ArchibaldQ

Moving into Halstead Tower

2008-07-07T18:44:00.003-05:00

From humble beginnings, with only an air mattress in the master bedroom,

To movers chuckling that I wouldn't have enough space, and still about a third of the boxes yet to come into the guest room,

and me starting to think they were right, from the looks of the main room,

I started unpacking the hundreds of boxes and flattening them in a pile in front of the couch.

And this is where it's gotten me a week after the movers left. I hate that things have to get messy before they get clean when you're moving in someplace new. That stack of boxes is nearly three feet tall!

Packing

2008-06-20T13:06:00.004-05:00

There are now five people in our condo packing everything we own. I'm going to live out of a suitcase for a week or more, and Ap's going to live at a friend's house for a few month's. Seems weird to be displaced already, even though I'm not leaving till Sunday! Oh, and there's a possum that refuses to leave the outside closet again. Hopefully he'll be gone by tomorrow.

Good Bye Sherman

2008-06-18T19:31:00.002-05:00

A 1991 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Station Wagon is no longer a member of our family. For 17.5 years it's served us well, and today, at 132,477 miles, it moves on to another owner. Strange, but I'll actually miss that car - that piece of family nostalgia - even though I ended up cursing it more than loving it these past few years. Hopefully my new Mazdaspeed 3 will be as steadfast and durable as Sherman has been for me since 2000.

Halstead Tower!

2008-06-12T23:35:00.004-05:00

For better or worse, we're going with my initial impressions and living in the Halstead Tower on King Street for at least the first year of our tenure in the DC area. It's on the 13th floor, has a nice view, many very bourgeois amenities (as Janaina puts it,) and is very close to my job. It's easy enough to move in a year if we decide we hate it, or need a more central location. It's now time to focus on finishing out the Houston condo. Egads I'm stressed. I haven't slept more than 5 hours a night since Sunday, have been up for 18 hours today already, am 4 30th floor balcony beers (yay Yeungling!) past the end of a day that saw me looking at 15 different apartments from 7 locations, have been on the phone for more than four and a half hours solid (recharged my cell battery twice today) with apartments, AP, mom, local friends, work, my real estate agent and various others, and still can't get my sorry self to bed. Still lots to do, but at least one big decision is made.

Bring on tomorrow.

Fairlington Condo

2008-06-12T07:39:00.000-05:00

Video Walkthrough.

Google Maps

2008-06-11T20:49:00.002-05:00

Here's a map of the locations of 3 of my favorite apartment possibilities so far (plus CNA.) Clicking on the markers should give a few details and links. You should be able to bring up the DC metro map overlay as well, to give a better idea of where things are.

Halstead Tower Video

2008-06-11T18:13:00.001-05:00

3 minute video of 13th floor 2/2 in Halstead Tower

2008-06-11T08:31:00.002-05:00

Halstead Tower
Floorplan C3 (mirrored) - 1149 Sq.ft.
13th floor

Kitchen
Master Bathroom

2nd Bedroom

Main Room

Main Room / 2nd Bedroom

Family! Graduation!

2008-05-10T10:33:00.006-05:00

Lots to update, little time. Matt's been here since Monday - Awesome. I love it when he visits, even though I can never think of super kick-ass things to do in Houston. Still a blast. Emily, Mom, and Papa came in on Thursday, increasing the family awesomeness quotient at least threefold. Yesterday was the Doctoral hooding ceremony, which was nice, short, and indoors - the first relying on the second two. Today the graduation ceremony held in the main academic quad was blessed with glorious cloud cover that managed to reduce the excessive sweating inside full academic regalia to a sustainable level without causing severe dehydration. That's always a plus. Now we're off to lunch and better things in the future. Hooray for family and Graduation!

On a more somber note, My grandmother passed away yesterday after a long and full life. She had been personally ready to go for quite some time, but was still sharp as a tack and fun to talk to even only a few weeks ago, when last I spoke to her. She will be missed dearly, even though distance didn't let us see each other as much as I would have liked.

Plane Nonsense

2008-04-23T13:35:00.003-05:00

Was a bit tired yesterday on the flight home from Detroit, and felt like writing a bit in my slightly altered mind-state. It was nice to wake up and go to sleep in the same city, but all the travel in between was a bit much. I mean, I was on a plane yesterday longer than I was interviewing. Anywho, enjoy. Or don't. I only wrote it for me, really.

Thirty Thousand Feet

Soaring like kings
or maybe sardines,
for a fare
cloudscapes from above
become commonplace.
The wonder is there, in the back
of my mind, craning
to get a better view
and drink it all in
with an unending draught
of amazement.
Who would have thought
a thousand years past
- or maybe only enough that
you still had trouble tying
your shoes –
that such wonderful sights
would someday be ignored, or worse –
forgotten even as they appeared –
in favor of everyday things
brought from below
to keep us grounded. Travesty?
Maybe there’s more lost
than appreciation
to be gained and spent
on aesthetics, when perspectives
can be changed for a charge
to heights as lofty
as this.
Still,
it’s too easy to forget
that aircraft grade alloys
are just dead weight
but for ground-level nuts
and bolts.
Can I find a balance
on the wing?

Biker Gang

2008-03-31T14:30:00.002-05:00

Our biker gang is kinda small at the moment, but we're focusing on quality before quantity.

Sugar mama.

2008-01-07T09:53:00.000-06:00

April is officially my sugar mama. She decides that the old setup just won't do, and enlists my help to buy some new stuff. Here's a quick before and after.

Before: 27" Daewoo CRTV, Aiwa receiver (w/ only 2 composite inputs working.)

Reciver Comparison: Onkyo on top, Aiwa below

After: Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver, Samsung 50" plasma HDTV, Xbox360
Woot! Surround sound and a huge HD screen make me never want to leave the couch! I'm never going to graduate!!! (oh, and rock band, too. did i mention rock band?)

Mexico Pictures

2007-10-25T16:10:00.001-05:00

Hidey Ho, strangers. I've been back from Mexico since Sunday - what a wonderful trip. Lots of riding motorcycles with April's Dad and his Lake Chapala friends. I did about 150 miles average each 7 of 10 days we were there, half, or more, on dirt. I took a lot of pictures, most of which are complete crap, but decided that instead of singling out the good ones and posting them here, single-file, I'd give Picasa and Google's web albums a try. So here's one of my favorite scenery pictures I took this time, and the rest can be found on my picasa page.

Porch

2007-09-30T19:01:00.000-05:00

Finished at last. What do you think?

At the very least, it's a lot better than the stained, dirty concrete that's under it.

Doin' the porch

2007-09-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

My feet ache. My back aches. Ten hours on the back patio today and I'm not even done the measly 65 square feet that I'm tiling with slate 12x12s. I'm such an amateur. But I guess that's to be expected. I was hoping to at least get the tile laid today and be able to grout tomorrow, but it looks like my two day tiling experiment will turn into a three of four-day extravaganza. Slate is kind of a pain in the ass since it's uneven and some pieces are thinner than others. I hope the grout will help smooth it out a bit. All in all it's not too bad, if I do say so myself, though I'm glad I'm practicing on the porch before tackling the bathrooms and kitchen. 250 square feet versus 65. I don't even want to think about it right now. I need more Advil.

Kittens, Kittens, and more Kittens

2007-09-13T10:38:00.001-05:00

I know I haven't posted in almost two months, so no one will probably read this. However, the kitten thing is getting a little out of hand, so I thought I'd post a few more pics of the 5, that's right, 5 kittens we now have living in my bathroom. We're hoping to get them adopted through Petsmart's program, but in the meantime we've got to find some money for basic vet stuff before they'll take them. It seems worth it at the moment, 'cause boy, are they cute! Just see for yourself.This was the day after we started putting food out for them. At first they were fighting each other for it, they were so hungry. Now everybody's happy and full, and we've got ourselves a pot full of kittens!
How could we keep this little bugger outside any longer?

So we brought them all inside and kept them in the bathtub for a little bit while we medicated some of their crusty eyes.

Hello! I'm too cute for words! Now bow to my commands!!!

Return of the Pointless Blogger!!!

2007-07-18T10:29:00.000-05:00

I'm back in action, oh faithful reader. That's right - reader, singular. Don't you feel special?

Not that there's been anything to read since April, but what the hell. Now there's more. Read away!

So instead of updating all that's happened in the nearly three months since I last posted, I'll just jump in with what's going on now - it's kinda hectic.

Last Saturday, we (wunnerful gf and I) rented a Uhaul and moved my roommate to his new apartment in the Galleria area. He really didn't have much stuff, so it only took about an hour - after which we went and got the rest of April's stuff from her now ex-apartment. She gave up a ten minute walk to lab for a 3 mile drive and the chance to live together for a few months. I'm really excited, too. It's been great so far, even though there are still boxes everywhere. And the roommate bedroom (Quads room, Aaron's room, Tim's room) is now the guest bedroom, computer room, and cat room, since they're still petrified of Shiva, the 75lb terror that she is. (I think she'll pounce on just about anything that moves quickly as long as it's less than a quarter her weight.)

So this new "guest bedroom" has already seen its first guest! On Sunday we get a call from April's dad saying that he'll be in Houston on Monday to pick up a new Kawasaki KLR650 with his friend Ray, and they need a place to stay. So we borrowed an air mattress and shoved some boxes aside and played host for a few hours after a nice dinner at Goode Company Seafood. Trout Almondine - tasty! They left at 8 to get to the shop by the time it opened so they could get back to Lake Chapala at a decent hour the next day. Right. Did I forget to say they drove from Mexico? Hell, I'd do it - those bikes kick ass!

The last and strangest thing at the moment is that now the animals in our house outnumber the people 2 to 1. A very vocal 1.5lb orange kitten decided to take up residence in the storage shed on the porch over the weekend, keeping me up for two straight nights. For my own health and sanity we finally caught it and managed to keep it quiet in the 2nd bathroom last night. But really, we just don't need another animal in our 2 bedroom condo. April's vet says that at this time of year the ASPCA will just put down any kitten under 2 lbs since they're already overcrowded with cats, so we're not sure what to do with it. It's really scared of everything, obviously misses its mother, but now lets us pet it and play with it, albeit only in the relative safety of the bathroom. After all, Shiva's too scary to let your guard down if you're only 2% of her weight.

So do you know anyone who wants a ridiculously cute kitten? It's free to a good home, and I'll probably put up a posting on craigslist tomorrow if I can't find anyone I know personally to take it. Think of the kitty! (Please hurry, April's already nicknamed it Sydney.)

Long Overdue

2007-04-24T15:20:00.000-05:00

So, it's been something close to eternity since I last updated this little blog-thing - not that you all didn't notice. I mean, with readership like this I'm quite frankly astounded that I only saw 32 articles on CNN about my startling and prolonged absence from the blogosphere. And lets not get into Fox. Those guys were practically having a party! Sorry to bust your bubble, Rupert. I'm back.

So, to keep this from exploding into a long, drawn-out post that nobody will want to read (even more than usual) here's the abridged version of what I probably would have posted in my absence.

Easter Weekend: Overall - Great! Family - Great! Food - Great! Vegas - Hot, but great! Excalibur hotel - Meh. Not bad, but not great. April losing her cellphone - Really not great!

