| You are an Orange crayon |
 Your world is colored with offbeat, confident, and stimulating colors. You have a personality that's downright weird - and you wouldn't change it for anything. Loud and expressive, you voice your opinions fearlessly and strongly. And while you have a strong personality, you can be friends with almost anyone. Your color wheel opposite is blue. Your confidence is something blue people truly envy. |
Friday, August 31, 2007
Quiz: What Colour Crayon Are You
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Trapped in Facebook
Yes, it looks like I've gotten enmeshed in the social net that is Facebook. I've never put much store into social networking sites other than to establish an Internet presence but Facebook is different. It has apps you can play with plus a score of other features. But that's not all - you can't just add people willy-nilly. It forces you to have some kind of connection to them, which is a layer of protection, I guess. I also get to customize which details get shown to whom, which was the main requirement for me. A girl can't be too careful these days. Lastly, you get a summary of the updates your friends have done on their Facebook accounts. For spot updates, it beats watching other people's blogs using RSS. Should you wish to do so, you can also use it to communicate presence info. Quite nifty.
It's fun to go hunting for old acquaintances and friends. Kind of like hunting through the obituary but in reverse. Yes, folks - the draw of Facebook is a mix of curiousity and the need for closure. :)
I've been updating my list of friends (those of you I can find, anyway) plus adding interest groups too. Pandering to my sense of nostalgia too, I joined an interest group of my very first true computer. It put a huge smile on my face - I spent many a day coding that machine in BASIC, assembly and Forth back when I was a child. It eventually led me down the path of being a computer scientist, so I guess it paid off. It's both comforting and disturbing to join that community, reading posts about long-dead games and never-to-be-forgotten experiences that make up our collective consciousness. I still hear its singularly unique tape headers in my dreams sometimes.
I haven't uploaded my pic on Facebook yet and I won't until I get my hair done. For that to happen, I have to remember to make an appointment with my salon. And for that happen, I need to make a lot more money to pay the extortionist rates they charge for a simple trim. Ugh. Things were a lot simpler (and cheaper) back in the day...
It's fun to go hunting for old acquaintances and friends. Kind of like hunting through the obituary but in reverse. Yes, folks - the draw of Facebook is a mix of curiousity and the need for closure. :)
I've been updating my list of friends (those of you I can find, anyway) plus adding interest groups too. Pandering to my sense of nostalgia too, I joined an interest group of my very first true computer. It put a huge smile on my face - I spent many a day coding that machine in BASIC, assembly and Forth back when I was a child. It eventually led me down the path of being a computer scientist, so I guess it paid off. It's both comforting and disturbing to join that community, reading posts about long-dead games and never-to-be-forgotten experiences that make up our collective consciousness. I still hear its singularly unique tape headers in my dreams sometimes.
I haven't uploaded my pic on Facebook yet and I won't until I get my hair done. For that to happen, I have to remember to make an appointment with my salon. And for that happen, I need to make a lot more money to pay the extortionist rates they charge for a simple trim. Ugh. Things were a lot simpler (and cheaper) back in the day...
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Notebook buying hoops
Note: this is more of a "how to equip a mature student/equipment review" entry than a personal one. I understand some of you are considering returning to school, so hopefully this helps.
My medical leave of absence ended and I resumed my studies a few weeks ago. I quickly found that my dear lovely iMac wasn't really adequate. Don't get me wrong - she's a lovely machine and I can't complain. It's the environment that's killing me. My desk is cramped and the ergonomics are bad. My primary defence has been fidgeting - I'll get up and do something else every half hour or so. That works for programming but it doesn't when I'm studying. If I'm tracing complex math, interruptions are devastating. It also doesn't help that the kids' play area is in the next room. I tried it out for a week or so and I started pulling my hair out within days. Once, one of the kids kept singing a song over and over again in the next room and it stuck in my head. I couldn't get it out for hours and it totally killed my productivity. So after much soul and bank account searching, I bought a MacBook after getting the greenlight from my sis.
I am much more productive in my studies now - I can pick up and go somewhere quieter if needed and if I have a spare lunch hour, I can do my work right there and then. However, the MacBook's pretty fragile (don't believe what Apple says) so I ended up getting a bunch of accessories to protect it plus more memory for the heavy-duty processing. There were two add-ons in particular that caused me quite a bit of anguish.
