Traveling

We've made it to Salem, VA. YAY! So far I haven't wanted to kill anyone. But Nettie did start talking as soon as she woke up. I'll post pictures later from DC, Pawtucket, and maybe Boston.

If I complain about my folks or little sister it's because I've been stuck in a car with them all day. Please forgive my need to vent.

I'm off to get my reccommended daily allowance of LOLcatsl before supper.

Darwin's Point?

VNO? Tail? What vestigial organs do you have?

Honu-Girl sent me this article and said she had a Darwin's point, but you can't really see it.This lead to some wondering about how big would the bump be before one would want it removed for cosmetic reasons. I have a hard time picturing a bump on an ear that would make me want surgery.

But then I have a hard time imaging really wanting plastic surgery. On the one hand I can think of all kinds of thing to 'fix'; on the other this is what I look like, what I've always looked like (well, sort of...) and it'd be weird not to look like myself. I have a set of scars on my chest that are the result of my breathing and feeding tubes when I was born. My mom once asked me if I wanted the scars removed and I asked her how that would be done. When Mom said they'd be sanded off I had the image of a power sander just like Dad had down in his shop and said "no thanks". I think this was after he'd tried to pierce my ears. (He did my mom's.) At the time I was almost old enough that no random kid was just going to ask me what the scars were and old enough to be really embarrassed that someone noticed.

What would you get 'fixed' if someone said "you can have one plastic surgery, what will it be?" (Other than lipo.)

A good night of TV

Friday night's TV was great. I had taped Thursday's so first I watched...

CSI's season finale (?): Warrick, NOOOOOO! The SHERIFF!!!!WTFFFF??????? (Nick better not have a goofy hair cut again next season since they killed off the other hot guy. Not that I'm blowing off any of the other imminently datable but merely cute characters.)

then came Lost: Sun telling her father to STFU (not exactly in those words), FTW!

then Numb3rs: Oh, Charlie stands up to bigotry and stupidity, makes a stand for academic/intellectual freedom, loses his security clearance, and can't work for the FBI any more. And Megan leaves, poor Larry. Although as he said their relationship has never required physical proximity.

And last, but not least, Doctor Who: While no great lines from Donna about how the Ood have to be trusting because they are born with their brains in their hands, the Doctor does make an idiot of himself with Donna (You're only popping round for a visit and coming back, huh?) and gets told off about how he's gets to come and go as he pleases but SOME people have to stick around and work on the inside. The previews for the finale suggest that the Doctor does stick around. (Damn Brits and their short seasons.) Why didn't anyone try breaking the car window? Surely there was a rock or something nearby. For that matter all those people whose car's drove them into the river, didn't any of them attempt to break their windows? Do the Brits not have those little safety tools that are suppose to break car windows and cut you out of a stuck seatbelt? (BTW, does David Tennant ever not look surprised?)

Love

Wow. Sad. Cool.


Untitled by Felix Gonzalez-Torres

From the Art Institute of Chicago's web-page:

This installation is an allegorical portrait of the artist’s partner, Ross Laycock, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991. The 175 pounds of candy corresponds to Ross's ideal body weight. While on display in our contemporary galleries, viewers are encouraged to help themselves. As the pile diminishes, candies are replaced.

(Thanks for the photo, Penn)

It's just got to stop.

Enough is enough. Saturday night I DREAMED about the Democratic primary. Obama had 793 super-delegates and Clinton had 2. I was looking at this and trying to remember if senators are super-delegates or not because other than Bill, I couldn't think of who (besides herself) was still supporting her. Can it just be over, please?

On a lighter note, we* spent Mother's Day at the zoo. Was it twin day at the zoo? Because I saw like a half dozen sets of twins, all dressed alike, of course. Here are the pictures.

Mother's Day at the Zoo

*my folks, Nettie, John, Xiomara, and I

Dirty Dirty Storm

For your weekend viewing pleasure:


Dirty Lightening, Chaitén volcano, Chile

I'm a couple days late posting but the next one should make up for the delay.

Kitten's and boobies.

What more do we need to do for world peace? (even if some are photoshopped) Except maybe take pictures of really cute smart guys with kittens and/or puppies.

Here, I've done my part.

Geekiest Moment

A few days ago Sarah was asking if any of us had had a Little Professor and when I clicked through to see what she was talking about I realized I'd had one. I have a positive associations with the Little Professor, although other recognizing that I'd had one I don't remember anything else (like playing calculator games). Just a few minutes ago, for no reason in particular except it is 50 minutes until State Employee Appreciation Proclamation reading and snacks, I was thinking about the geekiest thing I did as a kid.

