Why isn't 30 too bad?

I am not normally this narcissistic--well, I have a blog so maybe I am--but today society helps rationalize the care-about-me attitude because it is my birthday. I wrote a quiz about my past thirty years to kind of jog my memory before I forget everything. I'd like to say that making this quiz made me sit back and reflect on my life, but while life so far has been full of milestones and memories, there's still a lot more left. Plus, I'm still in school, so 30 just feels like 25--almost exactly like 25. If you score higher than 10, let me know. It means you scored better than two friends I met in high school and two friends I met in grad school.

1. When Andrew was 6 months old, he took his first

a. Step

b. Shot of whiskey

c. Look at the Statue of Liberty

d. Flight

2. In 3^rd grade, Andrew wrote a book entitled

a. Crooks are Caught

b. Donkey Does a Doo Doo

c. Me and My Sisters

d. The Existential Musings of an Expatriate Returning to his Birthplace

3. Andrew’s sisters are named all of the following EXCEPT

a. Catherine

b. Ann

c. Erica

d. Bridget

4. Andrew tried out for all of the following high school sports EXCEPT

a. Soccer

b. Basketball

c. Baseball

d. Badminton

5. In his 8^th grade play, Andrew did all of the following EXCEPT

a. Wear makeup for the first and last time

b. Play one of the two leads

c. Memorize all his lines

d. Wear a dress

6. Andrew has traveled to all of the following city-states EXCEPT

a. Singapore

b. Monaco

c. San Marino

d. Vatican City

7. Andrew has lived in all of the following capitals EXCEPT

a. South Bend

b. London

c. Seoul

d. Boston

8. All of the following are true EXCEPT

a. Andrew has broken both of his fibulas.

b. Andrew has broken his left clavicle twice.

c. Andrew believes his broken bones are caused by excessive calcium intake.

d. Andrew has broken his fibula and tibia at the same time.

e. Andrew has broken his right wrist doing Tae Kwon Do.

9. Andrew has personally interacted with all of the following Nobel Laureates before they won EXCEPT

a. Bob Horvitz

b. Eric Kandel

c. Andy Fire

d. Marty Chalfie

10. Andrew’s sisters thought he quit swimming when he was 8 because

a. he was the slowest swimmer on the team

b. he didn’t like to wear the Speedo

c. he didn’t feel buff enough

d. he always sank

11. Which of the following does Andrew consider the worst living situation he had to endure?

a. Living with a flat-mate who would randomly pick wrestling matches that often upended furniture

b. Living with an ex-girlfriend in the same drafty apartment for over a year

c. Living with a friend in a place that the friend referred to as “Motel 6 meets Tijuana” in a review

d. Living with a guy named Rudy at Notre Dame

12. How many years of Catholic school has Andrew had?

a. 8

b. 12

c. 14

d. 16

13. Andrew wears a size Small T-shirt now. What size did he choose to wear in high school?

a. Small

b. Medium

c. Large

d. X-Large

14. Andrew has had all of the following nicknames EXCEPT

a. Hell Raiser

b. Hellmaniac

c. Bruce Lee

d. Prunedrew

15. Which of the following is the youngest car?

a. Andrew’s current car

b. Andrew’s high school car

c. The Model T

d. The DeLorean

16. Andrew has seen all of the following bands in concert EXCEPT

a. Weezer

b. Dave Matthews

c. U2

d. Ben Folds Five

e. Flight of the Conchords

17. As a Boy Scout, Andrew did all of the following EXCEPT

a. Hike 67 miles in 10 days

b. Earn hella merit badges

c. Sleep on a submarine

d. Help an old lady cross the street.

18. Andrew enjoys doing all of the following at work EXCEPT

a. Reading ESPN

b. Research

c. Watching Hulu

d. Facebooking

19. As a baby, Andrew was super

a. Eloquent

b. Chubby

c. Screamy

d. That’s it, just super.