I have an old copy of Microsoft Office:Mac 2004 from my old iBook days. It did what it was supposed to do, sometimes with all the elegance of a falling anvil. Unfortunately, it looks horrible on the screen. I put up with it previously but now after my eye surgery in January, I have a hard time looking at it even on my 20" screen, much less on my MacBook's. I ran the trial for iWork '08 and the Pages word processor absolutely looks beautiful! Everything's nice and crisp, with Apple's usual intuitiveness. However, there was a deal-killer: it didn't have any equation editing capabilities like MS Word does and I do quite a bit of math for my papers. I was leery about using a separate package to do equations - why use two applications when MS Word has it all? But I did my due diligence and tried out a few, which is how I found LaTeX Equation Editor. I don't know LaTeX but it was very intuitive to use and it gave me a lot more control and speed than the one built into MS Word. Plus, it's free. So it came back down to whether using Pages in iWork made any difference in work time. So I tested them both out. On MS Word, I could work for about 10 minutes before my eyes started watering. Rest breaks don't help - 10 minutes is too short an interval to do anything useful. Switching to my Dell laptop running Office XP didn't help significantly unless I used a large monitor too, which kills the portability requirement. With Pages, I could go 30 minutes before getting tired. Wow, what a difference! I discussed it with my family and my sis (bless her heart!) said clearly, "Take care of your eyes. That is most important. Anything that reduces the strain on them is worth it." So I plonked down $80 and got iWork. I had moments of buyer's regret during the first couple of days but now that I've had it for nearly a week, I must say that it was a good buy - it's soooooo much more comfortable to work with.
The other thing that caused me pain was my carrying load. You see, I carry at least two handbags (a medium and a large) and usually, that's sufficient. However, having a notebook around changes the equation completely. To cut a long story short, I spent nearly three weeks trying on different combinations of the bags we own to carry everything I needed as comfortably as possible without looking horrible. Unfortunately, the "best" combination was a two-bag system that I could carry for only 15 minutes or so before it got tiring. That wasn't an acceptable combo - I spend about 30-45 minutes collecting books from the library shelves before settling in every paper session. So I started a hunt for a one-bag solution and after a couple of false tries, I found the Tracer Neo Micro. I'm now down to just one bag that I could carry for up to an hour - I know because I tested it today while herding the kids around the Science Centre for most of the afternoon. Small piece of trivia: I was lugging about a sixth of my body weight prior to the Tracer Neo if laden with a notebook. A sixth doesn't seem like much...until you realize that it's 20-40 lbs for most of us and I carry that load for sustained periods of time daily.
I had been using MATLAB but my older version is glitchy on Intel Macs. An upgrade is $99 and there's serious licensing restrictions that I really don't like. So I sprang for SciLab instead. Takes a bit of getting used to but it looks like a very good package. The Widgets for arxiv.org and NASA ADS have become mainstays. I use Time Out for eyesight rest breaks when I'm not doing math.
I *hope* this setup will last me at least 3-5 years. Macs have endurance when it comes to the software requirements upgrade game - I know many owners of old 800MHz iBooks who can still find software for their needs with minimal fuss. It's only the physical breakdowns that creep me out. My iBook died one month past warranty and I didn't have AppleCare then. :( My iMac died 4 months in and this time, I did have AppleCare - 3 weeks later it was back, good as new. Contrast that with my Dell Inspiron 5100 - 7 years old and still alive and well except for its DVD drive. So why a Mac? Simple - for the same price as a Windows notebook, I can dual-boot Mac OS X and Windows. Best of both worlds. I hate to say it, but AppleCare is just the cost of doing business with Apple - their quality control isn't up to what I'd expect.
Totaling up the bill was scary. The scarier part is that while I'm neither cheapening nor maxing out on my purchase, an equivalent system from Dell runs around the same price anyway and it's heavier and much slower for what I need it to do. Working it into the budget took a bit of work but we did it. My heartfelt thanks to my dear sis who trusted me to make the right choices.
Is a notebook/laptop really needed for studies? I think it all depends on who you are and what you're studying. If you're in high school, probably not - the family desktop should suit you just fine. If you're an older student doing papers, it depends on your home environment and your subject of study. In my case, it has turned out to be a resounding yes - I need to be able to take my work somewhere quiet to swot and I need a computer with a decent processor to sort out my calculations - if I can't analyze and manipulate huge gobs of data, I'm dead in the water. I'm looking forward to the day when apps take full advantage of multi-core processors.
Regardless, it's all horrifying expensive. Sometimes I wonder if my studies are worth it. :(
My medical leave of absence ended and I resumed my studies a few weeks ago. I quickly found that my dear lovely iMac wasn't really adequate. Don't get me wrong - she's a lovely machine and I can't complain. It's the environment that's killing me. My desk is cramped and the ergonomics are bad. My primary defence has been fidgeting - I'll get up and do something else every half hour or so. That works for programming but it doesn't when I'm studying. If I'm tracing complex math, interruptions are devastating. It also doesn't help that the kids' play area is in the next room. I tried it out for a week or so and I started pulling my hair out within days. Once, one of the kids kept singing a song over and over again in the next room and it stuck in my head. I couldn't get it out for hours and it totally killed my productivity. So after much soul and bank account searching, I bought a MacBook after getting the greenlight from my sis.
