Crustless Healthy Pumpkin Pie

Since it is the holiday season I felt like making some pumpkin pie for lunch. Simple and fast. Open a can of pumpkin, stir in some agave sweetener, pinch of salt, pumpkin pie spice to taste, two tablespoons of gluten free pancake mix and an egg. For liquid I used skim milk. I mix it right in a glass baking dish and serve from same.

Cover and microwave for four minutes. Let it sit for two minutes, microwave for one more minute.

Libbie Place Shopping Center - Richmond VA

A massage therapist suggested that Kathy get a back pillow made of memory foam and recommended the Healthy Back Store as the source. It is located in the Libbie Place Shopping center which is pretty handy. It is close to the house we have in Richmond and there are more ways in and out of it than you can imagine. There is a Target, Vitamin World, Great Clips and Healthy Back Store.

Much less traffic than West Broad Street near Short Pump. I think this is where we are going to go when we want to visit Target from now on.

With our other project we have been trying to think of business ideas for Sumner WA and a Healthy Back store needs to be on the list of ideas.

Update: December 21, 2012 Kathy wanted to go to a Target and I did not want to attempt the one at Shortpump this close to Christmas. There was a bit more traffic than usual, but it was not insane.

Pigeon Shooting

I was following a story about someone shooting a drone out of the sky. Turns out it was an animal rights activist group called SHARK. I am not the biggest tree hugger on planet earth. However, pigeon shooting is pretty gross.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the US to allow this. And the police will not investigate the shooting of the drone.

Goodbye Hard Rock Hotel - San Diego

Mike Poor secured a group reservation at Roy's. Deanna Boyden, Eric Cole, Johannes Ullrich, Kathy and I were able to join him. We got the appetizer boat for the table and shared a bottle of Joel Gott Zinfandel.

It was a good time. the next morning Kathy and I took a cab to to the airport. United 531 was on time and it was smooth flying to Chicago. Sadly my ears did not clear. We ate at the food court, I had a Reggiano's Deep Dish Turkey Sausage Pizza and Kathy had a salad. Two US Marines sat next to us and I was able to buy them a beer and Kathy thanked them for their service. They struck up a great conversation with Kathy, but I could not hear so I kind of tuned out.

United 529F to Richmond was also on time. Believe it or not it was a full sized plane, I guess the Richmond airport is picking up. And we scored first class of all things. I did not feel like drinks, but did down three glasses of water to try to get my ears to clear this time.

James Limo was on time. It was an easy ride to the house in Richmond. Kathy put in Top Gun, what a great movie. Apparently I fell asleep. I woke up Sunday morning about noon exhausted. This travel stuff is taking an ever greater toll on me.

I finally got out of bed, went to Wal-Mart to pick up some food, it was packed, people are taking this holiday seriously I guess. I made lean turkey, spinach and pinto bean enchildas for Hunter and Kathy. Sunday is a quiet night and I am getting ready to look at the calendar for tomorrow.

Nathan's Smoke House - San Diego

A bit of a dive, but friendly people and tasty food. They have an electric smoker right in the kitchen and mostly focus on Tri-Tip, Pulled Pork, and Chicken.

Kathy and I both had the Tri-Tip, it is thinly sliced and grilled up with onions and mushrooms. With the house BBQ sauce, it is pretty good. You get a side with the plate, two with the platter, I chose the plate and the garlic mash potatoes. They were a bit too salty, but incredibly good.

They also have a full bar and they were operating with one person managing the bar and one guy cooking. There were only two active tables so it worked, not sure how they handle Friday nights.

Cafe Sevilla - San Diego

I think they have been in business for 25 years, but this is a wildly successful place. We love it, but can only go there on Monday's. They are located at 353 5th Avenue. Otherwise it is too busy for our tast. The crazy thing is Thursday at 8:00 PM where they have Salsa lessons.

This is a small plates or tapas place. We sat at the bar which is our favorite, but get there before 7:00 PM even on a Monday. Kathy had the grilled artichokes and green mussels which were both good and the Mushroom Ajillo which was spectacular.

I had the Spanish sausages ( great), Chicken Skewer ( OK, but saved by Kathy's Ajillo garlic sauce) and the Charcuterie (OK). But it was so much fun and so affordable at Happy Hour, I think that is 5 - 7 PM.

