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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
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2:40 pm - Ker-Plop!
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Its been a long haul, but the school year is done! (Well, almost. I have a bunch of paperwork and I have to clean my classroom, but the teaching part of the year is done.)
Because Labor day is so late, this year, I have TWO WHOLE MONTHS! Hooray!
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| Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
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8:33 am - Reducing our carbon footprint, one tomato at a time
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Lsl posted this, and I know a lot of you saw it there, but I want to post it in my journal too. :)
We put the shelves on the wall in the pantry this weekend and then we promptly filled them with all the canned (and dried) food we produced this summer and fall. Mostly it was an opportunity to sort it all out and see it all in one place. It was all stored in a heap of boxes in the basement in no real order. I think it looks awesome all lined up on the new shelves, but unfortunately that will not be it's final storage location. It takes up too much space and there is a lot of other stuff that I'd rather put on those shelves.
Leslie took a picture of it all! 30 shelf feet (12" deep) of food! Any more and I wouldn't have been able to get it into the picture. In fact, a little bit didn't fit and was on the floor out of the picture (pasta and dried mint). The entire wall is only 36 feet of shelves, so you can see why we'll be moving a lot of the canned food to other locations.
Please take a look at the picture. It has notes, so you can rollover and see what is what. This is basically all of our 2008 canning and drying (except what we have already eaten).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93428962@N00/3056975087/
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| Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
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10:08 pm
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Hi!
Late request but it never hurts to ask. L and I are wondering if there is anyone with a free Wednesady afternoon who would be interested and/or willing to provide some child care so L and I could go to a movie?
It may be just the 4 year old kid, or maybe more. We are still trying to decide if Grandma and Grandpa can handle two two year olds.
We'd probably need to know by Wednesday early AM, so that we can figure out arrangements.
Thanks -
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| Sunday, January 20th, 2008
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11:19 pm - Today's Lesson in Practical Kitchen Chemistry
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When making homemade yogurt, one cup of Vanilla Whey Protein (which tastes like powdered milk) is not equivilent to one cup of powdered milk.
We now have half a gallon of vanilla flavored riccotta and half a gallon of vanilla flavored whey (which still tastes like milk because the curdle was not complete).
We will try for yogurt again tommorrow, this time with powdered milk.
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| Monday, November 19th, 2007
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10:19 am - Book reccs
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Hi!
I am looking for sci-fi or fiction books that deal with environmental issues that I can suggest to my advanced 9th graders. For example,
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson
Earth by David Brin
Zodiac by Neal Stephoson
(I am a little nervous about the last one because of the drug content, but you get the idea.)
Does anyone have any other ideas?
Really awesome non-fiction environmental books would be good. I am currently depressing myself with EO Wilsons Future of Life.
Thanks!
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| Wednesday, February 16th, 2005
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9:02 am - Google your phone number
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Google has implemented a new feature wherein you can type someone's telephone number into the search bar and hit enter and then you will be given a map to his/her house. You can have your phone number removed or blocked.
I just tested this. It works. It popped up the name the phone is under, the address, and even provided a nice little map. What will they think of next. I also tested my parents number and it worked, but the one cell phone number I tried did not work.
In order to test whether your phone number is mapped, go to: http://www.google.com/ Type your phone number in the search bar and hit enter. If you want to BLOCK Google from divulging your private information, simply click on your telephone number listed beside the Phonebook results. Removal takes 48-hours. If you are unlisted in the phone book, you might not be in there, but it is a good idea just to check.
current mood: infuriated
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| Friday, July 9th, 2004
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11:01 am - Another birthday
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Yesterday was another birthday. What a weird year.
Last year this time I was in NM and it was fun but lonely and far away.
A year from now I would not have seen myself here.....
We finally finished painting the interior of the house. Well, except for the bathroom. The livingroom was last August's nightmare though! But it looks really good now and we got new couches and bookshelves and it looks homey and comfy. :)
Legally married - who saw that coming???? :) I sure didn't. I mean we had been married before the powers that mattered to us for years, but married in the eyes of the law... There was a lot of wondering if we would make it on time....if Sprout would arrive early...etc. A lot of planning, a few hundred dollars, and one wonderful night of party with friends brought it all together. But when I turned 30? I never would have guessed.
A mom - Ok...I knew that was en route. We had already ordered the sperm. I had no idea it would be so easy or the pregnancy so much fun. The actual birth was pretty tough but now...wow. K is so much fun. She has recently discovered mirrors and that is adorable to watch.
Looking for a job - Stupid me for thinking that something would go right on the career front. After MIT, I thought MX was a great thing. Stupid me. Now, I have a wife and a baby to support, it makes the whole thing much more stressful. I do not want to move. If I wanted to move I am sure I could be a department chair in Idaho or something. But in Boston, even with the plethora of schools here, there are only so many positions.