For as long as I can remember I've taken long showers. When I'm not falling asleep in them, my mind is wandering; sometimes I'm doing both. I used to, sometimes, do math in the shower. (BTW, I find steamed up tiles are excellent righting surfaces, far superior to my current plastic tub surround.) About the same time I was playing with my brother's scientific calculator to try and figure out what e^x and ln(x) meant. (And sneak some of that advanced intermediate school knowledge denied my elementary school self.) I also was trying to figure out X². My brother explained exponents to me and I knew my times tables up to 12*12, so I thought this was pretty cool.

So one morning in the shower I figured out 13² and 14² and 15² and then I wondered if there was an easy way to figure out a square without having to do all that multiplication. I proceeded to re-invented algebra. The way to do this algebraically isn't any simpler but it did allow me to figure out the square of 13 (and 14, 15, ...) without doing any multiplication by hand.

Here's what I figured out:
12²+12+13=13²=163

Little did I know that I'd just figured out that
(X+1)² = X² + 2x +1

I immediately recognized this later when I took algebra. There it is, I was a hopeless geek at 9.

Funereal Thoughts

Sunday while Mom, Nettie, and I were at my niece's shower* (along with lots of other people) her father and brother were at a funeral. A good friend of my nephew's had been battling leukemia for several years. My nephew, who buried his grandfather last weekend, was a pallbearer this weekend. I can't even begin to say how much that sucks.

The shower and the funerals got me thinking about a few things.

First, about how even though I've lived in the same town as them (well, basically) for the last 15 years I don't see them that often. And I'm not an integral part of their lives. Their mother's sisters are but not me. I guess it's because we didn't live here for so long. I wish I did know them better.

I find leaving the funeral of someone I didn't know really well I wish I had. Obviously no one says anything bad about the deceased at the funeral but I've been to a couple of funerals where the stories told were a bit surprising to me because they didn't fit with how I knew the person. They made me wish I'd known the person in that way too. I was also at a funeral once where I left wishing I'd known the deceased better because all the stories just reinforced my knowledge that he was just a really really nice guy.

Lastly, isn't it ironic that the sickest people sometimes can't get into drug trials? You have to be pretty bad off to be considered for many experimental treatments, particularly for cancers, but if you're too bad off you are too sick to try it. I understand the reasoning but it just seems strange some how.

Enough gloominess, it's lovely outside and the student's will be gone in a few days. Campus is so much nicer without them.:D


* The loot! OMG! Too bad they aren't they aren't living in their house yet. They'll have to store the stuff for a few weeks somewhere.

See, I told you.

Told you I'd take a picture. Y'all thought I was joshin', didn't you.

I often drive by church signs and wonder exactly what the message is suppose to mean, if it is suppose to be uplifting (because I don't find it to be), I wonder if their choir concert might be any good, or something along those lines. This one's just got me wondering if anyone at that church finished elementary school.

I did have an idea: maybe the sign is a comment on the attire of some of the young (or not so young) ladies in the church. Perhaps someone is reminding the ladies of the congregation that God has given them more than they should put on display, at least in church. Although, I doubt it. OR, maybe they don't believe in sharing burdens and this is their way of telling certain members "we really don't care".

(I smudged the name and affiliation of the church to protect the innocent.)

YAY!

My camera is fixed!

I've been thinking very bad things about the people at Fujifilm for most of last night and today but it turns out that the batteries that were new (bought cheap ones to ship with the camera) when I sent it off are mostly dead now. I figured I'd make sure I had good batteries in before I cursed some poor CSR out, so I brought some to rechargables with me to work. They've been plugged in all day. I just put in the freshly charged batteries and it works.

YAY!

(Sorry for the profanity this morning on Gtalk.)

Goddamnit!

Sometimes I wonder why I still have a job. (Other than being a state employee it is a huge pain in the ass to fire someone and an equally huge pain in the ass to hire a replacement.)

I was suppose to be in a conference call at 1 EST. I just wrote down (and remembered) 1. I went to lunch like normal. I did not take a short lunch. I missed the call. I really really hope there will be an email with the minutes from the call shortly.

It did occur to me a minute ago that the call was on a super-duper giant-stick-up-one's-ass technicality an hour early. One pm eastern standard time is the same as 2pm eastern daylight time. But I don't think that argument will get me anywhere.

Do you think I can blame it on the fact that I am often on the verge of hypothermia in my office?