Burger Lounge San Diego

We thought we might go to Sevilla, the tapas place, it was packed out. Then I thought Hooters on Market Street, it was packed out. But on the way up 5th street from the Hard Rock Hotel we passed this very interesting restaurant chain, Burger Lounge.

It is pretty much a standard burger menu, but they feature grass fed and free range. I had the Bison burger and a Quinoa half salad. Kathy had the full Quinoa salad and a salmon patty. The salmon tasted terrible, we both wondered if it was "off". Hopefully we will not find out the hard way, but that salad was pretty neat.

Hard Rock Hotel San Diego

This is an interesting place. Guitars in the meeting rooms; one of Janis Joplin's concert suits in a glass display case; wow. But tonight is Saturday night and there have been 30 people in the suite next to us ( we are in a regular room). The bellman has come up with bags of ice. this may not be the best night of our life. Apparently it is Matt's birthday. How do I know all this? The sound comes through the walls.

Meze J Street San Diego

After our SANS.EDU selfstudy meeting today, Kathy and I headed out to find some food. The Tapas restaurant was full ( Saturday night ). So we continued up the street. We noticed Meze had space so we dropped in.

They have a limited menu and a very wide range of spending opportunity. We ordered a Joel Gott Zinfandel, but they could not find the bottle, so we punted to a bottle of Hess Special Cabernet Sauvignon ( I know, I know, but the markup was only 2x). Kathy ordered the Falafel Sliders without the bread and the lentil soup and I ordered the Gyro Wrap. Service was excellent, I tipped the full 20%. Price before gratuity was 60.34

Dick's Last Resort - San Diego

When we got back to the hotel, we ran into Dr. Gouker and Dr. Davidson from SANS.EDU. They were in the lobby and going out to eat. So we asked if we could put our stuff up and join them.

We went to Dick's, I had only been one time. Since we had both eaten we just had a drink and both of the good doctors ordered the fried Cat Fish.

Price before gratuity was 78.65, I picked it up hopefully as a business dinner.

Sumner WA to San Diego

Saavy Solutions picked us up at 0815. We got to SEATAC with no problems. Our plane, United 6339, was scheduled to depart at 1118, we were a bit late, but it was not a problem. Service on the plane was great, they were not particularly concerned about protocol. I fell asleep on the plane and when I woke up at wheels down, notice my seat belt was not fastened. That was a first for a couple of reasons.

Our next flight departed 1424 from LAX. Candy, our flight attendant was so uptight we were all kind of laughing at her; sorry. It was a short flight, there was no inflight service because it was a short flight.

We took a cab to our hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gas Lamp district. We were both hungry so we looked for food outside the hotel. Most places were not open for dinner, but the Palm was and we love the Palm. Kathy had a 3 pound lobster, I had the Chicken Parmigana and we shared a Goat cheese mashed potato. We also had a bottle of Knotty Pines Zinfandel. Price before gratuity was 184.04.

Yayyy New York Marathoners

Here is a link to a beautiful story of folks from the canceled marathon ( good decision by the way ) running supplies to people in need on Staten Island. Here is the facebook page.

Chops to the Occupy Wall Street folks as well.

World Wide Pandemic Watch Version 6.8

World Wide Pandemic Watch Version 6.9 Latest update 1500 January 10, 2013. The purpose of this document is to prepare IT and IT Security people to brief management. We put this news aggregation together and have made it as accurate as possible. I have tried to be careful with the credits to the internet sources aggregated here. No rights are claimed, feel free to repost, copy, link to, harvest information from this document. Just try to be as accurate as you can and be careful about believing everything you read, the two best information sources are WHO and CDC. Also, the Pro Med mailing list has TONS of information, not just on H1N1/A. If you have additional information I would love to hear from you, I am http://twitter.com/stephennorthcut on twitter and stephenraynorthcutt@gmail.com for email.

Executive Summary

In January 2013, Boston has declared a public health emergency with a 10x increase in Flu. If you feel sick please stay at home.

In November 2012, a third case of coronavirus has been confirmed by the Saudi government. This is related to the SARS virus which was lethal to 10% of infected persons. Hopefully, the Haj pilgrimage did not allow it to get a toehold.

In September 2012, The Minnesota Department of Health reported detection of 3 infections with an influenza A H1N2 variant (“H1N2v”) virus with the pandemic M gene from the 2009 H1N1 virus. These cases were reportedly associated with prolonged contact with pigs at a fair.