Beer Bike: Not even. The badly-planned and poorly executed rain date for this Rice tradition was turned into Beer Run because of the high winds blowing the puddles all over the track. Lame. The rest of the weekend was Great, though! Saturday after the B.R. had a pool party (heh, i almost typed poop larty! just pretend i'm five.) with fantastic food, a frozen margarita machine, keg-riding, windy temperatures in the fifties, but water temps in the high eighties! a call from some friends had April and I rushing from the pool to downtown in less than an hour to catch a showing of "Wicked" at the Hobby center. Fantastic. Then another party after that made for a busy Saturday. Sunday had a BioE-sponsored trip to see the Houston Aeros minor-league hockey - also fun. All in all a fun-packed weekend.

Typical work week with too many hours spent for the amount of tangible goals accomplished. Gotta stop doing that if I ever want to graduate. Trust me. I really, really do. Really.

Last weekend saw April and I driving up to Corsicana to visit her family. Her parents were in town from their normal abode in Mexico, and I got to meet the rest of her immediate family after we went sailing Saturday morning. (A really light catamaran and 20-30 knot winds make for some fast, nerve-wracking sailing.) I finally got a motorcycle-fix, too, getting to ride Jerry's SV650 along some of the fun back roads while he was on his Valkyrie. Bowling after some tasty dinner at the Old Mexican Inn (OMI to the locals) was fun, but I've literally never bowled worse - which was embarrassing in front of everybody, especially 200+ bowler Eric. Ah well.
Haydon and Peyton were bunches of fun, too, and kept us entertained for much of Sunday. Or was it the other way around? Either way, it was a good weekend, except for April's car needing fixing, but that ended up being a pretty minor fix.

This week has some more Matlab work to be accomplished, with hopefully interesting data analysis results to follow. Thrilling, I'm sure. Pics to follow when I've got a chance.

Cowabunga, Dude!

2007-04-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

You've gotta love remakes of your commercialized childhood playthings, especially ones that involve innocuous animals, toxic ooze, ninjas, and the requisite pinch of California surfer slang thrown in for good measure. Well, maybe you don't. There have been a bunch of bungled attempts to squeeze a buck out of my young generation's arguably misplaced sense of nostalgia already, which may have soured your desire for any more stumbling trips down memory lane, led by a myopic, asthmatic, one-legged tour guide. But TMNT was still a fun movie, if exactly what I was expecting - a visually pleasing rehashing of previous "turtle" themes and ideas for the younger, ADD, sorry, ADHD pre-teen crowd. There really isn't much worth writing about - if you were a fan of TMNT in your younger years, then you've probably already seen it and know what I'm talking about. In a similar vein, since they're really starting to pound home the advertising, I hope Transformers doesn't take the same route. With the names and budget behind it, it could be so much more, though that often doesn't mean much.

Two things...

2007-03-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

First, I thought it worthy of mention that I was rear-ended on Wednesday afternoon, not 100 yards from where I wrecked my bike a few weeks ago. There's no visible damage - Sherman's a tough Chevy - but I haven't had time to get it looked at yet. I was stopped at the Shepherd red light going east on Rice, as was the car behind me, and the car behind it, as well. The left turn lane gets its arrow before the lane going straight, where I was. For some unknown reason, the woman two cars behind me decides to hit the gas when the turn lane started going. Unfortunately, all the cars in the lane she was in were still completely stationary, at least until she slammed into the car behind me, knocking it into me. What fun! Now I'm just waiting for a third vehicle-related incident before I start to breathe easier on the road. Maybe, though, the blown tire, ruined wheel, and dented quarter-panel from the tow last summer when a friend borrowed Sherman to haul hardwood flooring was the first. (Of course, that could also count as three incidents by itself, and it was a while ago.)

Second, and less immediately pertinent, but interesting none-the-less, is the widening income gap in the country. As explained by the NY Times article about newly released 2005 tax data, the top 300,000 earners in the country had the combined income of nearly 150,000,000 of the bottom earners. The real ratio is closer to 440:1 between the two groups, but it's still almost double what it was in 1980. Another stunning comparison is that the top one percent of incomes in 2005 enjoyed the largest share of the total increase in US earnings since 1928! Egads. For me, the fun part is that I could possibly go from one extreme to the other over the next few years, (hell, I could quadruple my current income and still not make the top ten percent, so it's not likely) but I still think the imbalance is far too large, and even a bit foreboding. But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it will spur some much-needed change here in way taxes are assessed and maybe even used. A man can dream, can't he?

Net Neutrality

2007-03-29T20:19:00.000-05:00

If you're at all interested in the whole net neutrality issue, Engadget has a good article by the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review on the current state of things with the FCC. Give it a look-see.

Vegas, Baby!

2007-03-27T14:46:00.000-05:00

Next week, April and I are going to Las Vegas to be with the fam for Easter weekend. Matt and Emily are driving out from LA, Mom's going to be visiting Rod that week before, and we're flying in late Thursday night / Friday morning. We got our flight a little while ago, but just got our hotel yesterday. So now it's official, and I'm allowed to get excited. We're staying in the Excalibur, where I've never been, but it looks promising. I'm not one to gamble, especially since I'm pretty much broke all the time, but there's so much else to do, especially since my family will be there, I'm sure we'll have a great time. What happens in Vegas, will get posted here.

OLPC Thoughts

2007-03-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

Going to hear SJ Klien talk was kind of a waste of time today, except that I got to play around with the laptop. I didn't really hear anything you can't find online, including people who seemingly only want to throw thinly veiled insults at the project for no other reason than they don't see the need for it. (Some guy decided to phrase his long-winded "questions" extolling the virtues of Nokia in such a way that it was hard to believe he was listening to the same presentation that I was. People really need to decide if what they're going to say will foster further dialogue or just piss people off before verbally vomiting all over everyone in earshot.)

Such douchebaggery, however, seems to miss what I see to be an important point - Negroponte and those working with him obviously think that the project will do some good in the world. Indeed, facilitating education is rarely a bad thing. Even if it doesn't work, was born of mis-placed motives, or is thriving on media attention a bit more than some people find tasteful, there's still potential for the OLPC project to spur change more positive than negative, no matter the scale. And if someone else can do it better (Nokia, perhaps) then please give it a try.

On a personal end, I'm a little disappointed that due to production constraints, lone consumers won't be able to buy them for a while. It's so completely hackable that it would be really fun to see what you could make of it, especially if all your friends got one for the easy mesh networking. I guess I'll have to wait for a while to see if the project is as successful as people are predicting. They've thought about a lot of angles, as Klein made clear, and I hope it works, but I have a feeling that things won't go exactly as they've planned.

OLPC

2007-03-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

SJ Klein, director of content for the One Laptop Per Child project, will be talking and giving a demonstration today at Rice. I'm really interested in the whole OLPC thing, for better or worse, and will update later with my perspective on the talk. I'm hoping to get some hands-on time with the hardware and see how their beta-2 version holds up.

I love Techdirt

2007-03-23T10:50:00.000-05:00

... for things like this article about the cover-up of huge problems in e-voting machines used in Florida. Not that anyone will ever be held accountable, of course - that's just passe - but it's nice to see people uncovering the truth about incompetence and corruption. I just like to spread it around.

Quick Lab Update

2007-03-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

I'm trying two new experiments this week, both of which will hopefully find their way into my PhD thesis if they're successful. So far, however, my new molecules don't seem to be cooperating. I may need to try a different surface, or it may just be a bad batch. That's the problem at the moment - I can't tell which it is. I suppose it's easier to try a new surface than it is for the synthesis guys to make an entirely new batch of the suckers, but I at least know that there are a bunch of dissociated pieces running around the surface, so some extra filtration to ensure higher purity next time wouldn't hurt.
As it stands now, if both these things work well, I could be writing my thesis in a month. Cross your fingers. I'm trying really hard to be out of here with my defended PhD by August, so the next logical question is - what are you going to do after you graduate? Answer? I have absolutely no idea. I know I don't want to go into academia (at least for now) or government research, and somewhere in industry is where I'm aiming. Can I get a little more broad? Here I feel like I've narrowed it down to a third of my original possibilities, but that still leaves, oh, about a million more to explore.

So if you happen to know of any companies that could benefit from having a nanophysicist around - wait, let me rephrase that. We all know that everyone could benefit from having a nanophysicist around. If you happen to know of any companies that are looking for a nanophysicist, be sure to let me know. Because while my education and experience may be valuable, it's not exactly a plug-and-play situation with potential employers, as it would be for someone in Houston with a masters in geology, or chemical engineering, for example. I'm basically going to have to find a company I want to work for, and then convince them that my strange mix of skills, over-education, and experience is just what they need in some random position - maybe even one that doesn't even exist yet. So that may be a bit challenging. I'm never above accepting a little help in situations like these, so feel free to throw suggestions or ideas my way. I'll ingest and process them as best I can, all the while working frantically to write everything, research everything, and convince everyone I need to graduate.

Happy Birthday April!!!

2007-03-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

It's your day, so live it up! Happiest of happy birthday wishes are being continually sent your way, even though you're only a few hundred yards from where I'm writing this. Maybe they'll be even stronger, then - maybe they follow the inverse square rule of intensity and the closer I am to you, the more potent the wishes will be! Awesome.

Happy Birthday, cutie!

No Mama!

2007-03-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

Well, damn. Because of the wintry weather in the Philadelphia area today, Mom can't make it to Houston this weekend. Today's flight was canceled, and the Continental reps said that there were no more flights to Houston till Tuesday. Fat lot of good that does, when she has to be at a conference on Tuesday. No worries though, mom. You can come visit any time you like. The door's always open! (well, not really. mostly it's locked. i do live in a big city, you know. that just wouldn't be safe. but you get the idea.)

Weekend Weather

2007-03-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

Houston looks like it's going to have a wonderful weekend, weather-wise. Highs in the 70s, low humidity, and cool evenings make it a great time of the year. Great rodeo weather. Philadelphia weather, on the other hand, is about as crappy as it gets. Rain, freezing rain, and snow are currently enveloping the area, with no end till tomorrow morning. Because of that, it looks like my mom's visit that I was so looking forward to is going to be put on hold for a while, or severely shortened, at best. Her flight from Philly to Houston at 5ish has already been canceled, and every line of communication to find out other options is too busy to give any useful response. Yeesh. What are the chances, especially with how often she travels? Hopefully things will work out. I wanna see my mama!

Motorcycle Repairs: Part 1

2007-03-14T12:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, using the additional daylight that it's "savings time" allows in the pm, I got to work disassembling my thrashed TL. Step one, removing the ruined tail plastic was supposed to be easy - a few screws and some rubber press-fittings - but the bent tail pipe and can quickly changed that line of thought. In fact, just about everything was a lot harder to remove than I originally thought. Not one, but two bolts sheared off in my attempts to get things apart. The worst one, by far, is actually still in the engine casing - one of two bolts a the head of the first cylinder's exhaust. So now I have to figure out how to remove a lodged bolt fragment before I can even attach the new headers, and that's no easy task. Ugh. Anyone have any ideas?

I've removed the entire tail section - subframe, plastics, tail and turn lights, electronics, battery, exhaust headers, cans, rider pegs, and rearsets - as you can see in the picture. The good news is that nothing important seems damages beyond what I originally thought. I still need to get a new front left turn signal (cheap) a few bolts (cheap) and a pair of exhaust cans (very, very expensive) but I'm confident that I can do the work myself. Now, if I can just figure out how to remove a sheared bolt from the front cylinder casing, I'll be set!

