Random Thoughts from My Trip Home

This blog is beginning to become more of a random thoughts blog than I first had intended. But that's all I seem to have lately. So, here's some more for anyone who reads this to enjoy.

- While I was at home, I actually watched the news because the productions from Green Bay are so much better than the productions coming out of Johnstown. Anyway, one of the stories on there was about someone getting stranded on the ice in the Bay of Green Bay. Every year some idiot makes the news because they weren't smart enough to realize one of the two following things: (1) the ice isn't thick enough because it's too early in winter for it to have frozen deep enough, (2) the ice has thinned because of a rather mild spell. In this year's case it was the latter that was true. I would have thought that people might learn after seeing these stories year after year, but I guess that's not the case.

- I've come to the conclusion that semis should just have their own highway system. Either that or the drivers should be courteous to other drivers on the road. Many time in the trip home and back I've had to slow down because a semi decides to move into my lane at the last possible moment. Usually they are trying to pass another semi that is probably only going around 1 mph slower than they are. In one case on the trip back here, a semi decided to pass a whole caravan of other trucks in Indiana, so I was stuck in a line of cars that were going significantly slower than the speed limit. A lot of choice words were coming out of my mouth during that part of my drive in Indiana.

- I heard the new Madonna song a lot during both the trip home and back. No matter how many times I hear it, I don't think I'm ever going to like it. I'm sort of a music purist. That is, I like music that is not remixed or has a lot of effects that make it sound like a song that could be played in a dance club. Madonna has just been doing more and more songs with effects like that, and that just doesn't impress me. Another thing that I dislike about remixes is that the song being remixed is generally not a dance song. I could go on and on about this, but I won't bore any readers to death about that.

- I love that the speed limit in Indiana is 70 mph now. Granted that doesn't cut out much time from the 12+ hour drive for my trip home, but there's something nice about cutting any time from my trip that I can.

- Chicago is getting much easier for me to drive through. The first time, I was petrified of driving through such a big city because I was always riding whenever I'd go to Chicago with someone, and it always seemed like traffic was rather hellish. Now, it's getting easier. I just have to drive defensively. Chicago is always going to be the hairiest part of my drive, though. I actually made good time through Chicago round trip this time. (I only say Chicago, because, let's face it, the whole northeast quadrant of Illinois is Chicago.) On the way back here yesterday, I actually hit a lot of traffic in the downtown part of Chicago, but I still made good time, mainly because I was really speeding in the northern suburb part of Chicago. I couldn't help it, though. One can't do the speed limit anywhere in the Chicago area without causing a huge backup of traffic. I was going about 70 mph in a 55 mph zone and there were still some people passing me like I was standing still. I'm just glad I didn't see any cops along that stretch of road.

- Speaking of cops, I love how people always slow down as soon as they see a cop with a radar gun. It's not really going to make a difference. The cop usually catches people before they see him/her. I'll admit, though, that I sometimes do that as well.

- I was thinking while driving (because I really don't have to pay that much attention to the road for most of my drive) about how the money collected from toll roads is used. I can honestly say that I don't really know. Is it used for just the repair and improvement of the toll road/turnpike itself, or is the money used for projects on other interstates or state highways? If the money is only used for the toll roads, I have to say that some states are doing a crappy job of keeping the roads nice. Illinois is a prime example. There are so many pot holes on the Tri-State tollway and the stretch that is before the Tri-State that I'm always worried about blowing out a tire. Indiana doesn't do much better in that respect. At least not for the stretch before I need to take a ticket for the toll. Ohio's turnpike is great, though. It's very smooth and three lanes most of the time which is a nice thing when avoiding semis. If the money collected on toll roads is used for other highways, Pennsylvania is seriously neglecting I-80. Well, not all of it. Just the part of I-80 that is five miles or so before the exit for Bellefonte/Penn State. That part of the road is horrible. That's another stretch of road that I worry about blowing out a tire.

- Christmas was interesting. None of us really felt like celebrating, especially Mom. That doesn't surprise me, though, because she works in retail. She has to deal with this stuff for many weeks. But we did spend quality holiday time together, so that was good. I even got to see my aunt and uncle and cousin during the holiday when Bree and I rode down to Kenosha with the grandparents. All in all, it was a nice holiday.

- While I was at home, we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Johnny Depp). I was surprised at how good it was. I really enjoyed it, much more than Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

- I impressed myself with the amount of studying for the candidacy exam I did while I was at home. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to study at all while I was at home. However, I did actually study some because both Mom and Bree were working a lot while I was home. I didn't get as much studying done as I planned on, but I was expecting a bit much for me being home. So, I'm rather pleased with myself.

