Spent a pleasant weekend with friends and family. Ate way too much. Didn't work nearly enough. Came back to the end-of-the-semester frenzy.
I'm thankful for meteorites, especially those I picked up today to show my classes.
I'm thankful for the well-being of my friends. I came back to school to hear that the boyfriend of one of my students was killed in an automobile accident this weekend. Hug your nearest and dearest.
I am thankful for my friends and family.
I am thankful for my health.
I am thankful for my work.
After yet another drive across the desert, I am thankful for peanut M&Ms and judicious use of caffeine.
I am thankful for beauty.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Cardinals, Bills, and 49ers (5-5!) all won today. Surely this is a sign of the apocalypse. Just in case, I want you all to know I love you.
I grew up in the Sacramento area, most of that time pre-Kings, so Bay Area sports were what I followed. The As were my American League team, the Giants were my National League team, and the 49ers were my great passion. Now the Giants are tainted by the Bonds scandal, the As are probably moving from Oakland to Fremont, and the Niners...my beloved 49ers...are moving from San Francisco. Most likely they are moving to Santa Clara, but there have been rumors of a move to L.A., at which point I will just gut myself with a rusted spoon. Is there no such thing as loyalty? Sure these places are still in the Bay Area, but what about the communities that have supported them for so long? Grrr....This will test MY loyalty, to be sure.
Speaking of my 49ers, though, reminds me that the great Bill Walsh is suffering from leukemia. I send healing vibes in his direction.
Recently I was asked a question during astronomy lab that I hadn't been asked before: "Does this look like porn to you?" Upon this utterance, a black-and-white image of a naked woman, kneeling on a bed with her arms above her head facing the camera, was shown to me. I'm proud to say that I didn't blush, but said, "I could see how some may call it pornographic." Then the student asked, "How about these?" He then showed me more images of the same woman, naked still, but in more chaste poses. Turns out that this was part of an assignment for a photography class, and he had been upset that the instructor deemed them porn rather than art. This led to a very good discussion about pornographic material versus obscene material, whether or not his instructor should be making such distinctions, and questions he could ask himself about his work if he was worried about offending classmates.
But still... it was a different experience that I usually have during astronomy lab.
I'm wearing a sweater, sipping cocoa, eating granola with soy milk and banana, and listening to a fiddler in the vegetarian coffee house. Ah, Flagstaff...
With my intrepid fellow astronomer Wayne and with the help of lab tech extraordinaire Todd, I watched Mercury transit the Sun today. We set up a 10-in telescope with a solar filter, as well as a wee, but impressive, Sunspotter and showed passersby Mercury and a glorious sunspot that had just peaked over the limb of the Sun. I wish it hadn't been 90 degrees here in the desert, but the hot, dry, clear sky provided a great view. It also provided us a great opportunity to play with a camera. Not great pictures, but not bad for just pointing and clicking in the heat.
Mercury - yup, it's just a dot against a vast, brilliant background.
Sunspot!
Got up early and voted, leaving raging liberal marks all over my ballot. Depending on the results I wake up to tomorrow, you may all get quite a rant.
Went to work to help out with our yearly Science Day, hoping to show 450 underprivileged elementary school kids that both science and college are fun.
Taught two astronomy classes, focusing on Saturn.
Volunteered two hours in a tutoring center, helping out with physics and chemistry questions.
It felt like a very civic-minded day overall. I liked the vibe.
We got though last week. Sick computers, sick car, sick me...all on the mend. Of course, the snowbirds have brought the air pollution with them, so there is wheezing and an eerie Moon to enjoy.
Check out Amy and Brian's latest venture, a funky shirt business called "Robots in Orbit".
Gah...how many political ads do I have to sit through just to watch football? I really want this election to be over. Also, if you're not going to vote for the candidates I want and for the propositions I support, please stay home. You're making the country worse.
Now, on to some peanut butter cup ice cream!
I'm still sick, so I decided to sleep in and then curl up on the couch and read all day. It was a good plan that has more or less worked, except that the phone keeps ringing with pre-recorded election crap. There are several propositions on the ballot here that I feel very strongly about, so I will vote on Tuesday, but between these incessant phone calls and all of the negative TV ads, I now have more sympathy for the people who ignore the election altogether.
I'm sick, which makes me very cranky. I have a sore throat and am achy all over, but at least the low fever is gone. I barely made it through teaching today. During my half hour break between teaching lab and lecture, I went into the office and there it was: the dream cake. Moist chocolate cake, whipped cream frosting... a Halloween gift from one of the publishing reps. I took a tiny piece and ate it with my fingers. I didn't care that I was getting whipped cream all over the place - it was my cake! I did not go back for seconds, but I was so tempted! I am sick, after all, and I am convinced of the curative power of chocolate. Must administer more doses!
