My new project at SprayOnSalt.com is now officially live. This Web 2.0 application allows people to instantly share what sites they are browsing with their friends as well as with visitors to their personal blog or Web page. It is free and easy to use -- you drag a "bookmarklet" to the bookmark bar on your browser and click it when you are on a Web page you like. See what other people are browsing and sign up for an account at SprayOnSalt.com. Have fun!

P.S. The product recommendation blog has moved here.

A little over a week ago I got a coupon for a free yoga class at a nearby yoga studio. It was a spur of the moment decision that led to me even accepting the coupon since a guy was handing them out on the street outside of the studio. As a rule I never accept things being handed out on the street (except for the product samples they sometimes distribute around Dupont Circle when they are testing something new) but I thought: well, I have some free time with my vacation going on and I've been wanting to do something to add to my running and help my flexibility, maybe I'll do it.

Tonight I tried out the Flow 1 class at Flow Yoga Center. It was a lot of fun, very energizing, and also really tough. I used a lot of muscles I'm not at all used to using in running. By the time we got to handstands in the shape of an L with our feet on the wall, I was pretty worn out. I'll definitely go again if I can get the money and time situations to work out. I think it is definitely worth it. The question now is if I should keep going to Flow, which was very nice, but not as convenient as the other studio a block and a half away. Hmm, I think I may stick with what I know. In any case, it was fun.

One of the companies I buy (very good) software from sends me a gift basket every year. It is nice of them but then they are always a friendly company to work with: Dundas Software. This year, however, they did especially well. I just opened up my all-Ghirardelli basket! It is a whole selection of nothing but chocolate in a variety of shapes, flavors, and consistencies. I'm definitely going to enjoy this one.

My dad came home on Tuesday and seems to be doing really well. He is on a regular exercise routine which mostly involves walking around parts of the house for a few minutes 3 or 4 times a day. Staying warm is a problem as his body tries to get back in balance, but otherwise the progress looks really good. My brother has been visiting this week and will leave tomorrow; I'll be down there on Thursday to stay for Christmas.

On an unrelated topic, my glancing encounters with presidential also-rans continues. A few months ago I passed Jesse Jackson a couple of doors down from my condo; this Sunday on the way home from grocery shopping I walked past Ralph Nader. I wonder who is next?

Family members reading this blog already know about this, but others may not. My dad had urgent heart surgery on Friday morning. He went in for an exam on Thursday morning but he ended up staying overnight so they could perform a single bypass and a valve replacement early the next morning. The surgery went very well apparently and he is now recovering in his own room at the hospital in Asheville. My mom says that the care he has received from all the staff at Mission Hospital has been simply amazing.

I spoke to him last night and he seems to be in amazing condition given how recent the major surgery was. He has been up and doing 3- or 4-times-a-day exercise walks; they expect he will be able to go home on Monday or Tuesday. The doctors say he will be weak and easily fatigued for a few weeks and not up to full strength for 6 months weeks, but at that point the hope is he will feel even better than before with a heart working at full capacity instead of partially blocked and with a leaking valve. We are all very relieved that things are going so well.

[I know he probably doesn't want a picture posted, but I'm going to put in a tiny one to show how good he is looking only 24 hours after surgery.]

Of all the horrible and bizarre things to come out of Iraq, this has got to be one of the strangest I've seen (from the New York Times, typos preserved):

In an Internet posting, an insurgent group, the Victorious Army Group, set a Jan. 15 deadline for a contest to design its Web site "worthy of the group's reputation and the reputation of the jihad and the mujahideen," according to a translation provided on Saturday by the SITE Institute, which monitors jihadist Web site. The winner of the contest is promised "Allah's blessings" and the opportunity to fire three long-range rockets at an American military base "by pressing one button with his blessed hands."

I wonder if they also are looking for someone to write blessed HTML. Perhaps pure-of-heart javascript? Does including CSS hacks for proper IE display make one an American sympathizer? How totally, completely weird.

Actually, there are some interesting questions here. When everything one does is infused with religious fervor, how can one even begin to use technology given that virtually all of it is secular (and either Western or northeast Asian) in origin? Do they know that using AIM means they are probably utilizing code written for ICQ, a instant messaging product purchased by AOL a few years ago but developed by an Israeli company?

Sigh. I thought I would get it this time. It is the perfect evening for a fire: cold, windy, with snow or something like it in the forecast. I doubled the number of firestarter sticks, added several sheets of newspaper, and built the whole thing up into a little pyramid. It flamed nicely for about 20 minutes until the kindling was burned out, then died completely after charring the outside of my logs. I'm back to the trusty Javalog now and thinking unfavorable things about Estonia's forests.