Breck Pics

2007-03-13T14:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pics of my Breckenridge Trip last week. Again, awesome.

Breckenridge, Baby!

2007-03-12T16:28:00.000-05:00

Boy, oh boy, was Breckenridge great!!! I'll spare the myriad details I could go into, and post a few pictures here and a link to more for the rest for you to peruse in a little while. The short account follows, believe it or not.

Wednesday around noon, I checked out of the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver, fleeing the scene of APS after only two and a half days to meet April, Vince, Jennifer, David, Nikhil, and Brian at the airport. After a forty-minute production with the guy at Dollar, we got a Chrysler minivan and a Jeep Liberty for about $150 less than we should have paid. Score. The two hour drive across I-70 and down 9 was great, though the cars weren't too happy with the long steep hills and all our gear they had to haul. After finding our great little condo, we picked up our rental gear, did some grocery shopping for the next 4 days, and after dropping it all off ate at the Breckenridge Brewery before calling it a night at about 9:30. The first day at nearly 10,000 feet is exhausting.
Thursday morning showed us the incredibly short walk to the Quicksilver lift, and the beginning of a great day of skiing and snowboarding, with about an inch of fresh powder falling in the afternoon. With aching legs and April's great "Bella Pasta" and a few beers under our belts, we turned in early again.

Friday was a perfect bluebird day. Clear skies, no clouds, highs on mid-mountain hovering just around freezing - perfect for pictures. Those of us not taking lessons, in either a moment of clarity or insanity, decided to take the highest chair lift in North America (12,840 ft) and hike the rest of the way up to the 12,998 ft. summit of peak 9. Though altitude made it much more difficult than I'd imagined, with clear skies for miles, the breathtaking view completely made up for the difficulty of the short climb.

Saturday saw the crowds increasing, and by lunch the lifts I wanted to be on had 10-15 minute waits at the bottom. Luckily, it started snowing that afternoon, dissipating the crowds, cutting visibility to two-chair-lengths at times on the lifts, and laying down the most incredible powder I've ever been lucky enough to carve. Even with exhausted legs, I ran a few short mogul runs down some blue slopes - not something I'd consider easy on a snowboard. The powder just let you float over it, as smooth as you can imagine. It was an absolutely incredible end to three great days of snowboarding. As soon as I can afford it again, I'm definitely going back for more. The people I went with were great, the conditions were amazing, the condo, location, and atmosphere were just about perfect. Best. Vacation. Ever.

Quick Update from APS in Denver

2007-03-05T19:12:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update while I escape the commotion of four thousand APS physicists in one crowded (albeit very large) building. I'm back in my hotel room at the moment before meeting some people for dinner. My talk is done (it went very well, btw - I even got a compliment from someone noting that it was not only enlightening, but entertaining, to boot!) and aside from the mild fatigue that the moderate altitude brings on, I'm feeling great - anxious to get to Breckenridge and carve up some powder! It's good seeing people like my former roommate, Aaron, again, among others who've since left Rice for greener pastures. (Heh, like, money. Get it?) If it weren't for all the boring phyics, this would actually be a great time. Honestly, though, while most talks don't interest me in the slightest, there are always at least 40 to choose from at any given time, so there's bound to be something worthwhile to learn about. I'll update w/ more pics as soon as there are any worth posting. Here's one just to emphasize how excited I am about my proximity to the Colorado Rockies, and hence - both temporally and physically - to snowboarding. Woot!(- A view from a nice, quiet, secluded spot on the 2nd floor of the Colorado Convention Center -)

Premature Octogenarian Vacillatory Bipedal Locomotion

2007-02-26T11:50:00.000-06:00

... or, "Why I'm Limping like an Eighty-Year-Old Man."

There's a good deal more bruising down my left side that's not easy to show on a family-friendly web site, but what's really got me sore at the moment are the small areas of road rash on my left knee and ankle. They're not swollen anymore, but starting to heal up and scab over, so they're really stiff and inflexible. Just that little amount makes me really appreciate the leather jacket I was wearing, since I slid most of the 30 or so feet down the road head-first on my torso. And I'm not even going to talk about my helmet. Considering that I was only going about 35 when I hit the ground, and looking at the rash and scrapes it has, I'm amazed at the amount of skin my jacket saved. So yeah, mom - get yourself a good motorcycle jacket before you go off terrorizing the neighborhood again this spring. Don't make your son worry.

Tragicomedy

2007-02-21T10:07:00.000-06:00

If this weren't my life, and if money weren't such an issue at the moment, the last two days would be pretty damn funny. Unfortunately, it is my life, and I'm still in grad school, so neither of those is true. People I talk to on a regular basis know that I just had my bike in the shop for over a week for various work, though it was moved from "sometime soon" to absolute necessity when I noticed oil spraying out of the right side engine casing and all over the rear tire. Like I said before - recipe for disaster.

I just got my bike back Monday afternoon with nearly $800 worth of work done, including a new rear tire, chain, sprockets, engine cover & gasket, and new oil & a filter. All necessary, but lots more than I was expecting to spend. And I paid in cash. So what happened next?

Last night I wrecked my bike. Thrashed. Washed out the front tire going about 35 mph on my 4th trip in 20 minutes down the same stretch of road next to campus. I'm fine. A little sore, swollen, bruised, and with minimal road rash, but more pissed off than anything. My bike is completely ruined. Repairs would be more than it's worth, and I don't have collision coverage. So, basically, while I couldn't afford full coverage for the past three and a half years I've had the bike, saving a few thousand dollars, I've paid for it in the long run. I no longer have a motorcycle, and won't for the foreseeable future. Fie. What's even remotely comical about the whole thing is that I just dumped a huge amount of money (for a grad student, at least) into the damn thing the day before! "Here's $800, can I go wreck it now?" I'm a freakin' idiot.

Weekend Rundown

2007-02-12T12:34:00.000-06:00

I know it's been a while since I last rapped at ya, but much has transpired over the last few days.

Thursday was cool because former president William Jefferson Clinton came to Rice for a lecture. He only spoke for a little more than half an hour, but it was purposeful and to the point - a really neat experience.

Friday attacked me with the beginnings of a nasty cold, through which I rallied that evening to go to a Mardi Gras dinner party with April at Matt and Tracy's newly furnished house. A bunch of other friends were there to make it a great time, even though I was lethargic enough to be considered legally dead, I think.

Saturday Jonah and I rode up to Metric Motorcycles so he could change out his front tire, and on the way through the insane traffic, I noticed my engine casing was leaking prodigious amounts of oil that ended up spraying all over the rear tire - a recipe for disaster. So, intending to get a new rear tire and chain soon anyway, I left my bike at the shop. It seems it will be at least a week before I get it back, and not before dropping at least another five hundred bones on my main mode of transportation. (That's more than twice the number I have in my body, so I guess I'm going to have to find a donor.) Saturday was also Jonah's birthday, which a bunch of people celebrated at Slick Willy's and The Gingerman. I think the alcohol killed a bunch of the bugs swimming around in my head, but the cigarette smoke riled up my throat even more.

Sunday was laid back for the first part, but we had an indoor soccer game - our last of the season - that guaranteed our first place finish! By that time I think my body had just about given up trying to fend off this cold any more, and I started crashing hard after getting home last night. So today I feel like complete crap, and I'm writing this from home. I'm going to work on my paper on my laptop so the day's not a total waste, but when I seem on course to go through all the tissues in my house before the close of the day, I don't think much will get done. Of course, had I refrained from all my activities over the weekend, this cold would probably be kicked by now. But who wants to do that? (Ask me when I get fired.)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2007-02-05T17:56:00.000-06:00

I know it's late in the day and I've already talked with you, but I want the rest of the world, or just those few that read this blog at least, to know that it's your special day! So here's to the greatest mother a son could have. I wish you good health, much love, and boundless happiness for your next year, just like you ensured I had throughout all my formative years. Happy Birthday, Mom!

In about 4 hours

2007-01-25T22:42:00.000-06:00

... my alarm is going to wake me up so I can shower, finish packing, and get to a friend's house to catch a much-appreciated ride to the airport before my flight boards at 5:30. While Matt and Emily catch a red-eye from LA, even with a layover, they'll still be in Providence about two hours before I will. Lucky them, they get to wait for me. We're off to Wayland Massachusetts, along with a number of other people (Mom and Aunt Kris among them,) to be with my family for Uncle Russ' memorial service on Saturday. And I'm feeling a little emotionally confused. Its usually such a good thing for us all to get together - traditionally only for summer vacations at the Cape and Christmas II celebrations - that I can't get rid of the conditioned impulse of excitement at the prospect. It will be good to see those who will be there, but of course I wish we didn't have the reason. I guess just being there is about all I can do, too, so that's what I'm going to spend the weekend doing - just being. There. With family.

Uncle Russ

2007-01-19T17:23:00.000-06:00

Today my thoughts are with my cousins and Aunt. Uncle Russ passed away yesterday, losing a long battle with cancer, and leaving what I know is an indescribable vacancy in their lives. I can empathize, but can't be in their shoes. I will miss him terribly, but nothing compares to losing a father or a husband. I can give them all my love and support, but there's nothing I can give them to make it hurt any less. And that might be the worst part. I want to give them something - a word of encouragement, an expression of my love for them, a token from my own experiences - that will help it hurt less, even if only a little. But there's nothing anyone can do on that level. It's an intensely and necessarily personal pain that can be shared with others, but not alleviated by them. Still, I want to do what I can, not only to show my love and support, but to honor his memory. At the moment, I've only got a token.

I'll never forget the Cape Cod summers in his various sailboats - they were his highlights to me: a small, almost insignificantly small part of the whole wonderful person he really was. The wind in the sails, the hot summer sun, the joyfully fun and exciting outings with Seagull Beach on the horizon; all these were only parts of the backdrop to what I saw as his show. Still, I truly saw my uncle those times, and hold on to them as a part of his definition. I've missed all that for years, and I think I'll miss it even more now.

Nearly a month

2007-01-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

... since I last posted. Not much has changed. I've been to PA and back for the holidays, spent New Years in Houston with friends, and have gotten back into the excruciatingly frustrating routine of stagnant research. In an interesting note, it's actually about ten degrees colder here in Houston right now than it is in Media, PA. That's a rarity. I decided that the threat of freezing rain this morning and tonight was enough to keep me from my motorcycle today - but not yesterday. I bundled and layered up, with my rain suit and everything, and actually rode to lab in sub 40 degree rain. I ask you, hardcore, or just stupid? (It was actually a bit of fun, if I overlook the fact that even with glove liners, my fingertips were painfully cold after only 3 miles.)

I'll try to keep up with this silly little blog more frequently now that I've had my yearly respite from it, and keep my four readers up to date with my oh-so-exciting life. Hopefully by this time next year I'll be in a real job with some real updates to share, but until then, I'll just be dishing out more of the same whiny grad student drivel. So here's to another year of blogging irrelevance! Hooray!

Oh, and here's a picture of my turf-burned knee that I got last Saturday playing keeper on our Cuervo Goaled indoor soccer team. (Pretty sexy legs, there, eh?) It still hurts like a bitch, and I'm keeping it all gauzed and taped up. I hope it heals by the weekend for our next game!

I think I'll stop drinking Soda

2006-12-19T15:40:00.000-06:00

This article describes what happens in your body when you drink a coke. Awesome!