I am much more productive in my studies now - I can pick up and go somewhere quieter if needed and if I have a spare lunch hour, I can do my work right there and then. However, the MacBook's pretty fragile (don't believe what Apple says) so I ended up getting a bunch of accessories to protect it plus more memory for the heavy-duty processing. There were two add-ons in particular that caused me quite a bit of anguish.
I have an old copy of Microsoft Office:Mac 2004 from my old iBook days. It did what it was supposed to do, sometimes with all the elegance of a falling anvil. Unfortunately, it looks horrible on the screen. I put up with it previously but now after my eye surgery in January, I have a hard time looking at it even on my 20" screen, much less on my MacBook's. I ran the trial for iWork '08 and the Pages word processor absolutely looks beautiful! Everything's nice and crisp, with Apple's usual intuitiveness. However, there was a deal-killer: it didn't have any equation editing capabilities like MS Word does and I do quite a bit of math for my papers. I was leery about using a separate package to do equations - why use two applications when MS Word has it all? But I did my due diligence and tried out a few, which is how I found LaTeX Equation Editor. I don't know LaTeX but it was very intuitive to use and it gave me a lot more control and speed than the one built into MS Word. Plus, it's free. So it came back down to whether using Pages in iWork made any difference in work time. So I tested them both out. On MS Word, I could work for about 10 minutes before my eyes started watering. Rest breaks don't help - 10 minutes is too short an interval to do anything useful. Switching to my Dell laptop running Office XP didn't help significantly unless I used a large monitor too, which kills the portability requirement. With Pages, I could go 30 minutes before getting tired. Wow, what a difference! I discussed it with my family and my sis (bless her heart!) said clearly, "Take care of your eyes. That is most important. Anything that reduces the strain on them is worth it." So I plonked down $80 and got iWork. I had moments of buyer's regret during the first couple of days but now that I've had it for nearly a week, I must say that it was a good buy - it's soooooo much more comfortable to work with.
The other thing that caused me pain was my carrying load. You see, I carry at least two handbags (a medium and a large) and usually, that's sufficient. However, having a notebook around changes the equation completely. To cut a long story short, I spent nearly three weeks trying on different combinations of the bags we own to carry everything I needed as comfortably as possible without looking horrible. Unfortunately, the "best" combination was a two-bag system that I could carry for only 15 minutes or so before it got tiring. That wasn't an acceptable combo - I spend about 30-45 minutes collecting books from the library shelves before settling in every paper session. So I started a hunt for a one-bag solution and after a couple of false tries, I found the Tracer Neo Micro. I'm now down to just one bag that I could carry for up to an hour - I know because I tested it today while herding the kids around the Science Centre for most of the afternoon. Small piece of trivia: I was lugging about a sixth of my body weight prior to the Tracer Neo if laden with a notebook. A sixth doesn't seem like much...until you realize that it's 20-40 lbs for most of us and I carry that load for sustained periods of time daily.
I had been using MATLAB but my older version is glitchy on Intel Macs. An upgrade is $99 and there's serious licensing restrictions that I really don't like. So I sprang for SciLab instead. Takes a bit of getting used to but it looks like a very good package. The Widgets for arxiv.org and NASA ADS have become mainstays. I use Time Out for eyesight rest breaks when I'm not doing math.
I *hope* this setup will last me at least 3-5 years. Macs have endurance when it comes to the software requirements upgrade game - I know many owners of old 800MHz iBooks who can still find software for their needs with minimal fuss. It's only the physical breakdowns that creep me out. My iBook died one month past warranty and I didn't have AppleCare then. :( My iMac died 4 months in and this time, I did have AppleCare - 3 weeks later it was back, good as new. Contrast that with my Dell Inspiron 5100 - 7 years old and still alive and well except for its DVD drive. So why a Mac? Simple - for the same price as a Windows notebook, I can dual-boot Mac OS X and Windows. Best of both worlds. I hate to say it, but AppleCare is just the cost of doing business with Apple - their quality control isn't up to what I'd expect.
Totaling up the bill was scary. The scarier part is that while I'm neither cheapening nor maxing out on my purchase, an equivalent system from Dell runs around the same price anyway and it's heavier and much slower for what I need it to do. Working it into the budget took a bit of work but we did it. My heartfelt thanks to my dear sis who trusted me to make the right choices.
Is a notebook/laptop really needed for studies? I think it all depends on who you are and what you're studying. If you're in high school, probably not - the family desktop should suit you just fine. If you're an older student doing papers, it depends on your home environment and your subject of study. In my case, it has turned out to be a resounding yes - I need to be able to take my work somewhere quiet to swot and I need a computer with a decent processor to sort out my calculations - if I can't analyze and manipulate huge gobs of data, I'm dead in the water. I'm looking forward to the day when apps take full advantage of multi-core processors.
Regardless, it's all horrifying expensive. Sometimes I wonder if my studies are worth it. :(
The Ennui of Saturdays
From the Outside-Looking-In files:
It was a normal Saturday, one in an endless procession of repeats. Kate was sitting on her couch, a mug of steaming coffee by her side. The children are playing quietly downstairs, her sister's away and nothing really disturbed her calm save for the rhythmic tick-tock of the wall clock.