Its been a year of ups and downs, goods and bads and a lot of anticipation and excitement around the pregnancy. The second half of it was marred by the misery of the job stuff, but still the Arrival and the preparations made it a wonderful year.
If only I had a job, now....
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| Wednesday, July 9th, 2003
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1:23 pm
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| Tuesday, June 24th, 2003
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4:30 pm - Boom!
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Ok. That was cool.
We just took the kids on their first field trip and we went up to the Energetics Materials Research and Testing Center. "Energetic Materials" is a slightly disguised way of saying "explosive". Very cool.
I learned two things. First there are things (like gunpowder) that will combust at a very high rate but do not explode and then there are things (like nitro) that explode. The difference is that in an explosive the speed of the chemical reaction is greater than the speed of sound so that the explosion generates a wall of pressure. Gunpowder, on the other hand, has a speed of sound greater than the speed of the chemical reaction so to make it go "bang" you need to wrap it in something (paper, perhaps - fireworks) to contain the chemical reaction and thereby cause the pressure wave.
So, they blew up two things. First, they filled a trough - roughly six feet long by two feet wide - with gunpowder and lit it. That made a HUGE flame that burned so bright it made an after image that stuck in my eye for several seconds.
Second....they blew up 50 pounds of amonium nitrate - (4000 pounds of the stuff was used in Oklahoma City). Basically this stuff is fertilizer mixed with gas. We were 2800 feet away and you could hear the rumble as the ignition wires burned (i think at a rate near 20 miles per second!) and then the BOOM and the shock wave as the bomb went off. The BOOM was quite cool - it didn't quite knock me off my feet but it certainly pushed me back.
The funny thing was the munitions guy who did the actual setting off of the explosives, like all of the munitions guys, are ex military. This guy was HUGE - I don't think I've really ever seen someone whose shoulders were quite so wide. When we got off the bus, they told us to not touch anything and the kids (mostly scrawny little geek kids) were joking that if they did, this guy would fix them.
Driving in and out of the site was hilarious as well. I have never seen so many carcasses of dead tanks and airplanes. Apparently this place goes through 150 cars a year, or so! YEASH! The best part is that if you donate your car to them, you can watch as they blow it up.
Heh!
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| Thursday, June 19th, 2003
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2:05 pm
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This summer job is so cool. Teaching this group of kids is like driving a ferrari. I could get used to this! :)
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| Monday, May 26th, 2003
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10:27 pm - The Matrix Reloaded
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I've finally seen it.
(minor spoilers follow)
The first time I tried to see it, we got as far as the highway scene and the film broke. Because we managed to fit it in on a very tight schedule, we couldn't just be ushered into the next theather to see the rest. Then, I was too busy for a very long time.
I am somewhat ambivilent at this point. I really, really wish, with all of the thousands of consultants on everything from martial arts to motorcylce riding they employed, that they bothered to add one phyisicst to their list. While Zion looked cool, it just wouldn't work. Such a tall chamber, hundreds of stories high, with a big open spot in the center - it would be hot at the bottom (thanks to the open lava pits) and a hundred times hotter at the top. Not to mention the difficulty of engineering such an improbable structure.
And then, of course, there remains the small problem of conservation of energy, with the basic premise of the movies. But we just won't mention that.
The parts in the Matrix, however, I thought were interesting. I think they overused the bullet time and CG stuff - there were places - particularly in the Fight of a Thousand Smiths - where it LOOKED animated and what was so cool about the first time we saw bullet time was that it didn't look animated. Neo's face often seemed to have that CG-Plastic look to it. I do not know if there is a way around that, but I wish there had been more care in there.
I liked the bits with the Oracle and the Architect. That was good and if I were to go back to running games in the Matrix world - something I am increasingly finding myself missing - there would be some good fodder in there.
And, having lived in southern California for six years, the highway scene rocked. I loved it! And I really loved that it was on the 101. :) I do not know what kind of psycho they got to ride that Ducati, but that was just sweet. So was Morpheus's move with sword and the gun and the big boom.
Now it is time for bed. Tommorrow I give my final exam in my classes and then the year is almost at an end. Thank god. It has been a really tough one, somehow.
Cheers....
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| Tuesday, February 4th, 2003
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9:51 pm - February 1, 2003
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I was having my usual Saturday morning. It was 10 AM, I was at Middlesex, about to start teaching my Intro Physics class, E block. The kids were gathered, sitting at their desks, and the phone rang. That's odd, I thought. Only Leslie has this number and she knows I am in class. I walk over and answer the phone.
"Hey." I said.