The H1N1 Pandemic was declared over in June 2010. It will be incorporated in the flu shots to prepare for 2011 ( highly recommended). There has been recent activity in Northern Ireland. The most exciting news on the pandemic front right now is the so called "superbug". This is not a virus, but rather bacteria with NDM-1 ( New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) which allows it to be resistant to antibiotics. So far this is boutique, but if it was incorporated in something that could spread, it could be a serious problem. India is ground zero, there have been recent cases in Britian. There have also been some animal dieoffs that we are closely tracking.

Organizations in affected areas should be prepared at this point to operate in a quarantine scenario. A key word is cluster, when there are a number of related infections in a day care facility, school, or church, you can expect to see it close for ten to twenty days and people either voluntarily not going there or being directed not to go to that location. Two of the most important issues are how to keep IT up, if no one is in the datacenter and whether the VPN concentrators can handle the load if a large number of employees are working from home. Managers need to start asking hard questions right now about how operations will continue if a significant number of people get sick. Technical people do not tend to look at all of the parts of the system and you do not want to wait till you are in a flu situation before you start asking questions and finding out that everything except backups and fund transfers can be done remotely.

Take common-sense precautions, such as frequently washing hands with soap, covering your mouth when coughing and stay home if feeling ill." The virus is easily destroyed; most cleansers will work, and it appears to be viable about 7 hours on a hard surface and one hour on porous fabric. Patients are most infectious when first coming down with flu, but remain infectious throughout the illness.

How bad could a viral pandemic be?

Nobody really knows. So far H1N1 has been fairly mild, though if you were one of the 500+ that died, you would probably beg to differ. The H5N1 Avian flu is far more deadly than H1N1, but doesn't spread well enough human to human to cause a pandemic at this time. Here is a well researched presentation on the history of pandemics: http://www.meydaonline.com/docs/panflu_history_jda.pdf

What is new is this edition: http://www.guidetohealthcareschools.com/tips-and-tools/h1n1-guide

CDCEmergency, CDCflu The CDC has a twitter account, http://twitter.com/CDCemergency http://twitter.com/CDCFlu

What is a virus, what is influenza? A virus is not exactly alive, "it has some fundamental information (genes made of DNA or RNA) which allows it to make copies of itself. However, the virus must be inside a living cell of some kind before the information can be used. In fact, the information won't be made available unless the virus enters a living cell. It is this entrance of a virus into a cell which is called a viral infection." According to the CDC, "Influenza (the flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccination each year. Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and; about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes." "The virus is spread person to person via small particle aerosols (less than 10μm diameter) that can get into respiratory tract. It can also survive for a short time on surfaces and can be spread by this route if the virus is introduced into the nasal mucosa before it loses infectivity. The incubation period is short, about 18 to 72 hours." People do not normally get H1N1/A, according to WebMD, historically, there's a case every year or two in the U.S. among people who have contact with live pigs. Human cases typically involve people who have had direct contact with pigs, but person-to-person transmission is suspected among recent cases in the U.S."

There are several stages a virus must go through to enter the human population. Most viruses originate in animals simply because there are so many more animal species. Many viruses, the base of the pyramid only exist in animals. The next level is either animal type viruses that can exist in several species OR viruses that can, but only are transmitted to humans. In the Nathan Wolfe video, we see that one crossover to humans occurs because we hunt "bush meat" and this often involves contact with the animal's blood. The next level of concern are virus that can fairly easily transmit from animals to humans. The next level of concern are these crossover viruses that can then spread from one human to another, that is what we appear to be dealing with in the H1N1/A outbreak. And finally, for completeness sake, we have viruses that only exist in humans.

Since H1N1 was such a bust, why should I be concerned about the next flu season? The most important observation by June 2009 is that the virus did spread to over 84 countries. This is true even though is was probably the most reported health threat of all time. From the TV News networks to Twitter,we have more tools to share information than ever before. This virus has already reported one measurable mutation (in the Netherlands) as reported in ProMED mail. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/sep0508resistance.html There are basically two tools in our toolbox, vaccinations and medicine like Tamiflu. We do not have a tested vaccine for H1N1, the earliest is September and history suggests that you don't want to be the first to try a Swine flu vaccine. So if the virus is immune to Tamiflu it is a big issue.