She’s bored. Very bored.
There’s a pile of work to be done. Her room is a mess. There are dirty dishes in the kitchen waiting to be washed. She’s half a week behind on her studies. There’s taxes to be calculated, laundry to be washed, a million billion chores to be done.
Did I mention she’s also procrastinating?
Suddenly, the MacBook on her lap beeped at her. It was time for her 1 minute eyesight rest break.
Ah, bliss...nothing sweeter than mandated idleness!
It was a normal Saturday, one in an endless procession of repeats. Kate was sitting on her couch, a mug of steaming coffee by her side. The children are playing quietly downstairs, her sister's away and nothing really disturbed her calm save for the rhythmic tick-tock of the wall clock.
She’s bored. Very bored.
There’s a pile of work to be done. Her room is a mess. There are dirty dishes in the kitchen waiting to be washed. She’s half a week behind on her studies. There’s taxes to be calculated, laundry to be washed, a million billion chores to be done.
Did I mention she’s also procrastinating?
Suddenly, the MacBook on her lap beeped at her. It was time for her 1 minute eyesight rest break.
Ah, bliss...nothing sweeter than mandated idleness!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Smelling the flowers
*WARNING* Extremely long account of weekend vacation. May bore you to tears. You have been warned!
I had to head up to Edmonton last Friday to see one of my doctors. My sis and the kids were coming so we had a little holiday.
We drove the 3 hours or so up to Edmonton; the kids got to eat breakfast at A&W which for kids that age was a real treat. We parked at the hospital and we all went up to the unit my doctor was at. The hospital is *huge*. The Stollery Children's Hospital is part of it and my family marvelled at how bright and cheerful the facility was. I got examined by my doctor and everyone else went exploring. I understand the hospital was interesting enough that the kids had fun - not your usual comment about hospitals. We had lunch and headed out to check in at our hotel.
We were staying in a hotel in downtown Edmonton. Back when I was living in that city, I jokingly referred to it as the Brita building. It really did look like one of those Brita water filters. For a lark, I had made up a story about how it used to be owned by a filtration company who, as a gimmick, sucked in the bad downtown air, filtered it and pushed clean air out. Then in 1987 when a very large tornado hit Edmonton, the local cityfolk unjustly blamed the building for screwing up the air currents and pulling the tornado into the city. So, the company quickly ditched it and the building got turned into a hotel, which is what it still is today. A lot of people believed that story, which goes to show that while people are guillible, they're also very trusting. I used to focus on the former; now I believe in nurturing the latter, especially given what our world is turning into.
We ended up with a room that had a commanding view of the river valley. It was *beautiful*. Ditching our stuff in the room, we took the subway and then the bus to Whyte Avenue. The kids had fun on the subway. We have light rail trains in Calgary, but Edmonton's system is underground, which is a very novel experience for the kids. I took them to the front of the train and they got a chance to peer through the front window of the train as we were underground. Yes, I know it's not much for us adults but it's fun for the kids!
My sis really wanted to go to Whyte Avenue and there's really one reason: shopping! Both my sis and I blew our budgets (and then some) within half an hour of reaching Whyte at Rowena's, the first store we visited. She got a beautiful medieval dress and I found a nice black cocktail dress - should come in handy at next year's RASC General Assembly banquet. It's funny, there were only two operational dressing rooms available. My sis and I took turns in one and the other was being used by another girl. Her boyfriend was outside, waiting patiently for her to finish. At one point, I looked up at him and then to the kids - all three of them had the same, totally identical "hurry up I'm bored" expression on their faces! I guess there are some guy experiences that transcend age. Hmm...come to think of it, that seems to hold true for most cases! ;)
There's a nifty little oyster bar/restaurant called Da-De-O's on Whyte. They have the most amazing bread biscuit/sweet jalapeno appetizers in addition to beautiful oysters. I understand that national shucking competitions have been held there and that they field contestants in the annual competitions as well. Unfortunately, they have a sign up now: Adults Only. *sigh* I guess we shan't be going in †o eat some tasty food. :(
We went all the way to the other end to visit Warp 1, an Edmonton gaming store. I wasn't planning on getting anything but I figured that kids would have some fun there. Alas, I forgot they had remodelled some years back and a lot of the cool displays and kits are now behind their sales counters, out of sight of most children. We ended up getting a couple of Star Wars stuff for the kids but then our credit card got locked out. I guess that's a good thing - they noticed purchases in a different city and locked it out in case of fraud. I liked that part. What I didn't like was the fact that I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to their fraud prevention department to get it unlocked. *sigh*
We had supper at Bua Thai, a nifty little Thai restaurant that was a particular favourite of my dear sister's. We ordered the usual coconut rice and cashew chicken that she loved. In a rare feat of self-restraint, I didn't order the suicidally-hot massamun curry and chose a Phuket seafood medley instead.The kids got to experience squid for the first time and mussels too! They loved the mussels and the scallops but not much else in the medley. The rice and chicken were a hit, as usual. The memory I'm taking from that meal is when one of the kids (the noisy one - you know which one!) who was busy shovelling food into his mouth pronounced gravely that he prefers my scallops to the restaurant's. My sis says that all the time and now I have collaborating evidence from a second datapoint! Which means it's got a higher probability of being true!