20. While living in London, Andrew did all of the following EXCEPT

a. See Stonehenge

b. Visit the Cliffs of Dover

c. A pub crawl

d. See a bunch of plays, operas, and ballets

Answers

1. d (flight)--from South Korea to Colorado

2. a (Crooks are Caught)--it's a classic

3. b (Ann)

4. c (baseball)--tried out but cut from bball my freshman year

5. d (wear a dress)--no, I have not worn makeup since then . . . or a dress ever

6. c (San Marino)--but I did do a report on it in 5th grade

7. a (South Bend)--lived there but it is not a capital

8. e (broken his right wrist doing Tae Kwon Do)--broke my foot doing TKD and most of the breaks happened after consuming dairy for many days

9. b (Eric Kandel)--was working in Bob's lab when he won, met Chalfie when he came for Bob's Nobel party, took a class with Andy before he won

10. b (he didn't like to wear the Speedo)--though I probably wouldn't swim now if I had to wear one

11. b (living with an ex)--though I did live in all of these situations

12. c (14 years Catholic school)--kindergarten (1), grades 4 through 12 (9) and college (4)

13. d (X-large T-shirt)--yeah, what an odd thing to do as a 135 lb teen

14. c (Bruce Lee)--some racist kid on the soccer field called me this, so it goes into the "slur" category

15. a (Andrew's current car)--surprisingly, yes. however, it is only one year younger than the car I drove in high school

16. d (Ben Folds Five)--a trick question. I saw Ben Folds but not the Five

17. d (Help an old lady cross the street)--don't want to be a stereotype

18. b (research)--but i try to do it anyway

19. b (chubby)--now that I'm 30, maybe I'll get that way again

20. a (See Stonehenge)--never made it, but I wish I had

Why Won’t Glee Make it?

Glee was awarded a Golden Globe for Best TV Musical or Comedy. I am a big Glee fan. I paid money for both of the albums that the TV show spawned. I watch every week (admittedly usually on Hulu). I think it’s a stroke of marketing genius to take a piece of American Idol to create a show about high school misfits who sing and dance their way to friendship and life lessons. The show also does an incredible job on its musical numbers (according to this non-expert) and has found the funniest female actress on TV in Jane Lynch.

So, I don’t mind that Glee won a Golden Globe, especially since the Foreign Press is voting and the category is Comedy or Musical. I can understand that it has more appeal to foreigners than the much, much funnier Modern Family and 30 Rock. A smart, American audience is better served by those shows, especially Modern Family, which is the funniest show on television right now. But Glee needs to realize that it will quickly descend into mediocrity unless it hires some people who can write plots and develop characters. It’s well on its way to wasting the potential that it created with its pilot. Here’s what I suggest to avoid yet another Fox folly.

First of all, Fox has a history failing to capitalize on shows with huge potential. The epitome of this is Arrested Development, one of the wittiest comedies ever written. Who else would have Henry Winkler literally jump over a shark—again? The show was canceled after three seasons despite winning six Emmy Awards. Another example is Firefly, which had a strong cult following that Fox failed to figure out. Finally, there is House. House is still on, pretty much only because Hugh Laurie carries it on his shoulders, similar to how the music in Glee carries it. Clearly something is wrong at Fox.

Like most Fox shows, Glee has squandered it’s potential. It now relies too much on excellent song arrangements and performances and not enough on what sustains a great show: characters and their development. This is similar to House. Hugh Laurie plays a House, a dynamic, yet sarcastic genius, like nobody else could. (Sure, it was an obvious rip-off of Sherlock Holmes.) However, the writing staff proceeded to surround House with flat, soporific characters. And just as audiences watched just to see Laurie act, Glee audiences are pretty much just watching to see the Glee cast break into song. That’s when the show shines.

Glee aired its pilot in May of last year and then left the pilot on-line until the second episode aired in September. I watched it at least three times while waiting for the second episode. The pilot introduced characters that we could cheer and a story line that was ripe with drama, life lessons, and funny situations. Throw in phenomenally arranged and performed covers of familiar songs, and it seemed like easy money for Fox. But only some of those strengths were maintained throughout the season. The rest fell victim to bad writing.

The two elements that stayed relatively strong were the songs and the comedic element brought by Jane Lynch. I’m convinced Lynch could read the phonebook and elicit a laugh. Not every song sung by the cast is a hit for me, but enough of them are that they keep me watching. Rachel and Mercedes can sing, and the arrangers obviously know that. However, I’d like to hear a bit more from Artie and even Puck. While the music and Lynch are carrying Glee right now, there are many areas in need of improvement.