Holiday Travels

2006-12-19T15:09:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I head to the East Coast for over a week, staying at my mom's while my brother and sister are there, too. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone for more than a few days this time, and seeing all the extended family is a huge added bonus. Christmas has turned from a time when I was a kid, to be excited about what I might be getting, to being (close to) an adult, and being much more excited about what I'll be giving and the people I'll be spending time with. It'll be great, to be sure, but with so many of my relatives infirm in some way or other, I hope it doesn't end up being too much of a hassle for them and those closest to them. There's also a good possibility that it will be the last family gathering of its kind for the same reasons, so it seems important to really enjoy it to the fullest. I especially love our family's Christmas Eve II, where we all sing carols in harmony. And trust me, with as much musical talent as everyone in this family has, it's really something to hear. Yay Christmas! Excited!

It's actually there!

2006-12-13T16:31:00.000-06:00

My brain, that is. So for some of you who doubt at times, here's proof!

I took part in a cognitive psychology experiment a few weeks ago, and volunteered to get my noggin scanned for about forty five minutes in a fMRI. It was simple word-association thing, where you had to respond to various random nouns flashed up on a screen with the first verb that came to mind. It's kinda cool. Aside from this image, I've also got three movies - one on each cartesian axis - moving slice by slice through my head. Really cool, if you ask me. Though I do look kind of strange, even without that huge chunk taken out of my head.

December 7th, 1941

2006-12-07T10:55:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder that today is Pearl Harbor Day - a time to reflect on the atrocities that men willfully inflict on each other under the exonerating moniker of "War."

What's so immensely sad, beyond the loss of thousands of unique lives, is the thought that somewhere people got together and supposedly justified the horrible pain, suffering, and death they knew they were about to cause. And today, if anything, should be a day to remember, and be outraged that this sort of abhorrent justification is still going strong all over the world.

Research Sucks

2006-12-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

Yeah. That's about it. With no publishable new data in nearly a year, two papers still sitting unedited on my advisor's desk since March, various parts of my setup not working, multiple projects to try (again and again) but none of which I think will work (or are even worth the time,) pressure to graduate by May (HAH!) and a complete lack of interest in my research topic (mine or anyone else's,) my research is not a high-point in my life right now, to put it euphemistically. It also occurs to me that even with an eventual PhD, there's a complete dearth of skills or knowledge that I've really acquired over the last four-plus years that make me more marketable in a job hunt. Unless I stay in academia, which I'm loathe to do, this has basically been at best a respite from the real world, and more likely a huge waste of time that I could have spent furthering other, more long-lasting and useful goals. The fun of it all is that there are about five different projects, all basically related, that I have at the moment. None of them seems likely to succeed, and none of them interests me in the least. There's no chance that I'm going to have enough data to graduate by May, even if one project miraculously does work, so where do I find my motivation to stay in lab ten hours a day to ensure that I eventually will get some useful data? I think I need a motivational kick in the ass, or I may as well just leave now.

Thanksgiving in LA

2006-11-22T21:55:00.000-06:00

And I'm here! On the busiest travel day of the year, I arrived at the airport and got to my gate in fewer than ten minutes. Of course, then I had to wait for nearly two hours before even boarding the plane, but honestly, it was much better than getting all stressed and not waiting.

So now I'm in LA at the kick-arse abode of my bro and sis, and we're making mac and cheese (with hot-dogs, of course) for a bit-o-dinner. Our mac-fu is strong! That, and we're all pretty tired, and it's going to take real stamina to get through the marathon of food that Matt has planned for the big Turkey day. So sleep tonight is paramount. But tomorrow - tomorrow we party till the cows come home!!!

Gotta love Fox News

2006-11-21T15:51:00.000-06:00

When they start attacking animated kids movies, you know something's got them pretty defensive. But heavens, why should they be on the defensive? The Right is right, and they never have to defend their own - it's better to lash out wildly in the panic-stricken throws of defeat than to try to actually change anything.

Busy Weekend

2006-11-20T12:03:00.000-06:00

Gorgeous weather and great people made for a fantastic weekend, perfect for this time of year right before everything gets hectic and stressful. Friday after work was an alumni association sponsored "Red beans and Rice" event with free beer and food - Impossible to for any grad student to pass up. Unfortunately, a bunch of people apparently had some adverse reactions to the food and were sick for a while, but it made for a nice, relaxing Friday night.

On Saturday afternoon, April and I went to the annual Art Crawl downtown, where local artists open their studios to the general public and everyone mills around between the thirty or so galleries spread out around the north end of downtown. It was perfect weather for walking and there were some really interesting pieces, but there was so much that we couldn't possibly see it all in the time we had. We probably hit about ten places, most displaying multiple artists, and got a bite to eat in the middle at a neat little cafe before heading up 290 where April was helping host a couples baby shower for a good friend of hers. That was a lot of fun - got to meet lots of great people and get entertained by a precious ten month old tottering around the place.

Afterwards, we still had lots to do, seeing as it was Dharmpal's birthday on Saturday. We couldn't let that slip by unnoticed, no matter how much he wanted us to. A bunch of people hit up the Kelvin Arms, and with many three wise men consumed, ghost stories told, and erotic photohunt played, we shut down the bar before parting ways for the evening, some a little the worse for wear than others. Pics to follow once I can steal them from April.

Sunday was a great lazy morning in a warm comfy bed - always a favorite - before finally seeing Borat with April and her labmate Andre in the afternoon. Meh. It was about what I expected, which is to say I really wasn't that excited to see it. But hey, it seems that it has effectively killed all the Borat-speak that has permeated a lot of witty, comedic banter lately. Thank god.

So that's it for now. I'm excited about going to LA for Thanksgiving this year. I can't wait to see everyone, even though it will be for such a short time. Turkey, here I come!

Happy Birthday

2006-11-10T10:13:00.000-06:00

to Julie! I've somehow managed to miss it by a day or more for years now, but not this time. And even though we hardly ever get to see each other, the long distance between NYC and Houston won't keep you from my thoughts. So here's a brief 'best wishes' to one of the most creative, talented, and all-around coolest girls I have the pleasure of knowing. Happy Birthday, Julie!

(and yes, she's standing on a bench in this picture :)

Today's the day...

2006-11-07T10:16:00.000-06:00

VOTE!!!

For the love of god and (more importantly) country, get off your ass.

End of an Era

2006-11-03T14:04:00.000-06:00

Well, Dr. Trionfi (a.k.a. Aaron, my roommate since May 2004) is leaving for Albuquerque today. He's been probably the best roommate I've had, and I'll certainly miss him. I hope everything at Sandia goes great for him, though I have no doubt he'll own the place by the end of the year. So not that he'll need it, but good luck, Aaron!

Now, anybody need a place to live in Houston? I've got a lovely 2/2 condo near the med center with an empty room, and I hear the guy who lives there isn't a total jerk.

Halloween Fun

2006-10-30T10:11:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post. The GSA party on Saturday was lots of fun, as was volleyball before that (we won!) Here's just a single pic of April as Ariel and me in my ghetto legoman costume. I'm actually pretty pleased with how it came out with only two hours work on it. What you can't see is the "Lego" sign on my back, those little holes that all legomen have in the backs of their legs, curved yellow C-shaped hands (that sucked anyway) and April's mermaid fins. Trust me, it's all there.

Job Search Starts

2006-10-19T17:36:00.000-05:00

So I got an email from McKinsey & Company yesterday asking if I could come to the first round of interviews in Atlanta on Tuesday. Guess they don't feel the need to give us much warning. Of course I'm going, but I'm kinda freaking out about the whole thing. I have this way of starting things without really understanding the immensity of the situation until I'm pretty far in. And I've done it again. Anyway, Tuesday is just part one of a potential three, and it's at least 4 hours long, consisting, most importantly, of a 60-minute test to get a feel for how well you'd perform in a consulting position. Hrm. And there are a bunch of "practice" case studies that will actually count. I guess the whole thing from beginning to end is just one big test, but it's interesting going from the relatively laid-back style of being a graduate student to the fast-paced, high stress, top-tier consulting world. Boy oh boy this is going to be fun!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

2006-10-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

My biggest of big brothers (okay, the only-est of my only brothers, too) turns 30 today!!! Happy Birthday, you old fart! A guy I've always looked up to even once I grew taller than him, he's always been a trailblazer I've tried to follow and a great friend I can count on. It's done me good to have him as an older brother, and I would certainly be a different person today without him in the picture. While his influence isn't as strong now that we're separated by some thirteen hundred miles or so, his importance to me has only grown. They say life starts at thirty, but I think his really started at thirteen. He figured out long before most people that there's no point in waiting - you have to make things happen yourself. So here's to the first thirty years of your long life to come, bro! I look forward to being a part of it.

Big Brother or Impotent Imposition?

2006-10-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

This story about the steps taken to monitor children in a Houston school district has me thinking. First, how successful are these systems at actually stopping someone from committing another violent crime once he's set his mind to it? Most of these things have been meticulously planned, and it doesn't seem that constant monitoring would really help that much. Surveillance would get faster response times if implemented correctly, but alone it isn't a preventative measure.

Once you get into restricting who can go where, things get more secure, but they also quickly descend to that Orwellian level where personal freedom could be easily ignored "for their own good." When I have kids (I know, I know, god forbid) I won't want random people able to walk into their schools unchallenged, but I also don't want them to be lulled into forfeiting their civil liberties. I don't know the answer. But I do wonder how children today growing up with this kind of surveillance in schools will view future impositions by other governing bodies. Will they be more likely to allow constant, imposing surveillance in their jobs, their cars, on their cell phones and emails, or by their government? Will constant surveillance at a young age inure them to threats on their civil liberties later in life? It seems likely, but maybe, just maybe, it would create the opposite effect and produce a backlash once their kids are able to vote. Of course, that's giving people a lot of credit, and while I'm prone to give children a hell of a lot more credit than most adults, I guess I'm still a pessimist at the moment.

And the Nobel goes to...

2006-10-09T11:33:00.000-05:00

Another American! So far, the first four Nobel Prizes - Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Economics - have all gone to six Americans. With only the Literature and Peace prizes left, could it be a sweep for the US?

Mad Props!

2006-10-03T11:17:00.000-05:00

The Eagles beat Green Bay! Of course, looking at the injury reports, I don't know how long they'll be able to keep it up, but they're off to a pretty good start. And did anyone see how the Bears absolutely crushed the Seahawks? Where'd that come from?

In other news, my labmate and friend Dharmpal isn't getting the credit he deserves for his single pixel camera research, which is currently garnering national attention for Rice. I know the role, so I'm giving him a shoutout here and a reminder with the news links that he's the one responsible for making the hardware work. You go, man! We'll graduate someday!

It's Go Time!

2006-10-02T14:13:00.001-05:00

I've always wanted to say that.

But seriously - the Eagles on Monday Night Football! Woot! I'm only going to be at my Valhalla shift for a very short while tonight so I can run back to the 51" widescreen HDTV at my house and watch Green Bay get eviscerated in HD. Now that's my idea of a good time!

Fucking Cowards

2006-09-27T11:02:00.003-05:00

In the face of extremism of any sort that intends to incite fear - of violent reprisal, bodily harm, societal marginalization, restrictions of freedoms, or other threats to basic human rights - among any and all opposition, either from the extremists themselves or a "common enemy," the moderate, free-thinking remainder (and majority) of society has an outstanding obligation to itself and its future to refuse to be cowed by or give in to the outrageous demands of the fear-mongering vocal minority.