*ahem* I think I need to learn how to take compliments better. I think I also overanalyze stuff. I'll have to think some more about that. ;)
Anyhoo, duly stuffed we walked off the meal during the 10+ blocks back to the hotel. My sis and the kids tucked into bed and after an unsuccessful search for a nighttime mug of green tea, I did too. As at SSSP 2007, I now have yet another second collaborating datapoint that kids will occupy all possible resources both awake and asleep. Mr. Napoleon Boneyparts kept jabbing me in the side with his knee in addition to occupying large tracts of the bed. I had to get up a few times during the night to relocate him back to his side of the bed before I ended up being pushed onto the floor. I understand my sis was waging a war of her own too - her kid kept stealing all the blankets. When told about it in the morning, they responded with unrepentent giggling.
We had breakfast at the hotel and explored downtown a bit. We were a little disapppointed - our goal was to take the kids to the mini-golf place in one of the downtown malls but it wasn't there when we arrived. I guess it must have been closed down some time back. We explored another mall after that because I needed an illuminated RACI finderscope for my deteriorating eyesight. Alas, they didn't have any in stock. In addition to being an astronomy store, it was also a science shop so the kids got one toy each - a hovercraft kit (base + balloon) and a gyroscope. We had lunch and headed home.
The hovercraft isn't being used much. The kids prefer to blow through the balloon attachment tube which makes a whistling rasping noise. Over and over again. All the time. The gyroscope got abandoned when the kids realized that no, it wasn't a giant wheel that they can spin up and make it race across the floor. *sigh* I *will* get some science into those kids some day. Even if I have to sugarcoat it with water rockets and homemade ballistas.
All in all, yet another thankfully good getaway weekend!
I had to head up to Edmonton last Friday to see one of my doctors. My sis and the kids were coming so we had a little holiday.
We drove the 3 hours or so up to Edmonton; the kids got to eat breakfast at A&W which for kids that age was a real treat. We parked at the hospital and we all went up to the unit my doctor was at. The hospital is *huge*. The Stollery Children's Hospital is part of it and my family marvelled at how bright and cheerful the facility was. I got examined by my doctor and everyone else went exploring. I understand the hospital was interesting enough that the kids had fun - not your usual comment about hospitals. We had lunch and headed out to check in at our hotel.
We were staying in a hotel in downtown Edmonton. Back when I was living in that city, I jokingly referred to it as the Brita building. It really did look like one of those Brita water filters. For a lark, I had made up a story about how it used to be owned by a filtration company who, as a gimmick, sucked in the bad downtown air, filtered it and pushed clean air out. Then in 1987 when a very large tornado hit Edmonton, the local cityfolk unjustly blamed the building for screwing up the air currents and pulling the tornado into the city. So, the company quickly ditched it and the building got turned into a hotel, which is what it still is today. A lot of people believed that story, which goes to show that while people are guillible, they're also very trusting. I used to focus on the former; now I believe in nurturing the latter, especially given what our world is turning into.
We ended up with a room that had a commanding view of the river valley. It was *beautiful*. Ditching our stuff in the room, we took the subway and then the bus to Whyte Avenue. The kids had fun on the subway. We have light rail trains in Calgary, but Edmonton's system is underground, which is a very novel experience for the kids. I took them to the front of the train and they got a chance to peer through the front window of the train as we were underground. Yes, I know it's not much for us adults but it's fun for the kids!