Glee’s characters have become flatter and flatter over the course of the season, despite the fact that they began with so much potential. I don’t mind them being archetypal. Have Finn be a dumb jock with a heart and voice of gold (even though it’s not, to my ear). Rachel can be over-enthusiastic to the point of nuttiness. They are the main characters and are supposed to be high schoolers, so I won’t get bent out of shape if they are a little one dimensional.

However, there are so many interesting supporting characters that the writers work with one week and completely ignore the rest of the time. Artie and Kirk are two of the losers that audiences were rooting for at the beginning of the season. Kirk’s interaction with his father, while possibly not that original, is one of the better moments for the writers. On the other hand, Artie’s episode of finally finding a friend in “Asian” is over the top and a bit boring. I don’t think they gave him the best solo that week either. Puck is nice one week and a jerk the next, as is Quinn. I think that these capricious moods are the writers’ attempts at giving the characters depth, but they are so uneven that it makes them un-relatable. Songs do take up some time, so it’s probably difficult to fit much development into a single show. But either tighten it up or make the characters flat and focus on the plot line.

The show plans on adding more characters next season. To me, that says they are having the same problem House did. The writers had written their supporting characters, House’s staff, into a yawn-worthy corner. So, they basically got rid of them and hired a bunch of new ones. I’m sure Glee won’t jettison its current cast, but if it’s already adding more to an already large cast that includes “Asian” and “Asian 2”, I’m not sure what they are hoping to accomplish. I hope it is interesting and not disappointing, like the plot has become.

The story of the season is a bit over the top, which is fine. The whole show is a little bit high school drama club-like: overly dramatic. The problem is that the plot points are so uneven. One week, there will be a bunch of major plot point scenes without much music. The next week, they will reverse the ratio. And even the scenes in which they reveal plot points are a bit forced and obvious. Obvious is fine, but bad story tempo is not. It’s like being in the ring with a good boxer: you’re just bouncing around, listening to the great songs, when WHAM!, a plot point punches you in the face. I know the plot has to be moved along, but it does so quite ungracefully. Figure it out, Glee.

Glee will make it a few seasons at least, but if it wants to become a great show and not go the way of Arrested Development, House, or Firefly, it has to improve its writing. For everybody’s sake, I hope it does. I think it still has some potential.

Avatar? Why?

The Golden Globes selected Avatar as the Best Motion Picture in the Drama category. I didn’t see any of the other nominees, but if Avatar was the best of them, then Hollywood is producing some really mediocre stuff. Avatar isn't a bad movie at all, but it’s not worthy of any awards outside of technical ones--especially one for drama.

Don't get me wrong; I like Avatar. Anybody that asks me about it gets a positive review and a recommendation to see it in the theater in 3D. It won’t be the same on a DVD. I was even willing to see it a second time (but didn’t due to a change in plans).

The cinematography is pretty amazing and the 3D effect is pretty cool even if I can't say it’s necessary. The storyline is not original by any stretch, but hey, it’s James Cameron writing it. I didn’t even mind his plotline. I was sort of surprised it didn’t offend me as a biologist. Biologists, please feel free to comment. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. On the other hand, there were many flaws that would immediately disqualify it from being best drama.

First of all, it was as much of a drama as Star Trek or The Bourne Supremacy. All three had some human emotion, but nobody was going to those movies to be moved to tears by awe inspiring acting. They were going for special effects and action. Star Trek and The Bourne Supremacy were both better movies than Avatar in my opinion—and they weren’t even in fancy 3D. Awarding Avatar a drama award makes as much sense as keeping Jay Leno at NBC. (That's zero sense, if you were confused on where I and the rest of America stand.)

Second, the dialogue in Avatar was just plain bad. I can't quote you any lines, but the first line of the movie sets the tone. I will tolerate plenty of bad lines in an action movie. Sometimes, the writer has to move the plot along or punctuate some long-awaited act of justice. But having lines like that automatically disqualifies you from the drama category. James Cameron, I know you wrote the script, but have a little humility and let a professional help you. You’d think you’d learn your lesson after having DiCaprio say, “I’m the king of the world!” Stop being a pompous blow hard, Cameron.

Third, while I don’t always agree with the Golden Globes selection of best drama, they’ve always done a better job than Avatar (except when they chose Titanic, of course). They have chosen the third Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, which could also be considered action movies, but those were much more deserving than Avatar. And does Avatar belong in the company of the following movies: Schindler’s List, Slumdog Millionaire, The English Patient, Platoon, The Godfather, Spartacus, and Ben Hur? I’d say, “Hell, no.” It doesn't even belong in the same category.

