This time I got significantly better results of my candidacy exam. I passed one section and failed the other. I'm just glad I got one of them down. You can't imagine how much relief I feel now!
The section I passed was the dynamics section. Dr. Shirer said I did significantly better on that section than I did last time, so that was good news to hear. I still have to retake the physics, which I'm not thrilled about, but I'm happy nonetheless!
Now I'm heading home and relaxing for the rest of the night.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
D-Day Eve
Tomorrow's the day. I find out how I did on the candidacy exam for the second time. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I've had this panicky feeling since I found out that the faculty meeting to discuss the candidacy exam is tomorrow. (I found this out about a week ago.) When I first got the email, a wave of feelings swept through me. Excitement, dread, delirium, panic were all swirling around my head. Mainly that combination of so many emotions left me feeling a little nauseated.
So, I've been feeling that way for about a week now. Not all the time, but fairly often. Usually at times I can put it aside for the sake of doing something else. However, today has been a rather rough day. Actually from about 3:30 on has been rough. I finished teaching at 3:20, then went back to my office. At that point I got a terribly bad headache and started feeling a bit queasy. So, I decided to catch a bus to get my car so I could come back to my apartment and try to not think about what's coming tomorrow. I did that relatively well, but now that it's close to bed time, I can't stop thinking about it.
Part of me doesn't want to go to sleep because then tomorrow will just come sooner, and I'm just fearing the worst: that I won't pass yet again, and they're going to kick me out of the department. Of course, interspersed with that are feelings of confidence. OK, maybe not confidence, but at least some hope that I'll get good news. I'm trying to not get my hopes up, because I let my hopes fly too high last time, and the crash and burn from that was nearly too much to handle. I don't know if I can deal rationally with that kind of disappointment once again. I really don't. Luckily, I do have my weekly therapy appointment tomorrow, so whatever news I get, I can start to process in therapy. But still, the anticipation is killing me.
I really wish that they wouldn't have told us so far in advance about the faculty meeting tomorrow. I don't know if it would have been better hearing it with only one day's warning, though. The only thing that would have done was ease the concern about that for about six days.
I swear, some of the faculty get off on torturing us students. Not only do they make us take a hellish exam, but then we have to wait weeks on end to find out the results. Then the only information we get is if we pass or fail. We have to wait several more weeks to get feedback on all the questions we answered because the graders want to remain anonymous. That part does make sense. Having it be a double blind test is a good way to deal with it. However, we students are still getting the short end of the stick because our answers don't get typed up. So, any faculty that may have had us in a class might be able to identify our handwriting. I doubt that, but it is possible. But the professor's comments get typed up so the students don't have a chance to say that one professor hated them and wanted them to get out of grad school. Still, though, I think it could be slightly more fair.
I just don't know what to expect though. Plus, I don't want to go to sleep. As much as I've wanted to get my results, I didn't expect them to come out this soon. I almost want to postpone the inevitable.
The only thing that's keeping me relatively sane with regards to this test is that I know I walked out of both days of it feeling like I put 110% into each section. So even if I fail, I can hold my head up high. At least theoretically, anyway. If I do fail, I may not be able to hold my head at all. I may just bash it into the nearest wall.
Another thing that's getting to me is that the faculty meeting, again, is coming at a time when my advisor isn't hear. So, I really have no one to stick up for me, should it come down to it. I mean, sure, some of the other professors want me to pass, but I don't think that would carry as much weight as it would if it were my advisor talking. So, I'm a little annoyed by that.
But, on the other hand, pass or fail, I'm going to be in Hawaii in less than two weeks. That will either be a nice reward for doing well, or my last hurrah before finishing up the work I'm being paid for before making my way into the work force.
Now I should get to bed, so this whole waiting thing can be over. Of course, I still have to wait until noon to get the results (damn teaching getting in the way of things), but at least my mind will be semi-occupied during the morning. Alrighty, off to bed to try to get a decent night's sleep. I have a feeling that will be rather futile, but I've got to try. An update will come tomorrow with the news, good or bad.....
So, I've been feeling that way for about a week now. Not all the time, but fairly often. Usually at times I can put it aside for the sake of doing something else. However, today has been a rather rough day. Actually from about 3:30 on has been rough. I finished teaching at 3:20, then went back to my office. At that point I got a terribly bad headache and started feeling a bit queasy. So, I decided to catch a bus to get my car so I could come back to my apartment and try to not think about what's coming tomorrow. I did that relatively well, but now that it's close to bed time, I can't stop thinking about it.
Part of me doesn't want to go to sleep because then tomorrow will just come sooner, and I'm just fearing the worst: that I won't pass yet again, and they're going to kick me out of the department. Of course, interspersed with that are feelings of confidence. OK, maybe not confidence, but at least some hope that I'll get good news. I'm trying to not get my hopes up, because I let my hopes fly too high last time, and the crash and burn from that was nearly too much to handle. I don't know if I can deal rationally with that kind of disappointment once again. I really don't. Luckily, I do have my weekly therapy appointment tomorrow, so whatever news I get, I can start to process in therapy. But still, the anticipation is killing me.
I really wish that they wouldn't have told us so far in advance about the faculty meeting tomorrow. I don't know if it would have been better hearing it with only one day's warning, though. The only thing that would have done was ease the concern about that for about six days.