This was quite a lovely weekend. On Friday night, we went out on a date. We ate dinner outside in the cool air at a nice restaurant and wandered around a bookstore. Then we went to a concert of spooky music at the university. The acoustics at Gammage Auditorium are really good, and I very much enjoyed the selections from John Williams' Harry Potter soundtrack. "Hedwig's Theme" is just a perfect bit of music - magical and melancholy, just like Harry. I hadn't been to a concert of symphonic music in a long time. Brought me to tears... I used to play flute and oboe and, as a teenager, my goals were torn - pursue music or astronomy? I chose astronomy, arguing to myself that I could continue to play music on my own. There are an oboe and a flute, long untouched, sitting in my closet. I really should drag them out. Warn the neighbors!
The rest of the weekend has involved yummy food, some work, and cozy naps. I also finished The Pox Party - The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, vol. 1 by M.T. Anderson. The book is amazing. It's marketed as YA, which is appropriate if you go by age of the protagonist, but this book is rich on so many levels. I hope that it receives wide readership. If you haven't read it, do so. I give it my highest recommendation.
Much like my urge to spend today playing outside is running up against my need to do my $@!# job, galaxies collide - the Antennae galaxies, from Hubble
My allergies are bothering me, and their most annoying manifestation is the clogging of my ears. Yesterday morning, I found myself pleading to the kids in the back of the lecture hall to speak up. Blah. Makes me cranky. I've started on some allergy medication, so I'm hopeful things will clear up soon. Until then, I'll just continue on in my soundproof world. Bah.
I haven't written for awhile, so it's time to catch up:
Yup. That's my life currently. Must go prepare for class tomorrow. Carry on.
My ex-brother-in-law (my sister's ex-husband) died today. He was always very good to me. He was an avid reader, had a wicked sense of humor and a sharp wit, and was a gourmet cook. He had wide-ranging interests, loved his kids (including my niece), and was incredibly generous. He had been a brilliant, well-known trial attorney until he retired to raise cattle on a remote farm in Oregon.
He was also an alcoholic, and that's what caught up to him today. He'd been an alcoholic for as long as I'd known him, although it wasn't obvious at first. He'd had his sober periods, but could never stay away for long. This final binge led to fatal alcohol poisoning. He is the second of his brothers to die of alcohol-related ailments, and the only surviving brother has recently had a liver transplant.
I don't drink. I resist using medication. The closest I get to mood-altering substances are daily chocolate, occasional caffeinated beverages, cuddling, and NIN. My choice to not drink or use drugs is a lesson I learned from my former brother-in-law. I saw him, his family, and indications in my family that my path could lead down a similar road. If such an intelligent man could not battle his demon, this horrible disease, I surely had no hope of doing so. It is a lesson I am glad that I heeded, but I'm sorry it came at such a high price.
Rest in peace, Wade.
I have agreed to do another presentation for the Math Club at my community college. A good idea. Agreeing to do it on a week's notice? A bad idea.
We went to see Michael Chabon give a reading this weekend. That was a very good idea. It was the best reading I've ever attended, with short fragments of existing prose set amongst an interweaving narrative. He was charming, funny and intelligent, and I came away with an even greater appreciation of his work.
What's up with the quarterback rating system? A bad idea. What sort of rating system has a maximum value of 158.3? What got into these people? Normalize that function, please!
I was torn between biscuits & gravy or chorizo & eggs on Sunday morning. So I split an order of each with Greg. I'm still not sure if that was a bad idea or my best idea ever!
The recent school shootings have bothered me more than I would have anticipated.
I have yet to obtain the perfect cake.
It was still 100 degrees today.
I had to skip the gym to get work done.
I keep feeling like I'm supposed to be somewhere else.
And that damned face recognition/celebrity match software said I most resembled a Japanese dude.
I sit here using my new 13-inch white Macbook. Just bought it last night! Why? Well, I'd like to say that it is NOT because I dropped my old iBook going through security in the airport a few weeks ago. Not because my machine tried to electrocute me yesterday morning. Not because my machine gave me the "Hard drive? What hard drive!?!?" error during lab yesterday. I'd rather say that I'd been contemplating a new machine and that I decided to reward my new svelte self for a year of not being fat. Yup - that's my story, and I'm sticking with it. (Incalculable thanks to Greg for talking me off the cliff and helping me to retrieve as much of my data as possible. And thanks to Carl for his physics Powerpoint slides so that losing time yesterday didn't hurt quite so much this morning.)
