Pesky Pluto

Pluto might have two more moons, bringing it to a grand total of three. The whole "is Pluto a planet?" debate just gets more and more interesting - from Hubble

New Things

Wow, time flies. I can't believe it's Friday already, although I'm grateful.

This week flew by in part because last weekend was full of fun. Greg and I joined Kirsten, Aaron and two other couples for a trip to Catalina Island to celebrate Kirsten's birthday. This was my first trip to Catalina, and it was wonderful. The trip involved eating seafood, seeing dolphins, and dancing all night! It was so much fun. And many congrats to Kirsten's sister and her new fiance!

Heard a new one this week. I received a message from a parent saying that her son, one of my students, had suffered memory loss in a pole vault accident and that he wouldn't be in class the rest of the week. Here's to hoping he recovers quickly!

Another new thing - word verification for comments. Hopefully it isn't too annoying for my gentle readers and commenters.

Noisy Daze

Last night, I could hear U2 being blasted from one of the chemistry lab rooms. Not quite sure why, but it's true. And earlier in the day, someone was making Chewbacca noises in the halls.

I ran into my favorite student from last semester yesterday. He's excited to be moving on to a major university next semester. Of course, he greeted me by asking me if I used my Jedi sense to note his presence and told me he'd seen Revenge of the Sith at the dollar theater the night before. My geekiness is known far and wide.

So is my reputation as being the prof who got a substitute so that she could see Nine Inch Nails. Students who weren't even in those particular classes give me grief about this. Such is my teaching legacy - I cut out for NIN. I wonder when that will show up on ratemyprofessor.com?

My random student stories for the week - I had a young woman stop working in lab for about 20 minutes while she had the hiccups. Just completely debilitated her. These seemed like ordinary enough hiccups to me, but I guess she seldom has them and she freaked out on me. So odd. And then there's the young woman in my lab on Wednesday nights who always leaves really early. I figured that it was due to work obligations or being tired from a long day. No. She goes home early to watch "Lost". Sigh.

This semester is wearing me down, between working long hours and getting up early to go to the gym. Yesterday I was almost crying in my office, I was so tired. But I got a lot of grading done - I'm caught up or ahead in all my labs! I'm on schedule in all my classes. My students are doing well. Another of my favorite students from last spring will be taking a class with me next semester. And last night, Mars and the Moon were a pretty sight in the sky on the way home, and I had a mug of hot chocolate before going to bed, so I guess it's all worth the effort.

Superposition

It's just hard to believe that views like this could exist - Dione and Saturn, from Cassini

Pattern Recognition

From today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, a very nifty way to watch an eclipse, by Philippe Haake:

Scents

I'm in a lab room near some chemistry labs, and one of the chem labs is performing a stinky experiment. Blah!

One of the geology classes brought back a bunch of halite samples from a field trip, lending a rather sulfurous aroma to the stockroom. The samples sure are pretty, though.

One of my students asked me the name of my perfume. He says he can always tell when I'm around due to my scent. I'm hoping it's at least a good scent.

During the physics exam I gave yesterday, one of my students was sniffing her wristband. She said it had a nice associative scent - reminded her of Christmas - to keep her positive during the exam.

Bread and chocolate chip cookies. Cinnamon and nutmeg. Mmm...

Cozying Up

Spent a big chunk of my weekend cozying up to The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. It is beautiful. All of the strips are produced larger than they were originally and on high quality paper. The color is gorgeous. The books themselves are huge, but you get the sense of reading an important tome while flipping through the pages.

I remember reading the first strip in the newspaper, after my brother pointed it out to me. I was immediately hooked. Calvin and Hobbes has helped me through many rough days, and I typically reread the entire collection once each year. I was ready for this new edition, and I'm enjoying it very much.

Sponge?

The Solar System continues to laugh at us - Saturn's moon Hyperion, from Cassini

Anger Management Therapy

I drove out to Los Angeles last Friday afternoon. It was mostly an uneventful drive, but the fires in L.A. made the Sun an amazing blood red as it set. It was one of those times that I had to chant "don't look at the Sun" over and over, because I really wanted to look for sunspots. Then I arrived at my beloved Kirsten and Aaron's abode, where they took good care of me all weekend.

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting the new twins! Brian and Amy welcomed twins into the world a few weeks ago. I spent a pleasant hour holding Tristan and Kirsten held Gwendolyn and we had a pleasant conversation with Amy. Tristan was so strong! Babies are so much fun to watch, especially at that early stage. They make little cooing noises and I like to cuddle and coo back - so soothing. I was so happy to meet the new kids and look forward to seeing them again.

But the most glorious part of the weekend was the Nine Inch Nails concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Kirsten and Aaron. Yes, I know, it was the third time this year I've seen them in concert (and it should have been the fourth!). It just gets better and better. Mars rose over the trees during "Only" and from our seats I could see thousands of people responding to the music. I could dance and scream and sing at the top of my lungs - so therapeutic. I don't have any more NIN concerts planned - what will I do now to channel all my rage?

