for snowboarding- bad for trying to leave in a Hyundai Elantra.

Driving in the snow is more of an intuitive thing if you grow up in New England- but there are a few helpful tips to be aware of. I guess I'm sort of cheating on this one because I already 'knew' how to drive in the snow- just never really thought about what I was doing. It's not that difficult of a thing so long as you understand and respect the snow and the physics that go along with it.

Depending on whether or not your vehicle is front or rear wheel drive you're going to want to have weight over those wheels. It's easy with a front wheel drive vehicle because the engine is there. With a rear wheel drive vehicle it helps to have some weight in the trunk or some heavy people in the back seat. More weight means more downward force which means more traction with the ground; Traction is good.

So we dug the car out and got it moving. The next challenge was getting out of the parking lot. The only way out was up a small but steep hill that hadn't been plowed or sanded in a while. The trick to getting over this sort of thing is momentum- and persistence. The steeper the hill gets the more gravity you're fighting- and soon gravity beats traction. To get by this you need to have a decent amount of speed built up to get over the top of the hill. Give yourself a good runway to get up to speed. It also helps to be in a lower gear if you have the option. It took a few tries to figure out just the right amount of distance/speed/acceleration to get over it- hence- the persistence part.

Almost all of your actions should take twice as much time as normal when you're driving in snow. Drive slow, turn slow, accelerate slow and stop slow. Never slam the brakes and never slam the accelerator. Patience and a level head are key. Brake on straight-aways - never going into turns. If your wheels lock up while braking, take your foot off the brake. If your wheels spin while accelerating, take your foot off the accelerator.

The bottom line is- go slow and don't be a shithead. Explaining how to drive in the snow turned out to be more difficult than I expected- either you get it or you don't. If you don't get it- just stay home- or let a guy drive.

2010-01-02 - Snowboarding

As mentioned in a previous entry I went snowboarding over the New Years weekend. It was fucking awesome. I had never been snowboarding or skiing before- so it was all new and exciting. Learning how to do something new in general is always exciting and it had been a while since I learned something as kick ass. A lot of my friends snowboard and love it- so now that I know first hand how great it is I'm really pissed I didn't try earlier.

First of all- it was an awesome weekend and a great way to spend New Years. Thanks to Travis for inviting us to stay at Sugarloaf and giving us a place to sleep/lending me a board- Tom for lending me some gear- Ryan for some beginner's lessons/watching me fall down a mountain- and Josh for pushing me to try more difficult routes.

Day one was pretty much just figuring out how to stand up- and falling down a ton. I never even got beyond the beginner trail but that's all I really needed. I figured out how to get on/off a chairlift, strap in, stand up and slowly slide down the hill on my heel-edge. Once I thought I had mastered stopping (at slow speeds) I tried going a bit faster and switching from a regular to goofy stance. All the while- periodically eating shit. I got really good at that- especially on ice. Another fun fact about the beginner trail is that it was littered with the bodies of fallen/falling children. A minefield of kids shuffling along on two foot long skis. (It's not skiis?) I retired when the lift stopped running and began self medicating with whiskey and RC Cola- yeah really.

Day two we got even more snow- perfect conditions for falling down all day. I started out on the beginner trail and after one run I decided I should try my luck with a real route. I got my lift ticket and started up for my first real run on a green trail with Josh. Got up to the top- and got ready to drop in. A little apprehensive at first but I soon realized that there was only one way down that mountain. Well- a couple ways really- with grace and skill or on my ass. This is the point where I developed my favorite technique- go as fast as possible and wipe out as hard as possible- and repeat until I reach the bottom. After a few runs I finally figured out how to turn on my toe-edge and starting linking turns. It wasn't until my last run on the green trail that I remembered what everyone had been telling me all along- bend your knees. Really- that's all there is to it. Have confidence, get low and bend your knees.

Throughout the learning process I would get to a point where I was about 85% comfortable with the route I was running- and once I stopped falling down constantly I knew it was time to move onto something else that would kick my ass. By mid-day on my first real day of snowboarding we moved on to my first blue trail- The Narrow Gauge. It was pretty steep- but the fear turned into excitement once I got ready to drop in. Half way down that first blue trail I thought 'I'm going to have to buy a board now' - then I ate shit wicked hard. Josh can attest to that. He was riding behind me and would periodically see a giant explosion of snow with me at the center of it. I'm the reason why skiers hate people on snowboards. I cleared the snow off about half of that trail by the time I was done with it.

By the end of the day I had conquered (using the term loosely) a couple of blue trails. I didn't want to stop- and definitely didn't want to go home the next day. It's a rough first couple of days and you hurt just about everywhere- but it's a good kind of hurt because you know you did something real that day. I now have an understanding and appreciation for it- and look forward to the next time I go. Thanks to everyone who contributed to my learning to snowboard- and to everyone who made it an awesome weekend.

In conclusion- don't be afraid - go fast- fall hard - and bend your knees.

2010-01-01 - Dismount a ski-lift

I went snowboarding this weekend for the first time ever. I've lived through 22 winters in Massachusetts without ever having gone snowboarding or skiing- so I figured it was about time. I won't go so far as to say I learned how to snowboard that day- but I at least learned how to get off of a ski-lift on a snowboard. Riding on a ski lift for the first time was something in itself- I don't know how more people don't fall off of those things.

For anyone who has gone snowboarding or skiing this doesn't take a whole lot of explanation- you just do it. But for everyone else, it's a pretty simple thing. Getting on the ski-lift is easy enough. The bench sort of just comes around and hits you in the back of the knees. The next part is easy too- just don't fall off.

As the chair in front of me gets to the ramp I get ready to get off. If you have the safety bar down (loser) you should put it up at this time. I kind of position my body sideways and bring my feet up. When you're riding the chairlift with a snowboard you only have your forward foot* strapped in. When you get off of the chairlift you're going to have that foot forward and press your free foot against the other binding.

When you get to the ramp the ground comes up to meet your feet. You can stand up- and balance on the back of the bench with your hand and push off. Steer clear of other people who are getting off of the lift at the same time as you- or just loitering like jackasses at the bottom of the ramp. When you get clear of the ramp area just lean back on your heels to stop like normal. Remember to press your free foot against the binding so it doesn't just slide off when you try to stop.

Before getting off of the lift it's also a good idea to let the other people know which way you're going so you don't crash into them.

*I found out from Travis that my left foot is my leading foot. To figure this out just stand in front of someone and have them push you forward. Which ever foot you catch yourself with is instinctively your leading foot.