Porch

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

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

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!!!

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

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!

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...

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

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!

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

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

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

... 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

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 -)