- I stopped at a hotel last night to avoid the PA mountains overnight because I didn't know how slippery it would be. I must say that the person who checked me in was one of the nicest hotel staff that I've ever met. It kind of gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling, which was nice because I was a bit sad to come back here early and miss Bree's birthday. I think I may have to stop at that Best Western again. The only down side was that whoever was in the adjacent room was a very loud snorer that I could hear over the TV that night. I turned on the heater in the room to have some white noise to cover up the snoring. But, that's a the only downside. Overall, I was very impressed.

I think that's about it for now. I'm back in State College, and getting ready to start cramming for the candidacy exam, which I will be done with a week from right now. I'm not sure if much studying will get done tonight, or if I'm just going to rest and recover from my drive. We'll see.

Candidacy Exam Rant #2 and Some Other Random Thoughts

Well, here's the second rant about the upcoming candidacy exam that I'm taking in just over two weeks. The exam itself has two sections, physical and dynamic meteorology. For most people, this really isn't a problem because both the sections could easily come up in their research. For me, however, being not in the norm as usual, the physical section is essentially irrelevant to me. One of the subjects in the physical section is cloud physics. Now I did enjoy the class when I took it, but since I'm pursuing a PhD in the oceanographic realm, cloud physics seems utterly irrelevant, because, and this is a big shocker, clouds don't form in the ocean! Yet I have to study it well enough to potentially answer a question or two about it. The second subject is radiative transfer. This might actually be somewhat relevant, but I don't think the specifics of it are really necessary for me to understand when I'm studying the ocean. Plus, the whole subject is so abstract, that I don't think anyone, except for maybe Drs. Clothiaux and Bohren, really understand it very well. But, again, I have to study it and attempt to understand it well enough to potentially answer a question or two about it. Yay.

That's my second rant about the candidacy exam, and it may not be the last because I get to study while I'm at home for Christmas. Woohoo. Now on to some more random thoughts that I don't really feel like putting in separate posts.

- Next semester I get to TA. I'm having problems with that for a couple different reasons. One is that I didn't even know that I was supposed to TA until I got an email in early November asking us for input as to which classes we wanted to TA for. I'm not a big fan of surprises like that. At least I'm teaching something I've taught before: Meteo 3, or as we grad students call it, Weather for Dummies. Actually not all the students are stupid, but there are always a few who tend to make life a living hell. But even that I'm not that upset about. What upsets me the most is that I have to TA for a student whose doing a combined undergrad/grad degree, which is basically something like a super-senior, except he's getting two degrees in less time. The main issue I have with this is I don't expect any of his students to have a lick of respect for him, because he hasn't even obtained any degree in meteorology. Plus, he'll be at most maybe four years older than most of them, but if there are any seniors in the class, they'll basically be the same age. I know I would have a problem getting taught by someone my age. The only thing I have to say is that the department absolutely needs to be in desperate need for people to teach this course. Because I think it's a little sketchy that a technically-undergrad student is teaching other undergrads.

- Yesterday I drove to Greensburg, PA to visit with my best friend from undergrad, Ingrid. The drive down there was interesting in that all the snow we've gotten recently was melting. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm very happy that the roads are salted so that there is little chance of ice to form. However, I do think there is such a thing as oversalting. Honestly, parts of my car were completely white by the time I got to Greensburg. I know I should wash it, but since I'm driving home tomorrow, it seemed like a waste of money to get it washed when probably the same thing will happen again. Plus, I didn't really have time to wash it today.

- I realized today that I've been woefully underpreparing for my drive home tomorrow. I got back to the apartment tonight and realized I had to do so much stuff before leaving. It looks like I'll be getting a somewhat late start tomorrow. Maybe. I'm still not sure about how much more I want to do tomorrow before leaving. I probably should vacuum, but I don't really want to. We'll see what happens.

- I get to bring my bunny home for the holiday, which I'm sure will thrill her. The last time I took her home, she seemed slightly different when I got home. But, I don't really have a choice. I knew that most people have left or will leave for whatever holiday they might celebrate (see prior post). So, it's a little inconvenient for me and her, but we'll both just have to deal.