Usually, these posts are a sort of catharsis, but this one didn’t do that for me. I realized how much James Cameron thinks of himself. Maybe for good reason, given that he has made quite a number of fun movies: True Lies, Aliens, Terminator, and The Abyss. But I wouldn’t give any of those movies an award for best drama either. Avatar was a great movie; it just wasn’t a drama, let alone the best one.

Why Pilates this Year?

I’m not making New Year’s Resolutions. Since this year’s “resolutions” are pretty much the same as last year, I’d rather just call them recommitments. Among those recommitments is maintaining what I generously call my physique. Some may say that I would have to establish a decent physical form before maintaining it. To them, I say, “Take your wit and . . . well, you have a good point.”

There were a couple of events that occurred during 2009 that did not help me reach my goal of Herculean strength. First, I played too many video games. I did not curtail my hours of open-mouthed, catatonic staring; this year will be different. Second, I dropped my rock climbing gym membership. That left a void that I have filled with Pilates DVDs. Why Pilates? Well, if you eliminate everything else using my list of criteria, that’s what you’re left with.

When choosing an activity that will shape a graduate student’s body, there are many limitations. 1) It’s got to be cheap because I make less than a kindergarten teacher. 2) It’s best if it can be done at night because lab beckons all day. 3) It has to be relatively safe because I am like fine China: extremely fragile. 4) It cannot be repetitive because I can’t stand doing the same motion over and over—call it mental weakness if you want, all of you bikers, runners, and swimmers; I’m OK with that.

Cheap. High start-up or recurring costs are prohibitive. It is one of the reasons I stopped my climbing gym membership, which cost about $600 per year. This criterion also eliminates golf, biking, skiing, wakeboarding, sky-diving, and most types of classes with any decent instruction.

Convenient. Being in lab all day is optional, but given that I am nearing the end of my grad student life (hopefully), being in lab most of the day is pretty necessary. That means working out has to happen at night if it is going to happen at all. That was one of the appealing characteristics of climbing. I could eat an early dinner and then head to the gym. Of course, there are night leagues, but that brings me to the next criterion.

Safe. I could play football, but if you’ve ever seen a bowling ball fall on a twig . . . I’m the twig. Given my long history of breaking bones, I prefer something with little chance of hospitalization. Activities that are eliminated by this include team sports with any degree of contact: rugby, football, hockey, soccer, tag team wrestling, or baseball (what if the ball hits me?). Yes, you might call me wimpy, girly, or unmanly, but I call it knowing my limits and drawing conclusions based on a large sample size of data (Six broken bones).

Repetitive sports. Finally, anything that is repetitive is just plain boring (and maybe slightly painful) to me. It really makes it difficult for me to start exercising. OK, it also makes it difficult for me to keep going once I have started. And when I’m done, I don’t feel great that I did it. I just feel relieved that I don’t have to do it again for awhile. That means any event in a triathlon, except for the changing of clothes, is something I’d rather avoid. And if changing clothes occurred repeatedly over a thirty minute time span (or four hours), I would probably avoid that part, too.

What I am left with is Pilates DVDs. They fulfill all the criteria. For now, my New Year will begin with cheap, convenient, safe, and non-repetitive Pilates DVDs. I’ll take some pictures in the future so you can see the results. Or not—I don’t want to deter you from reading the blog in the future.

Why are sports so awkward?

Yesterday, I contended that the most awkward motion in sports is the tennis serve. Of course, my girlfriend, who played tennis in high school, disagreed with me. She also played golf in college and offered the golf swing as the most awkward motion.

All this leads me to this post. I’ve got four motions that do not seem to come naturally to a novice. Granted, I am a novice at many sports, tennis included, but I am far from uncoordinated (at least in my mind). Thus, I think I have a pretty good idea of what is painfully unnatural. But feel free to tell me I’m wrong and let me know what you think.

