Why are you posting so many new projects lately?

GETTING OLDER DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO STOP LEARNING. There is no "off" switch on the creativity machine!

I had been nearly immobile and in severe chronic pain for more than 15 years. My hip replacement took the intense pain down to a manageable level and allowed me to become me mobile again. I eliminated my dependance on pain medication, started cooking healthy foods, lost more than 170 pounds, and started walking every day. My renewed interest in life inspired my creativity, and I started coding again.

That led to recording my recipes on my website, creating new website galleries for Carol and Jess, and taking online courses to update my skills with recent developments in responsive frontend web design (especially for mobile-first development).

Do you really write all this code??

I'm not shy about co-opting code (especially javascript) from someone else. I'm not trying to re-discover fire here. The thing is, I hate code bloat. So many websites use code frameworks that add tons of unnecessary code that their pages take forever to load. I am a big fan of writing the most efficient code I possibly can. Every project is a new learning opportunity, and makes my code a little better.

What did you do to lose so much weight?

Tracked calories, mostly. I budgeted for 900 calories a day instead of the thousands of calories I had been eating. Quit eating processed foods, and stopped binging on fast food. I rarely eat red meat, cheese, or bread. Fish, chicken, and lots and lots of fresh veggies are the staples in our diets now.

What did getting a new hip and changing your diet do to your physical health?

My health has improved so much that I no longer have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. My A1C (blood glucose) level went from a high of 8.6 to my current level of 4.8 (that's really, really good).

If you're so broken, how do you sit and type to write code and recipes?

Painstakingly, on my iPad from my living room recliner, one key-press at a time, using a stylus. It takes a lot longer to type than it used to, but what the hell else do I have to do with my time than walk, cook, clean, write code, listen to music, or...

Wait a minute. That's a pretty full day for an old guy.

Why do most of the things you write include sarcasm and bad jokes?

Because I'm a snarky bastard. With no kids of my own, everyone else has to suffer under the weight of my bad dad jokes. Get over it!

What caused all the furor at the Tickle Me Elmo factory?

The Tickle Me Elmo factory has just hired a new employee, and today's her first day on the job. The plant manager gives her a quick tour of the assembly line, then shows the employee her station at the end of the line where she will be operating. The morning whistle blows and production on the line begins churning out red fluffy children's toys one after another.

Within an hour, production has halted, the line is backed up and the manager is forced from his office to see what's going on in the factory. The other employees all point to the new worker at the end of the line. The manager walks over to find the new worker, outfitted with a sewing machine, a bag of marbles, and a spool of red fluffy Elmo fabric- all of which were not there when he sat her down at the beginning of the day.

In horror, the manager connects the dots and realizes what has happened... A group of Tickle Me Elmo dolls lay in a pile, all with fluffy pouches sewn between their legs. He screams "What have you done!" To which a shocked employee on her first day responds, "What you told me to do!"

"No!" Screams the manager, "I told you to give them two TEST-TICKLES!!"