My sis really wanted to go to Whyte Avenue and there's really one reason: shopping! Both my sis and I blew our budgets (and then some) within half an hour of reaching Whyte at Rowena's, the first store we visited. She got a beautiful medieval dress and I found a nice black cocktail dress - should come in handy at next year's RASC General Assembly banquet. It's funny, there were only two operational dressing rooms available. My sis and I took turns in one and the other was being used by another girl. Her boyfriend was outside, waiting patiently for her to finish. At one point, I looked up at him and then to the kids - all three of them had the same, totally identical "hurry up I'm bored" expression on their faces! I guess there are some guy experiences that transcend age. Hmm...come to think of it, that seems to hold true for most cases! ;)
There's a nifty little oyster bar/restaurant called Da-De-O's on Whyte. They have the most amazing bread biscuit/sweet jalapeno appetizers in addition to beautiful oysters. I understand that national shucking competitions have been held there and that they field contestants in the annual competitions as well. Unfortunately, they have a sign up now: Adults Only. *sigh* I guess we shan't be going in †o eat some tasty food. :(
We went all the way to the other end to visit Warp 1, an Edmonton gaming store. I wasn't planning on getting anything but I figured that kids would have some fun there. Alas, I forgot they had remodelled some years back and a lot of the cool displays and kits are now behind their sales counters, out of sight of most children. We ended up getting a couple of Star Wars stuff for the kids but then our credit card got locked out. I guess that's a good thing - they noticed purchases in a different city and locked it out in case of fraud. I liked that part. What I didn't like was the fact that I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to their fraud prevention department to get it unlocked. *sigh*
We had supper at Bua Thai, a nifty little Thai restaurant that was a particular favourite of my dear sister's. We ordered the usual coconut rice and cashew chicken that she loved. In a rare feat of self-restraint, I didn't order the suicidally-hot massamun curry and chose a Phuket seafood medley instead.The kids got to experience squid for the first time and mussels too! They loved the mussels and the scallops but not much else in the medley. The rice and chicken were a hit, as usual. The memory I'm taking from that meal is when one of the kids (the noisy one - you know which one!) who was busy shovelling food into his mouth pronounced gravely that he prefers my scallops to the restaurant's. My sis says that all the time and now I have collaborating evidence from a second datapoint! Which means it's got a higher probability of being true!
*ahem* I think I need to learn how to take compliments better. I think I also overanalyze stuff. I'll have to think some more about that. ;)
Anyhoo, duly stuffed we walked off the meal during the 10+ blocks back to the hotel. My sis and the kids tucked into bed and after an unsuccessful search for a nighttime mug of green tea, I did too. As at SSSP 2007, I now have yet another second collaborating datapoint that kids will occupy all possible resources both awake and asleep. Mr. Napoleon Boneyparts kept jabbing me in the side with his knee in addition to occupying large tracts of the bed. I had to get up a few times during the night to relocate him back to his side of the bed before I ended up being pushed onto the floor. I understand my sis was waging a war of her own too - her kid kept stealing all the blankets. When told about it in the morning, they responded with unrepentent giggling.
We had breakfast at the hotel and explored downtown a bit. We were a little disapppointed - our goal was to take the kids to the mini-golf place in one of the downtown malls but it wasn't there when we arrived. I guess it must have been closed down some time back. We explored another mall after that because I needed an illuminated RACI finderscope for my deteriorating eyesight. Alas, they didn't have any in stock. In addition to being an astronomy store, it was also a science shop so the kids got one toy each - a hovercraft kit (base + balloon) and a gyroscope. We had lunch and headed home.
The hovercraft isn't being used much. The kids prefer to blow through the balloon attachment tube which makes a whistling rasping noise. Over and over again. All the time. The gyroscope got abandoned when the kids realized that no, it wasn't a giant wheel that they can spin up and make it race across the floor. *sigh* I *will* get some science into those kids some day. Even if I have to sugarcoat it with water rockets and homemade ballistas.
All in all, yet another thankfully good getaway weekend!
Monday, August 13, 2007
...you make lemonade
My family and I (plus a couple of friends) went to SSSP 2007. It's my first dark sky star party I've ever been to.
It rained. A lot. My equipment got rained on (but fortunately, not the OTA). It was cold. It was windy. On the one night that it was clear, the wind was so strong I couldn't get my scope GPS-aligned properly. Then the alignment mark sticker came off and that was it, no more GPS alignments (I wasn't going to do manual align in the wind).
It was, in short, a horrible trip from the perspective of goals. I didn't manage to get any astroimaging done and now I have to wait for a good night so I can go out, manual-align my scope and re-mark the alignment marker.
After at least 2 hours of very frustrating alignment failures, when the alignment marker came off, I was really close to tears. I retired to the car and sat in the dark for a bit. I could bemoan all that's happened and gone wrong, or I could make the most of it.
I took out my star charts, my binoculars and did some binocular observing. Given the current condition of my eyes, I could see very little compared to my vision not 3 years ago. But the Milky Way was visible and I hit M31 both naked-eye and with binoculars - that was pretty much the only observing goal I managed all night. Regardless, it was *grand*. Later in the evening, I also had the chance to see M31 again but also its companions M32 and M110 in a 16" Dobsonian. I had a good time with my friend and the wife of the owner of the 16" Dob.
In a previous life, I would have chalked the trip up to be a failure. However, I don't think solely in terms of success and failure anymore. I had a good time with friends, learnt a lot that I can apply to future star parties and my sis and the kids had a good time. My only regret was that I missed out and going out with the kids to the local T-rex museum because I needed all the sleep I could get for the observing session.
I was surrounded by the splendour of creation that night, where photons from long-dead stars travelled for millions of years to finally impact my retina. Compared to that majesty, it put all of my concerns into perspective. I felt tiny, insignificant but oh so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to stand in that field and looking up. Y'know, all things considered, not a bad weekend.