1. Kicking pretty much anything. Yes, the act of throwing your foot at something is a natural motion. However, making sure that the part of your body that will take the brunt of that motion, your foot, is not. Put a soccer ball in front of somebody and their first reaction is to kick it with their toe. With enough force, that results in a broken toe. In soccer, you use the top of your foot or the inside of your foot. In Tae Kwon Do, you have many potential areas on the foot for striking, none of which are your toe: the top, the ball of the foot, the outside edge, or the heel. It’s odd that people use their largest, strongest limbs to hurl a mass with some of their smallest bones at solid objects. Kicking should only be done by experts.

2. Tennis serve / Volleyball spike. I find serving incredibly difficult. Start sideways. Toss a ball to the perfect height over your head. Strike the ball at the maximum height over your head. Hope to high heaven that you don’t ruin your shoulder as you throw your body’s weight behind the racket. A volleyball spike requires a similar strain on your shoulder, but I think there is even more back involved. Arch your back as you jump, and uncoil it as you strike the ball. Snap through. Maybe it’s all timing. Beats me. I’m usually just swinging as hard as possible and praying that I make contact.

3. Golf swing. So many things can go wrong here. I don’t even know where to begin since I can’t do it properly. All I know is that you have to keep your head still and that trying to kill the ball is bad. That hurts the back and causes a crazy slice in my case. Add mumbo jumbo about swing plane, bringing your knees through first, and breaking your wrists and you’ve only just begun talking about what could possibly be wrong. Think it’s like hitting a baseball on the ground? You’re completely wrong. It’s almost the opposite. The lead hand is in charge; no equal contribution like a baseball swing. And keep that rear elbow in, not up. Narrow your stance and minimize any unnecessary motion. There are more technical things to do in golf than any sport I’ve played.

4. Swimming. Do I really have to make an argument for this? Obviously, we were not made for the water. Exhibit A: water can suffocate us to death until we die. Exhibit B: we have hair, which leads to drag. Exhibit C: webbed feet are abnormal in humans. I admit that I am a pretty bad swimmer, and anybody who isn’t a strong one may admit to it being akin to prolonged drowning. When I heard about how water polo players keep their heads above water, I was baffled and got tired just thinking about how it happens. (It’s like egg beaters with your legs.) Calling swimming awkward may be a stretch, but flailing to survive can be awkward—at least socially. But maybe flailing is the most instinctive thing a person can do.

Any more awkward sports motions?

Why not dress for success?

As I was driving home yesterday, I noticed many fashion troubles. Given that my sense of fashion is less than refined, it takes something quite horrendous for me to notice. But when it comes to what you wear when you work out, I know what’s what. Khakis while running—uh, no.

Let’s start from the top. Headgear is permissible for baseball, running, football, tennis, hockey . . . pretty much anything. Except soccer. Wearing a baseball hat while playing soccer is wrong both functionally and morally. First of all, you can’t head the ball with a baseball hat. Second, is the sun in your eyes? Poor baby. Get off the field! I’d rather see sunscreen, sunglasses, and a parasol on the pitch than somebody wearing a baseball hat.

Shirts. Unless you are golfing, playing tennis, or wearing a team uniform, shirts with collars should not be worn. Same thing goes for shirts with elaborate patterns. This is especially true if you’re running. If you’re running, no shirt, a T-shirt, or an expensive, high-tech sports shirt is permissible. Anything with buttons or a collar should only be worn before or after running. And if it’s a T-shirt, it should not have cost more than $15. Free is preferable.

Shorts or pants. Do not wear anything made of a high percentage of cotton or wool. Workout clothes are meant for wicking away sweat and drying quickly. The more poly-whatever material, the better. Anything with a lot of pockets should only be worn casually, not while strenuously exercising. That means no cargo or jean shorts.

Socks. This is simple—no dress socks. That means no black or brown or tan or argyle—unless specifically made for the sport like soccer socks.

Shoes. Don’t wear dress shoes. Don’t run in sandals. Wear something that at least looks like it has support. Otherwise, you just look like you’re trying to ruin your feet, shins, knees, and lower back all at the same time. It’s also ideal to have footwear appropriate to the sport. Running on a treadmill in basketball shoes looks like you are not a regular runner. It also makes it look like you have nothing better to do with your shoes than run, i.e., you aren’t balling much nowadays.

OK, that’s all of the ones I could think of off the top of my head. If you have issues with these general rules, tell me I don’t even know exercise fashion. If I’ve forgotten something here, post it.

Why is AT&T so difficult?