- I've kind of realized lately that I'm not thrilled with how television seasons are run. It seems like shows are only writing for the few sweeps periods that there are. After November is done, most shows show repeats for the month of December, and then they come back to being new episodes in January to get people hooked again for February sweeps. Even the soaps sort of do that, not so much in showing repeats, but the storylines all come to a head during the sweeps months. I'm not complaining too much, though, since that frees up so much time for me to study. And there are some shows that I could watch over and over again and not get sick of them, like Gilmore Girls.

- A couple weeks ago I went to Ben & Jerry's for my weekly smoothie, and two of the workers were talking about Grey's Anatomy. I could tell because the guy said something about the quints (if you've seen the show, you know what I'm talking about), and I was just kind of excited to hear some other people talking about what is becoming one of the best shows on TV at the moment. Gilmore Girls is still number one in my book, but Grey's is a close second. I'm just glad other people are realizing it.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I should really get to bed soon to get enough sleep so I'm not too tired or dependent on caffeine during my drive tomorrow. Happy Holidays, whichever holiday you celebrate!

Harry Kwanmiskkah?

I was reading an article on CNN.com this morning (see it here) about how to wish people good tidings no matter which holiday they celebrate around this time of year. According to this article, conservative groups are planning boycotts and lawsuits against retailers who don't have "Merry Christmas" as part of their holiday display. There's even a book titled, "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse than You Thought." I do like the quote from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show this article had: "Every time you say 'Happy Holidays,' an angel gets AIDS." That's satire at its finest!

Are people really being serious with this crap? Shouldn't this be a time of year when people put aside petty bickering and just be nice to one another, no matter what religious beliefs you have? Are people who don't celebrate Christmas going to be terribly offended if a person who works in retail wishes them a merry Christmas? Maybe we should all wear buttons identifying which holiday we celebrate so that when someone sees it they know how to wish people happiness during their holiday. Or maybe we should all just smash together all the holidays at this time of year, as I've done with the title of this post. But, even there, I'm probably leaving out millions of other religious holidays that might occur around this time.

You know, nothing pisses me off more than petty bickering like this during a time when we're supposed to be celebrating. The holiday season, in my mind, is about getting along with your fellow people no matter what religion, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, or whatever other distinction they have. And yes, Christmas itself is for celebrating the birth of Jesus. The other holidays that fall around this time of year probably also celebrate something else that is significant in that particular religion. I'm not certain of what they celebrate, which probably makes me a little ignorant, but if people who might read this want to comment on other religious celebrations, I'm more than willing to learn.

I know that it's hard to get along with your fellow humans when doing Christmas shopping because everyone seems to think only of themselves. Trust me, I hate going to malls/department stores around this time of year because large crowds of people annoy me. But still, what I'm saying is that, instead of bickering about saying either "Merry Christmas," "Happy Hanukkah," "Happy Kwanzaa," or "Happy Holidays" is just plain stupid. It really shouldn't make a difference. If people are going to be offended because of which holiday other people wish them, they should take a long, hard look at why they're offended, because the spirit of the message is the same.

OK, I'm done and stepping off my soapbox now.

Snow Day?

This morning when my alarm went off for the second time (because I didn't feel like getting up right away) the station that I wake up to, 101 FM, was in the process of listing schools that have closed due to the impending winter storm. So, when I rolled out of bed after a couple songs, I looked out the window and noticed that nothing was happening yet. That leads me to believe that the storm that's coming is not going to bring us as much snow/ice/whatever the hell else decides to fall out of the sky. I'm just using past precedent for this. When I was in grade school, middle school, and high school, whenever a snow day was announced before the bad weather hit, it usually wasn't as bad as forecasters were predicting. However, when school remained open regardless of what the forecasters say, there would be a lot of snow and the school would dismiss early. I remember one time in particular, there was a pretty significant snow storm that had already started precipitating when I went to school in the morning, and school let out one hour early. By that time a lot of snow had fallen and driving home was not the easiest thing in the world to do.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that most school systems, in my opinion, usually get it wrong when it comes to cancelling school. Or at least they did back home. Here I'm not so sure, though. But as I look out my window today and still see nothing happening, it makes me wonder. Now, I'll be the first to admit that the schools were right and I'm wrong if we do get the 6-9 inches of snow the forecasters are predicting. (At least I think that's what they're predicting. It seems to change hourly.) I guess only time will tell. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm studying at home today, so I really don't need to worry too much about the weather, unless we get significant icing. Then I won't have power, and will probably slide under the covers of my bed all day to keep warm. Only time will tell though.

It's Official....