It rained. A lot. My equipment got rained on (but fortunately, not the OTA). It was cold. It was windy. On the one night that it was clear, the wind was so strong I couldn't get my scope GPS-aligned properly. Then the alignment mark sticker came off and that was it, no more GPS alignments (I wasn't going to do manual align in the wind).
It was, in short, a horrible trip from the perspective of goals. I didn't manage to get any astroimaging done and now I have to wait for a good night so I can go out, manual-align my scope and re-mark the alignment marker.
After at least 2 hours of very frustrating alignment failures, when the alignment marker came off, I was really close to tears. I retired to the car and sat in the dark for a bit. I could bemoan all that's happened and gone wrong, or I could make the most of it.
I took out my star charts, my binoculars and did some binocular observing. Given the current condition of my eyes, I could see very little compared to my vision not 3 years ago. But the Milky Way was visible and I hit M31 both naked-eye and with binoculars - that was pretty much the only observing goal I managed all night. Regardless, it was *grand*. Later in the evening, I also had the chance to see M31 again but also its companions M32 and M110 in a 16" Dobsonian. I had a good time with my friend and the wife of the owner of the 16" Dob.
In a previous life, I would have chalked the trip up to be a failure. However, I don't think solely in terms of success and failure anymore. I had a good time with friends, learnt a lot that I can apply to future star parties and my sis and the kids had a good time. My only regret was that I missed out and going out with the kids to the local T-rex museum because I needed all the sleep I could get for the observing session.
I was surrounded by the splendour of creation that night, where photons from long-dead stars travelled for millions of years to finally impact my retina. Compared to that majesty, it put all of my concerns into perspective. I felt tiny, insignificant but oh so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to stand in that field and looking up. Y'know, all things considered, not a bad weekend.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Cleaning out the gerbil cages
After taking a year's leave of absence, I've resumed my M.Sc. program. The actual semester begins tomorrow so I'm doing my pre-reading to get a jump ahead. Mentally, it's like going up to the attic and rattling the gerbil cages so that they start running on the treadmill again.
Unfortunately, as I'm finding after staring blankly and fruitlessly at a mass of equations, my brain gerbils are not only dead, it looks like they died a long time ago. I blame D&D.
I also dusted off my trusty scientific calculator. I'm at least one firmware update behind.
*sigh*
Looks like I'm going to be posting a little less for the next few weeks, at least until I've trained the replacement gerbils.
*squeak*
Unfortunately, as I'm finding after staring blankly and fruitlessly at a mass of equations, my brain gerbils are not only dead, it looks like they died a long time ago. I blame D&D.
I also dusted off my trusty scientific calculator. I'm at least one firmware update behind.
*sigh*
Looks like I'm going to be posting a little less for the next few weeks, at least until I've trained the replacement gerbils.
*squeak*
Friday, August 3, 2007
Review: Sunshine
I just came back from watching Sunshine, a new movie that's only being shown in a few theatres.
The plot goes something like this: the Sun is dying prematurely because a Q-Ball is lodged deep inside it. So we sent one ship with a big bomb (it's a Hollywood movie, so bombs are practically compulsory if you want funding) that'll blow the Q-Ball apart, making our Sun all shiny again. Except that it didn't work because the Sun is still dying and all contact with the ship was lost. So we're sending a second ship with the same type of bomb. If at first you don't succeed, try try again, right?
Let me make one thing clear right now: insofar as I am concerned, this is *not* a sci-fi flick. This is out and out a horror flick with shades of sci-fi tossed in, kind of like Event Horizon. If you have no clue what Event Horizon was, good - keep it that way. As with most movies like this, the science is either minimal or merely a plot device. Surprisingly, the science in the initial premise is decent...but it goes downhill into just a plot device super-quick. The show wasn't half bad up until it starts turning into a horror flick about two-thirds of the way in. If you have to use the facilities then, don't return to the theatre. Seriously, it's better that way.
I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that the crew get picked off one by one. You want to know how bad the writing was? There's one point when they start talking about "expendable" crewmembers and who should live and who should die. Get this: they have a communications officer (guess how important he is) but they don't have a DOCTOR. I understand that space missions of that sort will have multi-disciplinary specialists but come on! Comms officer? When they already know (and it's in the plot!) that the ship will lose contact with Earth partway through the trip?
Like with most Hollywood movies, they have some pretty well-toned crewmembers. Scientists generally don't look as fit - I'm glad their casting department didn't go for full realism there. *shudder* In short, it's rental material (but only on a decent widescreen TV). I used a movie pass so it was essentially free for me (less the snacks and drink) and I definitely wouldn't recommend paying full price to watch this one.
