This is what it looks like when there is an interesting technical issue on a system administrator's computer screen. The sixth SysAdmin is me (taking the picture).

We just set up an ANTWORKS ant farm. It's pretty cool. The gel inside was developed by NASA to send ants into space. Take heed of the warning about Army Ants:



"Note: DO NOT attempt to collect Army Ants in your ANTWORKS container. Should you see several hundred thousand very focused ants moving in your direction, we advise quickly leaving the area."

As-Is ham... not something we buy every day.

To be fair, the Spring 2012 shoe models from many companies are not yet widely available and I have not yet tried them all. Reviews are starting to appear on the web and some of the forthcoming shoes do look interesting. However, they would have to be really completely awesomely perfect to knock the Soft Star Shoes Moc3 off the top of my best minimalist shoes list.

The Moc3 provides only minimal protection, no cushion. I have a tendency to increase my leg pounding as the level of cushion in a shoe increases (and my ability to feel the ground decreases). The Moc3 keeps me true to barefoot form but at the same time provides a fiction barrier to allow me to run more miles. The sole is made by Vibram and is the "street sole" used by Soft Star in their RunAmocs. The Moc3 sole has interesting cutouts that increase the flexibility of the shoe and reduce weight. The gaps in the outsole material are still protected with a thin flexible sole material that Soft Star uses in some of their other shoes. I have not yet been poked by anthing that snuck past the vibram.

The soles looked fine after the first 200 miles of mostly road/sidewalk miles and it is even still possible to make out the word "Vibram" at the ball of the foot:



I have owned the shoes for about 7 months and I am glad to see they will be usable for many more miles.

I read 17 works of fiction during 2011. This number is down from the previous two years. Family, running, and the new job has cut into my reading time. I am doing my best to make more time for reading every day, mostly by spending less time squandering my time away on the Internet... but that also means less time for blogging. Hence, I find myself summarizing 2011 in the middle of February.

Well, here it is, the list of Fiction that I read during 2011:

A few months ago I started standing at work.

I've been tweaking my desk area and this is where I am today, version 2.0 of my standing workstation:



The upper LCD shelf is made from a cheap melamine shelf with CAPITA legs from IKEA. So far it is working well, and the third LCD monitor is a nice addition.