Why self imposed quarantine is the best answer in a future outbreak I just flew from Greece to Virginia. Not one traveler wore a mask, nor did they wear gloves. I tried to focus on how many surfaces you have to touch on a three leg plane flight and was it possible to keep my hands sterile and came to the conclusion that it was not possible. This means it is a matter of dumb luck whether or not I got exposed. Now, as already said, by summer, this was seriously winding down and risk is a matter of exposure, however if we have another outbreak next winter without safe vaccine and are dealing with a drug resistant mutation, this risk is exponentially higher. This means companies should start now to plan for what they can do to keep operations going with a significant number of employees working from home.

How to disinfect and kill viruses Clorox: http://www.clorox.com/healthier_lives/cold_flu/article.php?subsection=cold_flu_101&article_id=flu_facts Lysol: http://www.lysol.com/home-and-family/cold-and-flu/cold-and-flu-prevention-for-your-family Soap: http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Study-3A-Soap-And-Water-Work-Best-In-Ridding-Hands-Of-Disease-Viruses-169-1/ Alcohol: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/individual/panfacts.html More info: http://ehs.uky.edu/biosafety/disinfectants.html NOTE: DO NOT combine agents, ammonia + bleach can kill you

What exactly is this H1N1/A?

According to the CDC: "There are many different subtypes of type A influenza viruses. These subtypes differ because of changes in certain proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus (hemagglutinin [HA] and neuraminidase [NA] proteins). There are 16 known HA subtypes and 9 known NA subtypes of influenza A viruses. Because the New York student samples do not match H1 and H3 human subtypes of influenza A by available testing methods, they are considered probable cases of H1N1/A. The specimens have been sent to the CDC in Atlanta for confirmatory testing. Results of those tests are expected Sunday. It is possible that the H1N1/A will be more aggressive in human populations than the bird flu has been to date. According to Forbes, "Dr. Anne Schuchat, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Program said Thursday that the virus in the United States is influenza A N1H1 mixed with swine influenza viruses. The virus contains genetic pieces from four different flu viruses -- North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza viruses and swine influenza viruses found in Asia and Europe, she said. "That particular genetic combination of swine influenza viruses has not been recognized before in the U.S. or elsewhere," Schuchat said."

What are all these viruses and where do they come from? “Human influenza virus” usually refers to those subtypes that spread widely among humans. There are only three known A subtypes of influenza viruses (H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2) currently circulating among humans. It is likely that some genetic parts of current human influenza A viruses came from birds originally. Influenza A viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans. While it is too early to tell how deadly the H1N1/A will be, either it or the H5N1 Bird Flu could kill tens of millions, if either became a pandemic because there is no vaccine ready to distribute and people will not have built up any individual immunity from having had similar strains in the past.

What should I do if I feel sick? H1N1/A symptoms include runny nose, and fever, muscle aches, lethargy, lack of appetite, fever over 101 and sudden onset. It is difficult to distinguish from other flu types, and does require a diagnosis. Here are the Mayo symptoms. Patients experiencing severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, chest pain or pressure, disorientation, confusion, seizures, persistent vomiting, inability to hold down liquid should seek health care and treatment. If affected persons have household contacts at high risk for complications from influenza – young children, the elderly, and people with chronic illness – those at risk should receive preventive treatment. Also, be prepared with BRAT, Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast, good flu recovery foods.

DO NOT skip the rest step. If you have the symptoms it is time to take a couple days off. Get some rest, that is crucial to recovery.

How can I avoid getting sick?

The most effective way to lower the risk of transmission is for people with symptoms to stay home. Take pandemic preparation sites with a grain of salt; this one seems reasonable. The virus spreads easily from person to person through direct contact and possibly through the air; if it can spread through the air we have a very serious situation. It can cause serious illness and death. Please cover your mouth when you cough and take the additional precautions: Wash your hands often with soap and water. Antibacterial soaps may not be more effective than pure soap to prevent virus infections. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are more effective, go for 60% alcohol. [CDC Hands Together video] Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you get sick, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to avoid infecting them. If you have ever laughed at people using a paper towel to open the door of a public bathroom after washing their hands, quit laughing and join them, the virus can remain active for several hours especially if moist and not exposed to direct sunlight. Try not to rub your eyes or touch your hands to your mouth Try to get enough sleep, avoid stress ( not always easy in a pandemic) and treat your body right Respirators and face masks: YouTube video on how to use an N95 respirator, pretty good, I learned a few tips Powered respirator http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/dtopics/infectioncontrol/ppe/comp/papr.html FDA site http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ppe/masksrespirators.html

