Thanksgiving in LA

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

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

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

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...

VOTE!!!

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

End of an Era

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

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.