Halloween Fun

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

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!

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?

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...

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

Lake Chapala region

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!