Leslie replied, "Hey…have you heard the news?"
"What news?" I said.
"You haven't heard. The space shuttle, Columbia, broke up on re-entry."
I figured I could not have possibly heard that right or that Leslie was playing the cruelest of tricks on me, "What?" I said.
"The space shuttle broke up on re-entry. Your mom called…she told me you'd want to know."
In a flash I am back in 7th grade, walking down the hall from English to Science when someone tells me that the space shuttle exploded. I am the space freak, the nut who wants to be an astronaut and everyone knows it. I don't believe them. It was a bad joke and they figured I was gullible enough to fall for it.
My heart was racing, my head spinning. I turned on the radio and sure enough there were the NPR people with crisis in their voices, doing the meaningless chatter they do in the time right after a disaster when no one knows anything. I shut off the radio and turn back to my class, my whole body shaking.
I walk into Mr. Stern's life science classroom and the radio was on. Then it hit me. It was real.
I stood in front of my class, shaking. I tell them that Columbia has broken up on re-entry. Columbia, they ask, what is that? The space shuttle. The first space shuttle. Oh, they say. How many people were on board, they want to know. Were there any survivors? I tell them what I know at that point. It broke up on re-entry. It didn't take four years of college and seven years of grad school for me to guess that it was unlikely there were any survivors. I tell them so. We talk for a couple of minutes but they don't really care. They were born the year Challenger blew up. The space shuttle has always been there. Things go wrong. It is sad, but it doesn't rock them.
The rest of the morning was a blur. I went and found the other science teachers and told them. I had to. I had to share the news. It was so terrible, so heart-breaking, I could not tell someone and the kids were just kids. They did not still dream themselves up there. Their dreams are more terrestrial - doctors, lawyers, business people.
The rest of the day was a blur. They Challenger was gone. The whole sixth grade had been watching with the sixth grade science teacher, a vibrant woman who had been a semi-finalist in the Teacher in Space program. I however, had not seen it. The explosion was a thing of my imagination. People came up to me with some sympathy - more sympathy than I would have given the credit for, but still I had to make it through the rest of the day.
It wasn't until later in the day I saw the video of the re-entry. Leslie and I stood in Costco and they had the news on 50 TVs, all at once. Standing in front of a wall of blue sky, we watched 50 white streaks cross the sky. We watched as what appeared to be small pieces broke off and made their own streaks.
It wasn't until later in the day, when I got home, that I saw the video. That night we ate dinner in front of the TV and watched over and over again as the Challenger lifted off and streaked toward the sky. And then it blew up.
Years have passed since Challenger and it still lives vividly in my mind. Days after the phone call from Leslie, I still feel the panic, the flood of adrenalin poring through my body. In some ways, these events hit me harder than September 11th did, although in other ways September 11th is just a different thing. It is bizarre the way these things occur and change days that are otherwise so completely ordinary into a day that will loom large in memory, forever.
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| Tuesday, July 3rd, 2001
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9:27 am - The wonderful world of the web...
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Last night at 10:30 I was plugging away on my thesis and discovered I didn't quite remember a theorem I hoped to use in the mathematical proof I was struggling with. A quick inspection of my books revealed the pertinent book was at MIT and I was not about to go into MIT at that hour. Then I thought...the web? Could something that obscure POSSIBLY be out there? Sure enough, after 2 or 3 google searches (multiple searches were needed because I couldn't quite remember its name...it was the Pi law or the Pi rule or something) , I found it. The Buckingham Pi Theorem. I got a bunch of hits, including an eight page postscript file, complete with examples.
Psych!
current music: reamcoat - Close Every Door
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| Monday, July 2nd, 2001
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10:33 am - Red hair!
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This weekend, in a fit of adventuresomeness, I asked L to henna my hair. Sat morning, she combed/squished/gobbed what seemed like ten pounds of the stuff into my hair. We wrapped the mess in plastic and I sat in the sun and baked it while she and S went off to the flea. I, of course, worked on my thesis. Later, she came over and we hosed the worst of the stuff off into the garden and then went inside for several rounds of hair washing to get the gritty bits out.
My hair is RED! Its cool. Well, maybe it is better described as a bit orangy, but its a neat color. And what is really cool is that my hair, when unmolested, is many colors - brown and blond and red streaks are all there naturally. The great thing about the henna is that it is still all of those colors, just tinted redder. And it looks really cool in the sun.
This was the first time I've ever done anything to my hair. Yay! What fun!
current music: The Who - Overture
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| Saturday, June 23rd, 2001
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11:21 pm
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297 pages.
26.2 megs of postscript file.