The decision by a Berlin opera house to cancel a show deemed insulting to Muslims is yet another cowardly step away from basic human freedoms. Granted, it's a travesty that individuals may have legitimate reason to fear for their lives if they happen to offend a group of religious whackos bent on ignorant misinterpretation of what is otherwise a peaceful and societally benefical doctrine, but the fact that they cave before even the threat of a threat smacks of incredible cowardice that sends a message of weak-kneed submission to a group of people already binging on the fear of the world. In general, I don't believe in offending people for no reason, but willfully restricting your own freedom of expression is right up there on my shit-list with the violent actions of those who would forcefully do it for you. If the moderates of the world don't grow a pair and realize that nutjobs are always going to find something to get riled up and violent about - that to submit to oppression is to actively support it - then this type of extremist adolescent behavior is only going to increase. And why not? It's working, isn't it? Fear is silencing opposing viewpoints - the cornerstone of productive dialogue - and it's not just happening abroad. The world doesn't need any more fucking cowards.

Mandatory and Useless Update # 28

2006-09-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

I'm really not sure about the number, but the last one was 27, so it seems to fit if you subscribe to the whole numerical order thing, which I occasionally spurn for the more random and unfortunately spurious numerical disorder thing. Hey, it's easier.

So there's not much new and exciting to report. No recent trips to Mexico, no substantially life-changing events, no eureka moments of self-revelation or research insights. Things plod along as usual, though the end of summer is finally peaking its head over the horizon. Today's the first day since early spring (wait... did we even have spring this year?) that I've had to wear my full leather motorcycle jacket. Marvelous! It will probably be too hot for it come lunch time, but riding home last night in my mesh jacket around midnight was a decidedly cold experience. That is, if I'm remembering that feeling correctly. It's been so long since I've felt an absence of sweltering heat while outside that I'm not sure I'm using the term correctly. Cold? I believe that's what it was.

Ironic, isn't it, that I chose to write about some nice cool weather on the day the news screams about the earth being the hotter than anytime in the last 12,000 years. If the temperature raises another 1 degree C, it will match the hottest era in the last million years. Now, how can scientists tell, within a single degree, how hot it was a million years ago? I know different techniques can provide estimates, but a single degree over a million years? How!?! I'd like to find out.

Another great day for the RIAA

2006-09-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

Gotta love when people who owe you money can't find you. Oh well, at least they tried, right? Right?

Lake Chapala region

2006-09-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

My crappy little black photoshop lines are the majority of the routes we rode while in Mexico. I'm still trying to find a decent map or satellite image of Santa Maria del Oro, which is off the bottom of this map. but it doesn't seem to exist.

Back from Mexico!

2006-09-13T14:53:00.000-05:00

And it was fantastic! The Lake Chapala area is just beautiful, nestled in the mountains with fantastic weather all year 'round. April's parent's house is great - spectacular view and location, especially for riding motorcycles - and her parents were incredible hosts. Her dad and I put probably 600 miles on the Kawasaki KLR 650s that he has - mostly in the first few days, too. The roads are great for this kind of dual-sport bike. Major highways (except for the toll roads) are two-lane, pothole-ridden playgrounds for anything with as much suspension travel as these things have (10+ inches!) And the speedbumps - sorry, topes - are everywhere. Where cars have to slow to a crawl to cross these monsterous road-hazards, we were flying over them at 50+ mph, or using them as passing zones in the busier areas. I don't really have the time to go into nearly enough detail to do the trip even the most trivial justice, but I've at least got some pictures up on my googlepage. It was a fun-filled trip, and I hope I have time to fill in some details later, but for now, this will have to suffice.

Olbermann: 1, Rumsfeld: Idiot

2006-08-31T14:21:00.000-05:00

Actually, I'd like to go into negative points, but that's just being petty. : )

While I'll admit that Keith Olbermann is often over the top on how he adresses certain issues, I generally agree with his sentiments. Here is a clip from his 8/30/06 show in response to Rumsfeld's abhorrent speech to the American Legion that everyone should watch, again and again, if necessary.

Mexico!

2006-08-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

I can hardly contain my excitement. In less than a week, April and I are leaving for her parent's place outside Guadalajara! Not counting the tourist destination of Cozumel, I've never been to Mexico before. It's going to be a nice, relaxing trip, from what I can gather, which is absolutely perfect. It will be especially nice to just veg with April since grad school usually keeps us pretty busy. While I do like activity-centered trips, I'm really in need of a good block of unstructured, unrestricted, unhurried time. And it's a fantastic bonus that it's going to be in Mexico. As an added super-bonus, April's dad has some dual-sports that we're planning to ride in the mountains around Lake Chapala. While I'm really looking forward to it, it will be my first time going off road on two wheels so I'm a little wary of doing something stupid and dumping the bike. Not really worried - but it has crossed my mind. Gotta go down to lab now. More later.

Mandatory and Useless Update #27

2006-08-25T16:20:00.000-05:00

Nothing much to post about, but once again, it's been so long that I feel compelled to write something, no matter how banal and pointless. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend of parties, movies, and maybe some relaxing in there somewhere. Oh yeah, and sleep. Lots of sleep. Maybe I'll hit the pool for a while, in an attempt to get rid of this grad-student pallor that smacks of cave-dweller. Oh yeah, and I recently had to update my personal profile for this blog - noting that I'm no longer a fourth year grad student. Scary. All the first years have been arriving this week - classes start Monday, not that it matters to me anymore - which really drives home that I've already been here a full four years. Even scarrier is that I have to plan on graduating in less than a year, and I have no clue what do do with myself afterwards. I'm open to suggestion! Here I am, in my 5th year of graduate school, without the slightest clue what I want to do after graduation. I mean, I've been in school continuously for 22 years, if you count nursery school. (Hey, it's got "school" in the name. It's got to count!) So really, I'd love to hear some suggestions. Based on the number of readers I have, I'll probably end up with 2 more ideas of what to do with my life than I have at the moment. Hey. Better than nothing. And if anyone suggests "tree" I'll still take it into consideration. Well, maybe. This isn't a halloween costume, after all.

Nothing, really

2006-08-17T20:01:00.000-05:00

Nothing much to report, though it's been so long since I've updated I'm feeling the urge. Research is going along slowly, as usual. Actually, there hasn't been any real progress in a while, so I guess "slowly" is just a euphamism for "nowhere." Yeah, that's more to the point. Research is going nowhere, just as usual.

It seems to have gotten really really hot here the past few days. Now, I know it's kinda hot in Houston to begin with, but it seems that this summer had lost a lot of its bite save for a few days here and there. And then this week came in and kicked me in the gut with size 13 combat boots. I nearly hurled. Just walking 100 yards to Valhalla to get lunch gets me all nasty and sweaty in a ways I don't really want to describe to the public. Of course, the fact that I ride a black big-twin sportbike in jeans, a black (but well-ventilated) synthetic and leather jacket, big fat helmet, and gloves to boot (but no boots) kinda makes it worse. But I'd rather sweat than leave a lot of my skin on the road in case of a wreck. I've definitely got the sweating part down these last few days. I'd started to wonder if I've just gotten used to Houston summers at last, but then I realized that this isn't the kind of heat and humidity (it really is the humidity) that you can "get used to," anymore than you can get used to breathing sea water.

Zion National Park

2006-08-08T15:59:00.000-05:00

So I've finally posted some pictures on my silly little googlepage under the recent events part. Honestly, my brother's pictures are much better, so if you want to see good pics, go to his blog.

k... so it won't let me upload any pics to this post at the moment. grr.

Mini-Vacation

2006-08-05T17:44:00.000-05:00

Last week I took off Friday for LA, where my mom was visiting my brother and sister. After getting to the bitchin house in the Hollywood Hills around 11, we headed to Zuma beach for the rest of the afternoon. Awesome. Matt and I (and even mom a little) hit the near-perfect waves for hours of body-surfing and a good deal of sun.

Saturday morning we left for Las Vegas with mom, Matt, and Casey. Though we hadn't reserved rooms in advance, it worked out for the best in the end, and we got to see a lot of cool hotels while we looked. I didn't gamble much, and we spent most of our time in New York, New York that night. Earlier in the day the three of us (sans mom) went up to the top of the Stratosphere, where Casey and I rode the Big Shot, the worlds highest thrill ride. I've forgotten how much I love that adrenaline rush. Fantastic!

Sunday started with still more traveling, this time out of Nevada, through a corner of Arizona, and all the way to South-Western Utah and Zion National Park. I can't say enough about the grandiosity of Zion, and the pictures, while pretty good, don't nearly do it justice. Let me just say that if you've never been there, you need to go. Hell, I need to go again, and it wasn't even a week ago that I left.

We three kiddies got there around noon and got a good hotel - the Bumbleberry just outside the park entrance. After we shuttled in, we went on a 5+ hour walk / wade through the somewhat swollen Virgin river and the Narrows at the end of the canyon. With 500-800 foot cliffs on both sides, often only a few yards apart, every corner brought about another breathtaking view. The thunder shortly after we'd turned around, just shy of 3 hours into the narrows, had me worrying about flash floods nearly the whole trip back, but luckily the rain wasn't heavy enough to worry about. At least till after we were out of the narrows. The next day, after a few wonderful nighttime thunderstorms, the already muddy river looked like chocolate milk, and the narrows were closed. We chose a good order, it seems.

Monday morning after a nice breakfast at the Bumbleberry restaurant, we did a two-mile, 1500+ foot climb (and descent, duh) to Angel's landing. Again, words won't suffice, and pictures can't quite do it justice, but at least the pictures are quick. The last climb was the best, with chains attached to the rock face so we wouldn't go tumbling down the 1000 foot cliffs on either side of the "trail." At one point there was only about 4 feet between vertical cliffs on both sides - basically a path between certain and unavoidable death.

After a quick bite to eat, and with already tired legs, we hiked up to the emerald pools in the short time we had before we had to leave for LA - 6.5 hours away. We didn't get to see the lower pool, and the upper was definately cooler than the middle. We got rained on again on the way back, but it really wasn't too bad after a long, hot day hiking in the sun. After meeting up with mom again in Vegas, we got back to LA after midnight and had a good sleep. Tuesday was all about Emily's birthday - my little sister's 23! holy crap! We saw Miami Vice (better than I thought it'd be) and generally just hung out. Unfortunately I had to come back to Houston on Wednesday, but a short trip was much better than none at all. And many thanks to mom who made it all possible. It was great seeing my family - something I've been lucky enough to do twice so far this year. Of course, it made me realize how much I love, and how much I really want more vacation time soon. If only money grew on trees!

Irksome

2006-07-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

Two news-items I just couldn't pass up this morning:

BBC news says that Kazaa will become a legal music downloading service, and has also agreed to pay an over $100m compensation to the record industry. First of all, I always thought that kazaa and other p2p services were legal downloading services. The entire claim that they're responsible for piracy is ridiculous. Sure, they help it, but why not go after the companies that make recordable media, too? Or even hard drives? It's all just a big, frantic money-grab by an archaic industry run by a bunch of lazy, rich, innovation-allergic men frightened into paralysis of potential change.