I just received word today that my abstract for the 2006 Ocean Science Meeting has been accepted. I'm presenting my work in the form of a poster. So, it should be fun, and slightly stressful for the next couple months trying to get something done with my work that is relatively interesting to show people. But I can deal with the stress, especially because the meeting is in Hawaii. Yup, Hawaii in late February sounds like a good enough reason to put up with the stress.

Crunch Time

I'm supposed to have a conference call with Ray and the rest of the group that's working on the NASA IDS project on the carbon cycle along continental shelf regions. I think I'm going to skip it though. There are a couple reasons for this.

One, I haven't really done much work since the last conference call a month ago. That's only because life intervened with the myriad of medical testing I needed to go through to prove that I'm, for the most part, healthy. I had an MRI, a cancer test on my eye, and some blood tests all within the span of a month. That drains a person. In fact, I went to bed at 10:30 last night because I was just exhausted, probably from the stress of all this medical crap. Anyway, I feel bad not being able to get much work done, but it's hard to be productive when so many things are on my mind. I know Ray's probably not going to be very happy about this, but I can't do anything about it. He's just going to have to deal with it. I'm not going to get very much work done this month due to finals and studying for the candidacy exam. I know he won't be thrilled about that either, but if he wants me to stick around, again, he'll just have to deal with it.

The other reason I'm probably not going to the conference call tomorrow is that it's crunch time here. I have a lab report due on Thursday, and I'm only half done with the first draft. After I finish the first draft, I let it sit for a while, and edit the hell out of it later.

Besides those reasons, I have therapy tomorrow afternoon at 2:00, so I always have to leave the conference call early just so I have time to walk to my therapist and have enough time to relax before she calls me up.

So, anyway, I just needed to vent a little. I really do feel bad not getting anything done research-wise lately, but life had to throw me a curve ball. On that note, I'm off to bed, because I'm exhausted once again.

Test Results Part IV

Yes, I'm creating another post about test results. Yesterday I went to the doctor for a recheck on my headaches and to go over the results of my MRI face-to-face. He also wanted me to get blood drawn for a cholesterol test because my MRI showed two vessels that were hardened in the white matter of my brain. Then I told him about my shaking hands (which were really bad over Thanksgiving), so he ordered a thyroid test, too, in case the tremors were due to low thyroid rather than the anti-depressants I've been taking.

I called Ritenour this morning to get my results, and they actually had them done, which I think it quite shocking. Anyway, my cholesterol is good. It's at 186, which is in a healthy range. It should be less than 200, so I'm happy. My good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, therefore, are also in good ranges. My thyroid test turned out to be normal as well. Overall, I guess I would say I'm normal. At least healthwise, anyway. In other ways, not so much.

I think this will be it for the tests, though. That's a good thing, because I'm sick of having nearly everything tested just to be on the safe side. And I still don't know anything about my headaches except that they're from tension. I don't know why. I don't have any tension in my life. (Can you sense the sarcasm??) I am glad, though, that I'm done being a lab rat.

I have other things to say, but none of them really fit under this title, so they'll have to wait. I'm just relieved that everything is turning out ok. Now I can maybe be able to focus a bit better on stuff that I should be doing without having any medical stuff hanging over my head.

Random Thoughts

This post contains some random thoughts, none of which really seem worthy of a blog entry by themselves.

- I'm becoming increasingly aware that I like physical oceanography better than chemical oceanography, which probably isn't good since my main work is in the chemical realm. All the papers I've read on physical stuff like sea level rise and mixed layer depth I can sit down and read and not fall asleep or want to put my head through a wall. I guess I maybe should mention something to Ray about it, but I think that can wait.

- It's been cloudy all week here in State College. It gets pretty damn depressing waking up in the morning and still feeling like it's nighttime. But, this is State College in winter, so I'll have to get used to it.

- I keep seeing this car in the BJC parking lot with the cutest bumper sticker on it. It says, "Bush for lawn ornament." I know it's from the last election, but I still smile when I see it.

- I've been craving chocolate like you wouldn't believe lately. I can't seem to figure out why, though. I just can't seem to get enough. Very strange, but well, look who's typing this.

- I could use another break already. I just got back from Thanksgiving less than a week ago, and I'm already exhausted. That's because it's the end of the semester and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to have an easy workload the last two weeks of the semester. At least it's almost over.

I thought I had other random thoughts, but I can't seem to remember them at the moment. Hmmm... they'll probably come back to me at a strange time. Anyway, I need to head off to colloquium.