Tamiflu

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday tests involving antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza against the H1N1/A suggest the drugs would be effective treatments. Tamiflu is available over the counter in New Zealand. Anti-viral drug Tamiflu must be used with care to avoid the new strain of H1N1/A developing resistance, an expert on infectious diseases has warned. I called several New York City pharmacies this afternoon and was told there’s been a run on Tamiflu. As a physician, I know how tough it can be to “just say no” to an insistent, worried patient. And I haven’t totally gone over to the dark side of not remembering what it’s like to be a patient; believe me, there’s an insistent, worried patient hiding inside many physicians, myself included. But inappropriate use of Tamiflu and Relenza can lead to the becoming resistant to these medications - the same thing that’s happened with overuse of antibiotics.

What if I do get sick and can't get Tamiflu?

There are herbal flu remedies, no one knows how effective they would be. Getting a bit of ginger root and a few bulbs of garlic and a few onions next time you go to the store might be wise and slightly sweetened blended ginger on sliced peeled apples tastes great, and you can use the garlic and onions when you put your Italian chef mindset on. Warning, eating raw garlic can cause you to vomit and, with the flu, you want to avoid dehydration, so a tiny bit at a time is strongly advised until you understand your tolerance. Get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids. Vitamin D, especially D3 may help.

Pandemics in the past point to what we may have to deal with 1918 Spanish flu, H1N1, killed healthy young adults, 40 - 50 million deaths 1957 Asian flu, H2N2, killed children and elderly, 2 million deaths 1968 Hong Kong flu, H3N2, killed elderly, 1 million deaths 1976 Swine flu where the inoculation was worse than the flu 2002/2003 SARS (near pandemic), SARS-CoV, killed elderly, 774 deaths.

Skeleton Plan for Companies Don’t Panic! Here is a quick podcast interview with Bill Brenner on the H1N1/A and its implications on IT and IT Security. Warn people about coronavirus etc phishing attacks

Here is a CNN great article on what companies are doing to prepare and respond. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/04/30/pandemic-planning-and-the-data-center/

Initial monitoring stage: If you’re sick, stay home Family is sick, stay home Close contact with someone showing symptoms, stay home Wash your hands, cover your cough Then, if multiple cases in your area: Think about telling non-essential workers to stay home Start prioritizing critical workers and make sure they can work from home Recommend workers take kids out of daycare Can you stock some food/liquid in your datacenters, is it possible for someone to stay there for a sustained period of time? Pandemic stage Everyone will be staying home, how will you handle it? Do you have enough laptops? Can your VPN concentrators handle the load Who will stay in the data center Can you operate server systems from home Link to SANS reading room paper on pandemic and network systems

H1N1/A Business Opportunities amazon_twit: New product: N95 Particulate Respirators Surgical, Dust & Avian Flu Mask, 10/ pack (http://cli.gs/aZUXLm)

Bird Flu H5N1 Worldwide, 608 cases ( 359 fatalities) most recent action is in Egypt. Most cases are in Egypt, Viet Nam and Indonesia. Four cases in Egypt in December 2010/January 2011.

Kauai to Sumner

We had a merciful take off time. The car picked us up at 1030 and we headed for the airport. They are doing construction on the highway, but we left plenty early. United 351 was on time and the service was great and we scored first class and were seated together, what is not to like. The food was even good, I do not eat much beef, but I had the steak with peppercorn sauce.

Our connection was San Francisco and a restaurant was still open, so I had the turkey burger and Kathy had a plate of Nachos. Also not bad. United 1673 was a Continental plane and the service was well, what you expect of Continental.

We arrived about 1 AM. Starline was there to pick us up with their SUV because we were packing heavy bringing stuff from Kauai to Sumner. Not sure when we dropped off, but I did not wake up till 1300. Gosh, these long flights are starting to really take their toll.

Last day on Kauai

Sometime this afternoon, I need to go over to the house and pack. We have two different meetings with friends, a walk along the beach to discuss things and then dinner with Rudy and Shanda.

It is a gorgeous day and I might just spend some time sitting by the ocean. There is a very small amount of VOG in the air, causes my eyes to burn, but not so bad. It will be a couple months till we get back.