Secondly, this article is so incredibly shallow that the extent of the details about the >$100m payoff is that it's going to the "record industry." Come on, BBC. Where are the important questions? Instead of following the money trail, the article just illustrates just how far up the establishment's ass the authors nose really is. I can practically smell the stench of digested musicians through my computer.

A bit of googling shows that the payoff goes to Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group Plc and Warner Music Group in Los Angeles and Australia.

The second news item would be that a court has upheld the long-time practice of invasive searches without suspicion at US borders, applying in this case to your hard drive. The 9th circuit court of appeals has ruled that border control agents can search through your computer at any time and for any reason. Actually, border control agents can search anyone or anything without any evidence or suspicion of wrongdoing. This, surprisingly enough to me, upholds a supreme court ruling that effectively ignores the heart of the fourth amendment at US borders. Apparently our country doesn't really start until you're some arbitrary distance inside it that isn't deemed a part of the border.

In other, more personal news, I'm off to LA tomorrow morning for a few days with the fam. I'm really excited about the whole thing. Not only are we all going to be in one place at one time, for a few days, at least, but we're going to Las Vegas and probably Zion National Park, too! It looks to be a lot of fun, as long as I get my paycheck when I'm supposed to. I have to say that I've got enough bills at the moment that I really shouldn't be going on this trip, (no, really) but I'm also in desperate need for a break from Houston and my research crap. When things don't work for day after day, and week after week proceeding into months on end, the stress level really starts to get to me. Anyway, LA, here I come!

Epitome of Awesomeness

2006-07-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

I just have to say how awesome it is that my mom - former nursery-school teacher mom who has sung "Wake up Little Pilgrims" every Thanksgiving I can remember and still insists that "jackass" isn't foul language - has a motorcycle. I mean, effin A, man. My mom rocks hard like that. Way to go Mom!! I think next she's getting some tattoo of like a killer bald eagle with sharp talons fighting a wolverine or something. Or maybe a Liger. That would be totally sweet. Now, just to make sure that my mom isn't more hardcore than me (it might be a futile attempt, seeing as I am a physics geek - I'm wearing a Penny Arcade shirt today, for god's sake) I'm going to have to pick up a nasty drug habit and, like, kill somebody or something. Don't make me kill someone, mom! Please!

Good Dog

2006-07-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

I'll miss Tera. She was a great companion and friend - more than just a pet. I'm sorry I wasn't there when she had to go. I'm not very good at these things, and my brother says it better.

Talk about Ridiculous

2006-07-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

An advertising executive has been jailed because his company produced an ad for an online gambling site - a site that is perfectly legal in its own country, but is apparently of the type that the US government is trying very hard to crack down on. Wow. Good thing we're being protected from all those scary advertising executives. Thanks, uncle Sam - now I can sleep better at night.

Manic Mechanic

2006-07-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

My car's in bad shape. A year ago I replaced the entire air conditioning system. Before that the brake lines (all of them) and master cylinder were replaced. A few months ago I had to recharge the coolant because most of it had leaked out. Two weeks ago I had to replace the alternator. This weekend a friend was borrowing the car to carry heavy wood flooring and had a massive blowout on 610. The tire, rim, and hubcap are completely trashed. The wrecker driver who had to get him out of the left emergency lane was apparently incompetent and smashed up the rear quarterpanel.

I finally got my bike back. After seven (7!) weeks. It looks like it should. I'm still waiting for about $300 from the insurance company. I've got to pay for the remaining $500 after that, some of which is for stuff that needed to be done anyway, e.g. brake pads. Total cost for all the cosmetic damage and repairs? Keep in mind that the bike never even fell completely over.

$2300.

I feel like I'm in a horrible mastercard commercial:

Gas for the trip to Austin: $35
Helmet, Gloves, and Riding Jacket: $700
Dairy Queen sundae on the way: $4
Watching your motorcycle being mangled in the parking lot: Priceless (but really $2300 and seven weeks - not exactly free.)

Or... it could go something like this for the past nine weeks:

Medical bills that your insurance doesn't feel like paying anymore: $530
Semester fees and premium for said crappy insurance: $850
Bike repairs that the other insurance doesn't feel like paying: $200
Motorcycle insurance: $200
Car repairs while your bike is in the shop: $600
Car insurance: $500
Previous medical bills over the past seven months: $3000+

Getting your Ph.D. and getting the hell out of Grad School to make real money: ...

I have no idea, actually. Sure would be nice.

Christ, I need to start dealing crack or something. I mean, find a legal source of additional income.

San Francisco de Asis

2006-07-14T17:10:00.000-05:00

Apparently I didn't feel like doing much work today, so here's another photoshop project. This is an authentic adobe church, San Francisco de Asis, a little way outside Taos, NM. For the few people who may have read this blog from its inception, you may remember the original picture from my posts about my summer vaction around Santa Fe.

Again check out my googlepage for the before and after comparison.

Name that Place

2006-07-14T10:42:00.000-05:00

While this may be incredibly easy for some people I know, I doubt anyone else will be able to figure it out. It's getting to be about that time of year, so I thought it would be appropriate to post a pic. The first person to get it right wins absolutely nothing!!!

Route 66 Junker

2006-07-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

No rants today, I promise. Instead, here's my latest photoshop project. As always, click on the pic for the full version.

To see a before and after, go to my googlepage.

Money Grubbing

2006-07-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

F*(|{ the FCC.

If you've read this blog before, then you know how much I love the FCC, especially with Washington's renewed puritanical obsession over broadcast indecency standards. Keep in mind that there's no actual list of forbidden words or phrases, acts or images. Nothing is specifically forbidden, but it doesn't need to be when we'll willingly over-censor ourselves to avoid the increasingly obscene fines that the FCC now has the power to levy. Part of free speech is the freedom to push the limits of decency so that new ideas can find their way into the public discourse more readily.

Granted, requesting previously aired tapes of sporting events isn't exactly restricting the flow of new ideas, but who can tell the effect it will have when there is no more live television? What really gets me, though, is the fact that they're combing tapes long after they've aired. After the tenfold increase in indecency fines our friends in Washington just pushed through, it's going to be extremely hard to convince me that this isn't just a money-grabbing scheme. I'd be interested to learn where these fines go, as well; I mean where the money actually goes, too. I won't accept the official word any more.

On the opposite side of the censorship argument, I'm actually in support of the plug being pulled on high school valedictorian Brittany McComb's graduation speech on account of excessive religious content. The graduation and therefore the speech was sponsored by a public school, as such the school is obliged to adhere to the separation of church and state and cannot endorse religious proselytizing. I mean, really - the girl's speech was already edited and approved by the school before graduation, like any graduation speech, and she chose to deviate from her approved script. I happen to think that excessive religious references are obscene. Let's broadcast the speech and get the FCC involved!!

The reason that I bring this up now, and not earlier, is that I read comics every day as a part of my lunch break, and came across Mallard Fillmore this week, which I often enjoy. I say often because I think that Bruce Tinsley really missed this one.

It's really a clear-cut case of a public school knowing that it can't legally sponsor religious speech, and enforcing the rule that McComb tried to dodge. I guess if you call yourself a conservative, though, you're obliged to hate the ACLU and everything it does. Ah, I love independent thinkers.

New York, New York

2006-07-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

In another sad day for equality and basic human rights, New York's highest court yesterday ruled that gay marriage is illegal in that state. Also yesterday, Georgia reinstated a gay-marriage ban. Now among the more than forty states that have specific laws restricting marriage to only a man and a woman, New York and Georgia are only further evidence of the backsliding of equality and basic rights in this country that has been accelerating since 2001. While New York's ruling didn't instate any new laws, it was only an official interpretation of the language of that state's constitution, the effect is similar. Now the debate will be carried to the state's lawmakers, where little hope resides for a new bill that actually equalizes marriage rights for all people.

Highlighted by the language of the majority's ruling, however, is the only marginally defensible facade for those opposed to real equality in marriage. While the idea of gay marriage seems to make most people uncomfortable, those who actively oppose it tend to enshroud their true motivations in the insubstantial fabric of nobility and morality in the face of an overwhelming onslaught against their way of life. Face it, stemming from the same roots as xenophobia, racism, misoneism, and miscegenation laws, the deep-seated reasons most people oppose gay marriage are fear and ignorance - a powerful combination that helped our anscestors stay alive and propogate the species through so many dangerous milennia. But we don't have those types of dangers anymore, and until a completely unknown alien species lands on our planet, that type of animalistic instinct to immediately mistrust that with which we're unfamiliar only serves to stagnate the progress of the human race. For the lazy religious argument - god says it's a sin, so I don't have to make up my own mind - it's also a sin to let your god-given intelligence and rationality to be overwhelmed by the animalistic side of human nature. Our ability to control animalistic impulses or instincts like lust, violence, hatred and fear, is what keeps us from sinning - or in my definition, what actually separates us from animals. And while there are plenty of people who are convinced that gay marriage is actually a threat, and have used their faculties to come to and defend this position, I'm convinced that it's all still born of the instinctual fear of change. I know how easy it is to convince myself of something I want to believe, and how hard it is to accept that I'm wrong. It's even harder still to re-evaluate long-held beliefs that we want to uphold, but it's also extremely important to be able to do so. If it's not difficult, it's probably not worth doing.

While I understand and sympathize with those who've convinced themselves that forbidding gay marriage is truly in the best interest of our society - they're completely wrong, but I know how hard it is to re-evaluate arguments that prevent an uncomfortable self-realization - I find it absolutely hilarious when people call the movement for gay marriage rights an attack or onslaught against their way of life. Dear god, arm yourselves! Here come the gays to kill your children and redecorate your livingroom! Protecting family values sounds so noble, so irrefutably right, that basically all you need to do is spout that line in a debate, and all your problems are solved. You don't hate families, do you? (You probably hate America, too!) But really, how much of an effect will legalizing gay marriage have on the average Joe Republican with his W bumper sticker still adorning the back of his Ford? Does Joe even know a gay couple? Has he ever had the nerve to have a real conversation with someone with a different sexual orientation? Like the magic eight-ball, my sources say no. So how the hell is a minority element of the population (2-10% in most estimates) going to wage war on the values and beliefs of the other 90+% of the American public? Not good odds, if you really want to start something. On top of that, all this assumes that the values of the average modern American family are something worth protecting. Let's take a brief look at some numbers.

Nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce. While that's arguable based on statistical nuance, a conservative number is 41%. The latest US provisional estimate from the National Center for Health Statistics has the per capita divorce rate at 0.38%. Since divorces have to involve 2 people, the reality is that 76 of every 1000 people in 2003 got divorced. That's everyone - not just those who were married. That's not including California, Colorado, Indiana, or Louisana.

According to the US Census Bureau, 23.2% of women who gave birth in 2000-2003 were below the poverty level. The rates of married women versus single women was 12.2% versus 50%. That means that nearly one in four children in America starts life at or below the poverty level. Additionally, 29% of the women who gave birth in 2000-2003 were unmarried.

In 2004, 11.9 of every 1000 children were reported and documented victims of abuse or neglect according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Also that year, 1,490 children died from abuse or neglect.

These types of family values seem to be the types of things we should be waging war against - not protecting. While an estimated 1 in 10 people are gay, nearly 1 in 4 children are born into poverty. For anyone who can count, that's obviously a much higher percent (especially if you take into account that children - 0-18 years - make up a much smaller percentage of the population than those who are aware of their sexual orientation, lets say 18-76 years.) If anyone actually believes that gay marriage is more threatening to America's children and strong family values, I wonder if they can count.