Difficult. That’s what comes to mind when somebody mentions AT&T. I don’t know where the company falls on the customer dissatisfaction list, but it’s probably pretty close to the top. I don’t understand why they have to make things so painful for customers. It took less time to set up a joint bank account than it did to combine two calling plans into one.

My girlfriend and I wanted to combine our accounts into one single “family” plan. Before you get excited, no, we’re not engaged--or pregnant. We’re just practical. Each of us would save $10 per month. Simple, right? Uh, no.

Employee #1

First, we visited a store. I wanted to talk to a person face to face to get some information. We wanted to know how much the data plan would cost for an old, non-3G iPhone that we inherited.

We walked into the store, at which point Employee #1 took our names and told us we could watch TV while we waited. It was like restaurant meets hospital waiting room. At least it was nice to be entertained by some golf. But if we had hated golf . . .

Employee #2

After waiting for 15 minutes, we spoke to Employee #2, who told us that the data plan for the old iPhones is the same price as it always was: $20 / month. I thought it was going to cost $30, regardless of which generation phone you had. I was pleasantly surprised.

#2 also said we could activate the phone at home through the internet. This was actually very easy to do, mostly because we didn't have deal with AT&T. We could do it through iTunes. Well done, Apple.

Employee #3

At home, we realized that we should probably just combine our phone plans to save money, so we ended up using internet chat to talk to Employee #3. Of course, the only way to get the Employee #3 is to pretend you're going to buy a plan. Anyway, he told us that we would need to call or visit a store to do so. Blerg! If only we had chatted with Employee #3 before Employee #2.

Employee #4

We activated the phone through iTunes and then called AT&T. Employee #4 basically said that I could just put my girlfriend on my account as a family plan member. My girlfriend would just have to call and say it was OK. Instead of doing that, I just handed the phone to said girlfriend.

Employee #4 then told my girlfriend that she would have to call a certain number. Really? I’m not clear on why she couldn’t just transfer us. I mean, it’s a phone company. If anybody has the technology to do so, wouldn’t they?

Employee #5

Whatever. We called the number. After surviving the menu and maze of “press this number, press that number,” she got Employee #5. Of course, Employee #5 was the wrong person, and she told my girlfriend that she had to call--take a wild guess. That's right, the same number she had just dialed to get Employee #5. Fortunately, #5 checked and told us that the people we needed to contact had already gone home for the day.

Employee #6

Two days later, we called back. Employee #6 tried to get rid of us by again giving us the SAME number as Employee #4 and #5. At least they were consistent. Upon further explanation by my girlfriend, they realized that we weren’t navigating the menu quite right. Fine.

Employee #7

Call back, enter the magic combination of numbers, and get Employee #7. Employee #7 told my girlfriend that all she needed to do was give a thumbs up that her account could be put on mine. Now, all that had to happen was I had to call in and finish the deed.

To recap, I had to put a note on my account OK’ing combining; then my girlfriend had to put a note on her account OK’ing combining. Then I had to call back to finally slay the dragon that is combining accounts.

But ah ha, I am in the room, so she just handed the phone to me, so I could deal with the details right away. Now that we’ve both given the thumbs up, it should be no problem, right?

Even more Employee #7

First, they had to run a credit check. Why? Don't know. Don't care. Whatever, go ahead and check my credit. What? You also need my address again? It's not right there on the computer in front of you? OK.

Employee #7 then explained that it was going to cost $60 to combine accounts. That makes sense because there’s a guy that has to go in the back and splice a bunch of wires together and . . . oh wait, no there’s not. Fine, nothing is free, and in the long run, after three months, we’ll be saving money.

20 minutes later, which probably cost us minutes, we had a family plan going. And in three months when we are actually saving money, I’m sure it will be worth it. Of course, they always tell you things may not show up on your bill for a few billing cycles. And that also makes sense because there are a bunch of interns hand writing the details of my paperless account.

All of these employees were helpful if not enthusiastic. I can hardly imagine being enthusiastic when you work in such a terrible system.

At the end of the day, you may tell me to just shut up and join a different company. Unfortunately, I can’t join a different company. I don’t actually have a choice because AT&T is the only cell company that works on campus. And if I want to have an iPhone, only AT&T works. If somebody could explain the marketing logic of that, I’d love to hear it. As for the shutting up, I’m done whining.