I am in the process of printing out the first entire draft of my thesis. I hand it out, the entire bloody thing, to my committee on Monday. I've been at work since 9 AM this morning. Tommorrow I try and proofread the thesis as a whole (I've read it in parts before) and make sure the logic and stuff works. Then, its back to MIT to print it out again. Four times. I am gonna be here for hours just printing! Its a pity it is too big to fit in the print queue in one shot. I could send it to print, load up three reams of paper in the printer, and leave it for the night. Oh well.
A step in the right direction, I hope.
current music: Loreena McKennitt - Highwayman
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| Thursday, June 7th, 2001
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2:44 pm
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I haven't so much as peeped at the lj webpage in a long time, but just to let you know what is up with the nightmare which is the thesis.
As of this moment, it is 251 pages long. It probably has no more than 30 pages to go.
I have a final committee meeting scheduled for July 6th which means a completely finished draft of the thesis has to be handed out June 25th.
If the meeting on July 6th goes well, I will be defending July 19, down at Woods Hole. We are not thinking about what happens if it doesn't go well. (YAY DENIAL!)
I am more than a little overwelmed by all of this!
current music: Mercedes Lackey - Shin'a'in Warsong
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| Wednesday, May 16th, 2001
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6:19 pm
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I haven't had time to read anyone's journals so, needless to say, I am out of the loop. Unfortunatly that will probably continue for the indefinite future, or until I am such Krispy Fried Avon that I can't squeeze any more thesis out of me.
Edits of the thesis continue. The most recent compile has it at 183 pages. I am about 1/3 of the way through the chapter 3 revisions. 29 pages became 40. At that rate, chapter 3 has another 20 pages to be added and, before even touching chapters 1, 4, and 5, the thesis will break 200 pages. WTF!
Sigh.
I don't like the revisions B has be doing. It puts everything, plus the kitchen sink, in there. Its a mess. I keep telling myself to keep at it and keep at it and keep at it and it will be OVER. :(
Now, off. My eyes won't focus any more
current music: Leslie Fish - Jirel of Joiry (original)
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| Friday, May 11th, 2001
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9:44 pm - mmmmm rhubarb.....
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Stopped at one of the tiny grocery stores in Davis on my way home tonight and bought salad stuff. I decided it had been a long, long time since I had seen a vegatable and I needed huge salad for dinner. So I had one. Spinich and carrots and tomatos and broccoli and peppers. Mmmm. They had rhubarb and so I got some, while I was there. (Someday I will manage to grow the stuff myself so I can stop buying it! Another thing to go into my house's garden, someday.) I was too lazy to make a pie crust, so I made rhubarb crisp. mmmmm. I am quite pleased with that. Almost makes up for working on my thesis at 10 PM on a friday night.
current music: Heather Alexander - Choices
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5:02 pm
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Okay. I took these silly tests too.
Goddess:
Your natural sensuality, and a strong moral resolve drive men crazy with desire. Diana, the goddess of chastity and virginity, is your inner deity, and she guides your every move.
. o O (Goddess of chastisty and virginity. Sweet and innocent Avon. *snicker*)
God:
Good Heavens! For Outstanding Bedroom Performance, you have been nominated Eros, the God of Love. Master of romance, you're every woman's dream lover.
. o O (I like this one!)
Color:
Strong and sophisticated, black is the color of your personality.
. o O (BLACK? How did I get that? I'm not the goth!)
More on black:
Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection. Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper your demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.
Huh.
current music: Paul Simon - The Obvious Child
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| Thursday, May 10th, 2001
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9:31 am
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Just to update everyone who has been following my tale of angst over the thesis...
I met with B, one of my advisors, on Tuesday and we decided that the existing chapter 3 does not, in fact, need to be thrown out and started over. Instead, it can stay given some substantial editting. :( But at least it can stay. It needs to be joined by a short chapter 4 which deals with the term which SHOULD have been included from the start. So, lots of work to do but at least 3 doesn't need to be started over.
I probably won't make my July 10th defense date, that I had hoped to, but I should be able to get this nightmare done over the summer, at least. ITs not going to leave a lot of free time before I start school, but I'll survive it somehow.
Yesterday I visitted Middlesex and talked with some of the science department about a variety of things - classes, rooms, curricula. It looks like I will be teaching the "intro" physics class. This is a class they have that is not geared towards preparing for the SAT II (Achievements, for us old fogies). It sounds like a fun class. There will be lots of projects and cool problem solving. I brought home a lego robot kit to play with as a possible project/lab ideas. We'll see. :)
So, now it is time to settle down and revise ch 3. Again. My goal is to have it done by the end of May. Sigh. Lots of work.
In other news, I am deligted to see my garden taking off. I am going to get a ton of strawberries, I hope!
current music: Tom Lehrer - The Elements
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avon's journal