So in reality, are people really that worried about gay marriage eroding family values and changing their way of life? Maybe, but they wouldn't be if they stopped to think about it. More likely, gay marriage opponents simply haven't taken the time to really evaluate the reasons they don't support true equality, and instead hide behind the arguments set up for them by a small and vocal minority of self-deceiving thinkers. It's so much easier to spout unoriginal rhetoric than to come up with your own ideas. It's much more comfortable. After all, change isn't always comfortable, and it almost always leads to the unknown. We've evolved to fear and fight the unknown, but now it's keeping us from evolving further. Equlality is only a theory until it's truly put into practice.

You want customer service? Go f*#& yourself. How's that?

2006-06-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

First let me start by saying that flicman's post helped spark today's rant.

Telecoms, car insurance companies, and potentially worst of all, health insurance companies - these businesses hide behind their size in order to make it nearly impossible to speak to anyone with any sort of accountability. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "I'm sorry sir, there's nothing I can do" followed up by some sort of line about company policy. That, and it's complete bullshit. They're not sorry at all. And neither are their supervisors, or their supervisors' supervisors. They want you to think that no one short of the god-damned CEO can make any sort of real decisions, and even then not without approval of the board and majority stock holders. Bullshit. My health insurance company has decided to throw back hundreds of dollars of physical therapy bills to me that they decided not to pay - and this is after I've already paid my share - but no one, not a single useless person I've talked to, has any helpful information to give me about why this is, or how I can go about arguing these additional charges. But as useless as these customer service reps are, it's not necessarily their fault. Most times the companies are structured that way to intentionally make it nearly impossible to argue or change anything the consumer disagrees with.

I recently talked with AT&T (formerly SBC) about an incomprehensible phone and internet bill that had miraculously nearly doubled last month, and while the rep was very friendly and helpful, informed me that he has a much more complete version of my bill, and that customers aren't allowed to get a copy of that easy-to-understand summary. Is that not one of the more devious and screwed up things in customer service? I mean, I'm a phucking physicist and I couldn't make sense of a goddamn telephone and internet bill, even once the charges were explained to me. Without talking to the rep with the complete bill and account history, there was no way I could be sure about the reason certain charges were included in the bill, or even what months they were for, in some cases. Intentional obfuscation in billing and customer service pisses me off to no end.

Unfortunately, it's not just large companies that manage to make a joke out of customer service. I have had my motorcycle at a mechanic's shop - arguably the best motorcycle mechanic in Houston - for nearly four weeks for minor repairs and paint, and have yet to receive a single call from them. I've initiated every instance of contact, often days after I was promised a call or some sort of information about cost, delays, and paint colors. Obviously when someone who's working for your money promises to call back, it seems that it would be a good business practice to actually do it. But what the hell, once someone has information on you and can threaten your credit or withhold your property, basic manners and good business practices go out the window. And for years, in companies big and small, I've seen no evidence to disprove that customer service is dead.

...Eternally Wars

2006-06-26T12:15:00.000-05:00

Like the signature on an apocalyptic love letter, the message that the Bush administration has been driving into the psyche of the American public is that the "War on Terror" is an ongoing battle that justifies any government action deemed necessary to guarantee the safety of American citizens around the globe. Don't do anything that could possibly compromise any of those "protective" measures, either - and of course don't question them - or you're personally threatening American lives. I see so many inherent problems in this line of thinking that I just don't know where to start. Fear-inciting governments? Gross abuses of power? Multiple intelligence leaks? Irresponsible blame-shifting? The devaluation of non-American lives? So I'll start with what incited today's rant, instead.

Friday's New York Times story (similarly in the LA Time s and the Wall Street Journal) disclosed a secret CIA program operating since shortly after 9/11/2001 that collects confidential financial records and data maintained by a Belgian cooperative said to be a nerve center for international banking. Needless to say, Bush and other supporters of Big Brother government are righteously pissed, with Representative King (R-NY) calling for criminal investigations of the NY and LA Times as well as the WSJ. While of course the administration claims that everything that they're doing is simply for the good of the American public and entirely legal, you have to question why, exactly, officials directly involved in the exposed programs would have strong enough discomfort about the programs' legality and oversight to take such risks as talking with the media. I know that mainstream media is all about generating hype and controversy, but there's got to be a lot of truth in this story for everyone to be so upset about it.

This brings me to the first point that everyone's talking about, so I'll just touch on it briefly. What constitutes irresponsible reporting, and how does the public's right to know - a basic tenet of democracy and effectively freedom of speech - measure up to the government's power's and responsibility to defend the public from threats? All I'm going to say is that in my opinion, a public isn't worth defending that would gladly forefit it's rights of information to support that safety. While I'd rather be the farmer than the sheep, I'd rather still we all were famers with no sheep to sheer, and full knowledge of all the wolves and other threats that surround and infuse us. That's a bit corny, but you get the idea.

On to the appropriately-placed second point. This Swift story is the second exposure of questionable (to put it euphemistically) practices by intelligence and security agencies under the auspices of finding and tracking terrorists and their organizations. Of course these methods aren't going to work as well if everyone knows about them, but I highly doubt that they then become entirely useless. More importantly, what was viewed by many of the nearly 20 unnamed officials to speak with the NY Times as an initially necessary yet temporary measure after 9/11 has turned into a permanent practice, even though its implementation was based partly on the president's emergency economic powers. Is the U.S. still in a time of emergency? I don’t think so. You must have a strange definition of the word if you think we are. Are we still under threat? Of course. Have there been two years since the inception of our nation that there hasn’t been a threat of some sort or another? No.

The question is, then, how much of a threat is the country under, and does it warrant the kind of sugar-coated gross abuses of power that the government sells as doctrine every chance it gets? The culture of fear that has been shoved down our throats since 9/11 has now just become a part of our daily diet. Yes, yes, of course there’s a horrible omnipresent terrorist threat that will kill us all if our big brother government doesn’t use all it’s available powers (and some formerly illegal ones, but he said they’re legal now so it’s okay) to protect us – but only if we’re supportive American citizens. We’ve heard it all a million times before. Now shut up and let me get back to watching American Idol. Do whatever you need to do – just don’t interrupt me.

(The whole Ameri-centric-ness-ocity-ism-ness of the majority of public statements also really bugs me, but as I’ve already tried to cram about 5 essays worth of topics into one increasingly lengthy rant, I’ll have to get to it later.)

So, before I prematurely wrap up this unfortunately long rant, let me find my way back to the title. All this fear-based governance has been with us so long already, that it’s becoming a bore. While that usually spells the end of a movement for the increasingly ADHD American public, it seems that the practices will continue, unfortunately. All that’s going to change is the fervor and frequency of the fear-based battle cry of justification. What has me thinking about all this is the number of times you hear the President and his administration saying that we’re at war. Most of the time, the topic is terrorism, but the war they reference is in Iraq. The “War on Terror” is a war just as much as the “War on Drugs” is a war. Calling it a war is almost comically arrogant. Which one is deadlier? Illegal drugs have killed so many more people than terrorists, yet no president has ever even asked for emergency powers during that war. Based on the Bush administration, Reagan should have been exercising emergency executive privileges in order to protect American lives from the unprecedented threat of illegal drugs. Is this “war” on terror that much different? It’s just as futile, just as unending, and is being approached in a manner that is just as stupid as the “war” on drugs. It’s not going to end, especially if the current administration and the prevailing right-wing power base have anything to say about it. War is good for those in power, and as long as we continue to sit on our butts and accept everything we’re fed, It’ll be

Eternally Wars,
AJ

U.S. Decency Standards - What the F@&!!

2006-06-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

In a blatant attempt to boost waning support from the religious and conservative right, the Bush administration has taken another big step down the increasingly steep slope to decidedly undemocratic media censorship. Welcome to Iran, ladies and gentlemen. While increasing fines for indecent material on the few completely regulated sections of the media spectrum might not seem like such a big deal - and it may not be at the moment - it portends a scary future where comedy sketches about Jesus killing Santa Clause are fined into oblivion. This is a post that I started last week, but never had the time to finish. You get the general, though incomplete, idea, and I've got many, many other things to rant about.

Another Photoshop Project

2006-06-12T12:42:00.000-05:00

While this one doesn't look as drastically different as the first two, (see a comparison) it was certainly a lot more complicated. It seems I'm learning a thing or two, as well, though I'd still call it a hack job by some standards.

Beginning Photoshop

2006-06-08T10:38:00.002-05:00

So like most of you, I'm sure, I have a bunch of pictures that I've taken that didn't turn out exactly the way I'd planned for one reason or another. Maybe the colors didn't come out as vibrantly as they seemed originally, or the background is way too dark or the foreground is washed out. Things like this seem to ruin a good portion of my pictures - granted, I use my little 2MP ghetto digicam - and I'm always a little disappointed when a picture I've set up and actually thought about before snapping comes out looking like crap. So, you get the idea. Here are a couple of my first quick attempts at photoshop-alterations to my crappy little digicam pics. More to follow, I hope, with improvements.

Gay Marriage

2006-06-07T10:31:00.000-05:00

I tend to disagree with most things Lou Dobbs says - he can really be a pompous windbag - but at least the main idea of this cnn article gets it right, even if he never even mentions that the idea itself is just a bad one. I mean, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is horrible in even the best of times - it doesn't take other, more "important" issues to make it wrong. It just is. Period. The mere idea of writing fear- and ignorance-based discrimination into our Constitution is insulting to the ideals and individuals that have driven progress over the last two hundred thirty years, and changed our country from a slave-holding colony run by rich male landowners, to a nominally equality-based democracy with the power to change the world. I, for one, am against letting elected officials use that power to undo over two hundred years of social and idealogical progress for their own archaic, personal belief - be it in morality dictated by a higher power or the innate right of those with power to impose their will on the world.

To give credit to Dobbs, though, the main idea of his article is that any wedge issue, gay marriage in this case, is just insulting to the american public when there's so much more going on that might actually be resolved. Wedge issues, even important ones like this, are basically only ever used as tools of political maneuvering. I mean, no one expects this to get the 2/3 vote. No one. Forget that it's a bad idea to begin with, it's just a huge waste of time.

Obligatory Post

2006-06-06T15:10:00.000-05:00

Now, I'm fully aware of just how arbitrary our current calendar system is, but it's still kinda cool to point out that today is 6/6/6. I mean, just because some dead guy decided to graduate the passage of the sun around the earth (everything was geocentric back then) into more than five months guarantees that we'll have 6/6/6 at least once a century. But what if a month was 73 days long instead? Arbitrary choice? Yes! But at least each month has the same number of days. Also, there'd never be a sixth month, and so we'd never get to glibly note the passage of 6/6/6, no matter what century. Gotta love arbitrary gradations.

200+ horsepower on 2 wheels

2006-06-02T10:33:00.000-05:00

... seems a little out of my league. Okay, a lot out of my league. I hardly ever put the 120+ horsepower of my bike to use, and it's a hell of lot heavier than this Ducati. With a US MSRP of $65,000, I don't think I'll have to worry about that any time soon, though. Egads, that makes me want to go to a track day.

