Quick Lab Update

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!!!

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!

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

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

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

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

Breckenridge, Baby!

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

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

... 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

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

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!

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

... 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

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

... 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

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

Holiday Travels

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!

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

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

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.