Class Notes

Dear Students,

This is college. That means you should know better than to write notes to each other during class on the exercise you're going to hand in. I don't care that Roger is sweet or that you want to buy flowers for Becky. I am curious, however, if you noticed that the spectra of air and nitrogen are almost identical. Please check your high school behavior at the door, or at the bare minimum, write these little notes on pieces of paper that aren't to be graded. Or do what the rest of your classmates are doing, and text each other.

Thanks,

Bemused Teacher.

No longer

Hopped on the scale this morning and saw good news. As of this morning's weigh-in, I have lost a total of 50 lbs since August 2004. Even better, this puts me in the healthy weight range for my height. I am no longer overweight. Woo!

Relaxation

Today was a very pleasant and relaxing day. I slept in and then lounged around in my huge robe all morning. We went to see "Corpse Bride", which was quite a lot of fun. Me being me, however, I got the most giddy over seeing the "Harry Potter" trailer. Woo! Much good food was eaten, and with the exception of answering two student emails, I didn't do any work! Yay!!! I hope that all of you had as pleasant a Saturday.

Catharsis

I seldom take any personal time off from work. Let's see...I think one time a few years ago I took a Friday off so we could to go Los Angeles for the weekend, and I took off the Friday before the Nebula Awards last year. Two days off in over five years of work - I think that's pretty good, so why do I feel so guilty about getting a substitute to cover two of my classes last night so I could go see Nine Inch Nails?

My guilt did not impede my fun, however. We had floor tickets and we got to the arena early enough to be really close to the stage. Close enough for a short person like me to see Trent up close! Two hours of glorious aggressive music. They played the three songs I've been binging on recently - "The Line Begins to Blur", "Beside You in Time", and "RIght Where It Belongs" from "With Teeth." Somehow we ended up on the edge of the mosh pit, and I have to admit I enjoyed pushing people back into the pit and supporting the other people around me. We started off closer to the stage, but Greg chivalrously extracted me when the pushing got too furious. Not before I elbowed some pushy chick in the jugular, allowing her momentum to drive me into a back strike to her face, where my diamond ring left a lovely gouge in her cheek.

I hadn't felt that good in months.

I have bruises.

Kirsten, Aaron - I'll try to behave when we see NIN in the genteel confines of the Hollywood Bowl, I promise.

Slight Change in Plans

I woke up to news that NIN's drummer had to stop the show last night in San Diego and be hospitalized with heart problems. That meant that the show tonight in Tucson, which I merrily had tickets for, was cancelled. However, the hotel was booked and good mexican food restaurants had been scouted out, so Greg and I drove to Tucson, where I now type this at a pleasant little coffeehouse with WiFi.

We hadn't been to Tucson in years - it's so much bigger now! Every chain store the average American demands populates the 'burbs. Still an ugly city, but we had sublime mexican food (Cafe Poca Cosa), and later we'll head to Bookman's and the Frog and Firkin. A very nice way to spend the day, all in all.

Frustrated

Just had a student in my office, crying because she has to fly home where her brother is in the hospital. Hospitalized because he was beaten up pretty badly, probably because he is gay. All I could do was give her a hug and some tissue and reassure her that I'll make certain her astronomy class won't be an additional area of stress.

Doesn't feel like enough.

Polarized

Polarization isn't just good for sunglasses - the Boomerang Nebula through polarizing filters, from Hubble

Happy Thoughts

One of my students, a young single mother who wants to be an astronomer some day, is in the hospital with a blood clot in her lung. Please direct happy thoughts her way - aim toward central Arizona. Thanks in advance.

Unlearn

I love astronomy. It seems every day there is a discovery which says we must unlearn what we have learned.

Case in point, the first discovered asteroid has some planetary characteristics - just how many "planets" do we have? - Ceres, from Hubble

Fun with Students

I'm in lab currently, watching my students do a kinesthetic exercise. They are the Earth, a light in the center of the room is the Sun, and they each have a Styrofoam ball representing the Moon. They are rotating and moving the ball to mimic the phases of the Moon.

They are also paranoid that, because I have my computer in the room with me, I'm webcasting their antics. Now that they've mentioned it, I think it's a great idea. Hmm...

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For those of you keeping track, one student has a Tad Williams novel with him and another has a David Drake book with her.

Update: Another student is reading I, Robot by Asimov. Out of the nineteen students in lab today, at least three are reading SF in their time between classes.

Katrina

There's really nothing more to say. The images leave words lacking in power, in any case. I just wanted to mention that you should check the websites of your local colleges and universities. Along with the many displaced students of the New Orleans colleges, students in your own towns have been unable to reach loved ones back home. These students will also be lacking in the emotional and financial support they need to continue in school. Local schools in your town will be working to support these students as well as accomodate ones who've lost their schools on the Gulf Coast. Do what you can where you can.