Okay, that ends the review bit; the touchy-feely bits start here. Here's my personal reaction: I was scared out of my wits in that movie. Being aflame is one thing but vaporization is a totally different kettle of fish. I used to be able to watch horror flicks with impunity but obviously, something has happened to me during the course of my treatment for my Condition because folks, I couldn't watch most of the death scenes. I'm talking squeeze-eyes-shut heart-thumping visceral fear. Eeep.
Other than that, I was fine. :) I may not have liked the movie, but it had truly beautiful shots of the Sun. They're probably all computer-generated but my goodness, they were gorgeous! It's funny - I've spent most of my life not looking directly at the Sun that it's pretty much instinctive now. I kept flinching away from the really bright shots of the Sun in the movie. Yes, I know I'm silly. :P
The main thing I took away from the movie is that nature is terrifyingly beautiful. I may know intellectually that the surface temperature of the Sun is around 5,800K but it's just a number to me...until I see it translated, however imperfectly, to the need for heat shielding on the ship. It's one thing for me to learn and know about sunspots...until I see just how huge those things are.
I study science and if enough things go well with my life, I hope to pass on that knowledge to other people someday. But astronomy lends itself to intellectual detachment. After all, unlike most other sciences, you can't use your senses much in astronomy - you can figure out and see the effects of gravity but you can't touch it. It's tough to do but I hope not to ever become so detached that I lose my sense of wonder. See, to me, that's a large part of what science is: wonderment at nature and the desire to figure out why.
Sunshine isn't educational but it's got pretty visuals and it reminds us that simply because something has always been there (insofar as our experience goes) doesn't mean it's not beautiful, complex and often dangerous enough to demand respect.
The plot goes something like this: the Sun is dying prematurely because a Q-Ball is lodged deep inside it. So we sent one ship with a big bomb (it's a Hollywood movie, so bombs are practically compulsory if you want funding) that'll blow the Q-Ball apart, making our Sun all shiny again. Except that it didn't work because the Sun is still dying and all contact with the ship was lost. So we're sending a second ship with the same type of bomb. If at first you don't succeed, try try again, right?
Let me make one thing clear right now: insofar as I am concerned, this is *not* a sci-fi flick. This is out and out a horror flick with shades of sci-fi tossed in, kind of like Event Horizon. If you have no clue what Event Horizon was, good - keep it that way. As with most movies like this, the science is either minimal or merely a plot device. Surprisingly, the science in the initial premise is decent...but it goes downhill into just a plot device super-quick. The show wasn't half bad up until it starts turning into a horror flick about two-thirds of the way in. If you have to use the facilities then, don't return to the theatre. Seriously, it's better that way.
I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that the crew get picked off one by one. You want to know how bad the writing was? There's one point when they start talking about "expendable" crewmembers and who should live and who should die. Get this: they have a communications officer (guess how important he is) but they don't have a DOCTOR. I understand that space missions of that sort will have multi-disciplinary specialists but come on! Comms officer? When they already know (and it's in the plot!) that the ship will lose contact with Earth partway through the trip?
Like with most Hollywood movies, they have some pretty well-toned crewmembers. Scientists generally don't look as fit - I'm glad their casting department didn't go for full realism there. *shudder* In short, it's rental material (but only on a decent widescreen TV). I used a movie pass so it was essentially free for me (less the snacks and drink) and I definitely wouldn't recommend paying full price to watch this one.
Okay, that ends the review bit; the touchy-feely bits start here. Here's my personal reaction: I was scared out of my wits in that movie. Being aflame is one thing but vaporization is a totally different kettle of fish. I used to be able to watch horror flicks with impunity but obviously, something has happened to me during the course of my treatment for my Condition because folks, I couldn't watch most of the death scenes. I'm talking squeeze-eyes-shut heart-thumping visceral fear. Eeep.
Other than that, I was fine. :) I may not have liked the movie, but it had truly beautiful shots of the Sun. They're probably all computer-generated but my goodness, they were gorgeous! It's funny - I've spent most of my life not looking directly at the Sun that it's pretty much instinctive now. I kept flinching away from the really bright shots of the Sun in the movie. Yes, I know I'm silly. :P
The main thing I took away from the movie is that nature is terrifyingly beautiful. I may know intellectually that the surface temperature of the Sun is around 5,800K but it's just a number to me...until I see it translated, however imperfectly, to the need for heat shielding on the ship. It's one thing for me to learn and know about sunspots...until I see just how huge those things are.
I study science and if enough things go well with my life, I hope to pass on that knowledge to other people someday. But astronomy lends itself to intellectual detachment. After all, unlike most other sciences, you can't use your senses much in astronomy - you can figure out and see the effects of gravity but you can't touch it. It's tough to do but I hope not to ever become so detached that I lose my sense of wonder. See, to me, that's a large part of what science is: wonderment at nature and the desire to figure out why.
Sunshine isn't educational but it's got pretty visuals and it reminds us that simply because something has always been there (insofar as our experience goes) doesn't mean it's not beautiful, complex and often dangerous enough to demand respect.
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