Really want to rant

2006-06-01T22:48:00.000-05:00

... but I'm too tired at the moment. In the meantime, get a taste of some similar feelings by reading this wonderful rant. Those who are easily offended, fiercely southern, extremely right wing, or have no sense of humor (funny how those tend to go together) should probably abstain. Or sod off. I don't really care.

Sailing, camping, riding, and broken bikes - Austin

2006-05-29T16:28:00.000-05:00

An event-filled weekend road-trip started Friday with a 180 mile ride up 290 with Chris (proud owner of a sweet Ducati 750 Monster) to Lake Travis just outside Austin. April and her dad had a two-day sailing race from the Austin Yacht Club, and a whole group of people went along and made it a fun two days of camping and hanging out on the lake. About 30 miles from Austin, though, the weekend took a decidedly bad turn before it even got started when a guy in a pickup knocked my bike over in a Dairy Queen parking lot. I have no idea how he did't see it, but at least he was helpful and nice, and paid for the minimum repairs it needed to be road-worthy so I could at least finish the trip to Austin. Even though the damage doesn't show up so well in the pics, it'll probably be about a grand in repairs when I can get it into a shop, so he gave me his insurance information and a sincere apology. It certainly made me feel better - what would I have done if he were a complete jerk, or just simply left the scene? The left turn signal was ripped off, front air intake broken, fairing bent and cracked, windscreen support bent, windscreen split, mirrors bent, and one sticking straight up in the air. I could have ridden it, but pieces were literally falling off. It's nice he paid for the immediate repairs and was so helpful about everything. Still, my bike was (and still is) all kinds of messed up and it's just going to be a headache getting the insurance crap all sorted out.

But back to the weekend. Friday night was too hot to get much sleep (at least for an insomniac like me) and left me too tired Saturday to get down to Devil's backbone (about halfway to San Antonio - not insignificant on my quite-uncomfortable sportbike seat) where the roads seem custom made for motorcycles. So Chris and I explored some of the roads between Friday's and Saturday's camp grounds, and found that Lime Creek road is one fo the best in the area. Take a close look at the local map to get an idea of just how insanely winding that road is, with its multiple 15mph curves and fantastic hills. Egads, I want to live in Austin!

Saturday night brought a pretty good storm, soaking a bunch of stuff in the tents thanks to the crazy changes in the wind's direction. At one point I thought the stakes weren't going to hold the wind was so strong. So after another near-sleepless night in the tent and looking at nearly 200 miles back to Houston that evening, the day's ride was a modest 60 mile round-trip to marble falls along 1431 - another great road if there's no traffic. All in all, the weekend was a good time, and I'd do it again, though with a couple of key changes. April and her dad came in 2nd both days, so there's a good chance that they won the overall race, though we're not sure. I'll be sure to update about getting my bike fixed, and post some pics of the weekend soon.

Social and Science Update

2006-05-24T10:29:00.000-05:00

Egads, it's been another long while since I've updated this thing. At least it's not completely defunct yet, I suppose. So this weekend was just about completely full of fun. I actually don't know if the laws of phunsics allows for a higher concentration of joviality. The highlights were a 250 mile ride up past Navasota with Chris on Saturday, a bar-hopping night out that evening for Christina's birthday with a bunch of BioEs, and a big 'ol grill and chill event around the pool with many of the same people (and many other people as well) as the previous evening. Sunday's grilling event saw nearly 25 burgers, pounds of chicken and other meats, various veggies, and two or so cases of beer consumed in the four plus hours that people mingled. The grilling and chilling groups pretty much stayed by their respective areas, with the un-heated jacuzzi providing a base for most with bathing suits, except for the rare emergence prompted by the sultry scents wafting off the grills. (We actually had 2 going simultaneously by the end.) It was a complete success, if I do say so myself, though I'll probably do things a little differently next time - and not for another month or so I'd wager.

In other news, this month's issue of National Geographic Magazine has a decent-sized article on nanotechnology. This is pretty cool since it's what I study, but made even better (for me, at least) by the fact that it focuses a lot of attention to work done here at Rice University. There are a bunch of faculty and a few grad students mentioned, and my work on nanocars is even mentioned briefly, with one of my images appearing thumbnail-sized in a little blurb. So please allow me a moment to be excited that my name even appears in print in National Geographic - albeit as a photo-credit in really tiny print at the bottom of the page - before pointing out that no one ever reads those names. Next step - getting my name in full-sized text.

Research Update

2006-05-17T14:55:00.000-05:00

Things are going so incredibly slowly in my research efforts, mainly due to my dosing valve. Basically I have to get some rather fragile (can't sublimate) molecules onto a surface from a solution, but I want to keep the surface as clean as possible in the meantime. For this, I want to deposit the molecules in a high vacuum environment. What I've been doing up to this point is to use a valve with a tiny orifice that is electronically actuated and capable of fully opening and closing in fewer than 5 miliseconds. This has succeeded so far in keeping my substrate much cleaner than when depositing in air. The problem now is that the valve isn't closing properly after I dose the solution. What this means is two-fold. First, the pressure in the prep chamber is much higher than is should be, getting the surface dirty and basically negating the benefits of using the valve in the first place. Second, if the pressure doesn't get back down to low enough pressures, I can't put my sample back into the UHV chamber to scan, meaning I have a brand new sample that I can't get to the microscope. AAARGH!! Like a steering wheel in a pirate's pants, it's drivin' me nuts. Pretty soon I'm going to have to go back to depositing in air and looking for a cleaner solvent. Of course, we've ordered a new valve that won't get here for another 5 weeks, but if it's not working now, why should a new one work any longer than this one did? Basically I have to devise a completely new way of depositing these molecules (nanocars, dimers, and a ton of other molecules the Tour lab has synthesized) in a high vacuum environment. It would be helpful to have a proper prep chamber, but we're talking over a hundred grand, easily, and probably a month's work to attach an entirely new section to the UHV chamber. All this means I'm getting really skeptical about my ability to get enough quality data to graduate in a year. Horseshit. I'm just going to have to work my ass off.

Emily's Graduated!

2006-05-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to my little sister, who, I must add, is finished with school at least an entire year before her big brother!

It was great to see everyone this weekend - Mom, Joel, sister, bro and his girlfriend - for a family get-together in Syracuse, albeit a very short one. There was lots of driving and little sleeping, but it was all for the best, since I haven't seen everyone since December, and don't know when I'll see everyone together again, at least till next December (I hope.) I can't believe that my little baby sister is all grown up, going out into the real world to find her place of prominence. I know she'll do fantastically at whatever she decides to do, but I'm not without a little brotherly concern for all the changes and challenges she's about to come up against. Knowing her, though, she'll breeze through them all and make my worries look absolutely silly in hindsight. Congratulations, Emily, and good luck in LA!

2006-05-10T09:43:00.000-05:00

I miss you, Dad. Same today as every day, just more pronounced. Six years seems like a day, sometimes.

Another day older

2006-05-05T09:52:00.000-05:00

Heck, another year older, if you think people only age when their birthdays come around. No specific milestone this year, no nice, convenient numbers involved, (last year I turned 25 (5*5) on 5/5/5 - how cool is that) but it sure was nice weather this morning. Nothing out of the ordinary today, just a normal work day, but I'll probably go out with a few friends tonight - starting at Valhalla around 8 and probably moving to Volcano and maybe Brian O'neal's after that. If that's anywhere near you, come on out and help me celebrate another year in the life of me!

Weekend Ride

2006-05-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

I finally got out of the city for a decent weekend ride again. I don't think I've done that in over a year! Even though it was only about 200 miles, it was still a good time. I really need to do that more often.

Jonah and I didn't start til nearly noon, so I was worried about the heat. Luckily, it was incredibly comfortable riding weather till the last half of the ride back, when even 80mph winds couldn't keep me cool. The map shows our approximate route, since at that scale the smaller roads aren't visible on the map. Green is for gas stops and blue is where we had lunch in Montgomery. I can't believe the difference that highway driving makes for my gas mileage. Even with the last fifteen miles being in the city, I got about 50% better mileage out of the last half of the ride than I normally do in day-to-day riding.

We detoured along a new road to test it out, but it ended up about 8 miles of gravel after the first half mile of pavement. Bad news for bikes. Even so, it was fun, if a little nerve-wracking, and we made it the entire day without any incidents.

As usual, click on the pics for larger versions.

Not dead yet

2006-04-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

Though yesterday I thought I would come close. I had some sort of flu or virus and ended up losing six pounds over 24 hours. For those who know me, that's a pretty big deal. I mean, I'm worried about lost brain matter at the moment, because I really don't have many other places to lose the weight. Chop off a foot, maybe, because that's about an equivalent amount.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better today, but still really weak and annoyed. I hate being sick, and Houston seems to have made it a much more regular occurrence than anywhere else I've lived. Damn dirty city and it's abhorrent air quality.

Haven't updated in a week

2006-04-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

... and I don't know why, really. Lots has been going on, but I'm not really in a mood to recap. Let me just make this a promise to blog about the new things that are happening, then. And a recommendation to go see Thank You for Smoking. It was really good - entertaining and still made you think - and while I'm just about as anti-big tobacco as you can get, I can honestly say I don't think it was over the top in either direction.

So I'll try to blog about some more interesting stuff from now on. Lots is happening, though I'm beginning to wonder what to share and what to keep to myself, since I probably know most of the readers here, and certainly most of the regular readers. Site Meter is good for that, though it's still a guessing game.

Plaques for ridiculous things

2006-04-12T16:24:00.000-05:00

This morning I got to read a letter originally sent to the principle investigator of my research project (Nanocars,(.pdf) as I've mentioned before) from the publishers of my first paper, the American Chemical Society, or just ACS. Among more than thirty other journals, they also publish the journal Nano Letters, where we submitted our paper in October. Apparently that article was downloaded more times in the two months it was available in 2005 than any other article in any other ACS publication for that entire year! Now that's just ridiculous. And so is the fact that I got a plaque because of that. Still, it's kindof cool, partly because I haven't gotten a plaque for anything in yearly 4 years, and partly because now there's something to hang on the walls in my office. Click on the pic for a higher-resolution image.

Good Weekend

2006-04-11T12:32:00.000-05:00

Sunday was a great day. Went to an Aeros game with a bunch of people from BioE. The game itself was really great - down to the last 16 seconds in sudden death overtime and the home team won! It's obviously minor-league (not that I could even stay upright on ice-skates) but still a bunch of fun, especially with a rowdy crowd insulting the other team. I hope the goalie couldn't hear everything, or else has developed a very thick skin to that sort of thing, which he undoubtedly has. Still - funny as hell. A bit of pizza afterwards at Two Rows was a good time, as well.

Yesterday and today involves writing and revising a rough draft of another paper I'm putting together for publication. I'll get back in the lab eventually, I swear.

Lazy Saturday

2006-04-08T18:35:00.000-05:00

Not much going on today. I sat out by the pool reading for about an hour - probably 15 minutes too long, judging by the pink hue of my chest. Still, it was perfect weather, so it was hard to come in. The TV's gone kaput - can't even call for a repair till Monday - so I'm doing more than just watching the tube all day, which is good. It's way too easy to just get sucked into a video game or show and throw away a perfectly good weekend.

There's a party tonight that roomie and I will probably go to, and it seems like it will be populated by a bunch of the people we saw out last night. Fun night all in all, but apparently I dodged a bullet since 3 or 4 people have come down with a stomache virus and been out of commission all day. Hooray for not being sick!