I swear, some of the faculty get off on torturing us students. Not only do they make us take a hellish exam, but then we have to wait weeks on end to find out the results. Then the only information we get is if we pass or fail. We have to wait several more weeks to get feedback on all the questions we answered because the graders want to remain anonymous. That part does make sense. Having it be a double blind test is a good way to deal with it. However, we students are still getting the short end of the stick because our answers don't get typed up. So, any faculty that may have had us in a class might be able to identify our handwriting. I doubt that, but it is possible. But the professor's comments get typed up so the students don't have a chance to say that one professor hated them and wanted them to get out of grad school. Still, though, I think it could be slightly more fair.
I just don't know what to expect though. Plus, I don't want to go to sleep. As much as I've wanted to get my results, I didn't expect them to come out this soon. I almost want to postpone the inevitable.
The only thing that's keeping me relatively sane with regards to this test is that I know I walked out of both days of it feeling like I put 110% into each section. So even if I fail, I can hold my head up high. At least theoretically, anyway. If I do fail, I may not be able to hold my head at all. I may just bash it into the nearest wall.
Another thing that's getting to me is that the faculty meeting, again, is coming at a time when my advisor isn't hear. So, I really have no one to stick up for me, should it come down to it. I mean, sure, some of the other professors want me to pass, but I don't think that would carry as much weight as it would if it were my advisor talking. So, I'm a little annoyed by that.
But, on the other hand, pass or fail, I'm going to be in Hawaii in less than two weeks. That will either be a nice reward for doing well, or my last hurrah before finishing up the work I'm being paid for before making my way into the work force.
Now I should get to bed, so this whole waiting thing can be over. Of course, I still have to wait until noon to get the results (damn teaching getting in the way of things), but at least my mind will be semi-occupied during the morning. Alrighty, off to bed to try to get a decent night's sleep. I have a feeling that will be rather futile, but I've got to try. An update will come tomorrow with the news, good or bad.....
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Chuckles while grading
I have to post this entry now, while I am grading, because one of my students answers on a lab question is too hilarious. The question is about the influence of water and latitude on the annual temperature range, and they have to match cities with pairs of summer and winter temperatures. (Karen should remember this one.) One of the cities listed is Seattle, and one student put this for part of the reason (he got the actual reasons right):
"Also, there are more Starbucks in Seattle than the rest of the world all over, so the coffee helps with the temperature as well..."
I actually laughed out loud when I read this one. I needed that laugh because sometimes grading these kids' labs gets a bit annoying for lack of a better word. Anyway, I enjoyed that and had to post it before I forgot.
"Also, there are more Starbucks in Seattle than the rest of the world all over, so the coffee helps with the temperature as well..."
I actually laughed out loud when I read this one. I needed that laugh because sometimes grading these kids' labs gets a bit annoying for lack of a better word. Anyway, I enjoyed that and had to post it before I forgot.
Friday, February 03, 2006
New Link
Yes, I just posted an incredibly long-winded entry just a few minutes ago, but I forgot something. For those who regularly look at this blog (the few of you who do), I've added a new link to my fun links section. It's called Cute Overload. It has the cutest pictures of animals that I've ever seen. You could almost get a sugar rush from them, that's how sweet they are. So, if you like cute animals, take a look. OK, I'm done now.
Another Random Thoughts Post
I'm writing this post mainly to avoid getting too bored while waiting for my Matlab code to run. It's rather silly to use Matlab to process a boatload of data, but I hate Fortran, so I'm willing to deal with waiting an extraordinary amount of time for code to run. Anyway, I've had a lot of random thoughts lately, and figured I might as well post them now.
- The other day I woke up to the radio playing (I hate getting up with an annoying beeping sound) and they were playing one of Sheryl Crow's songs, Good is Good. The opening line is "Good is good and bad is bad." Even with being rather incoherent when I wake up, I thought that that statement was completely stating the obvious. I was like, "Well, duh," when I heard them. I had started out thinking that those were the stupidest lyrics I've ever heard, but them remembered a different song that was relatively popular several years ago: LFO's Summer Girls. That song qualifies as the dumbest song ever to be recorded. It's like that group didn't even care if their song made any sense. I hated that song so much!! Mainly because I'm one who actually listens to lyrics, at least when singers enunciate them enough. Anyway, that's just a rant.
- Gilmore Girls was amazingly good this week, especially the last twenty minutes or so. There isn't much to spoil about it. Basically it was a fight among Rory, Lorelai, Emily, and Richard about what's happened previously in this season. But, it wasn't all fight. It was just completely different from previous episodes, but so very good. I can't understand why more people don't watch it, besides the fact that it's on the WB. I also recently read a fascinating plot twist that's coming up, which is that Richard was a member of the Life and Death Brigade when he was at Yale. The fallout from that will be very interesting to see. I just realized that this random thought probably has no bearing on anyone that reads my blog, but hey, it's interesting for me, and that's what matters, right?
- I went to see Brokeback Mountain last weekend. It's a very good movie. Great story, great direction, great acting. I can definitely see why it's winning so many awards. However, it didn't really come as a surprise to me that the cast of Crash won the SAG award for best ensemble. At this moment, for me, there is a tie between these two movies for best picture of the year, hell, even ever. The cast in Crash was amazing, and I loved the way everyone's story was tied to someone else's. Both of them are great movies, and they're both nominated for Best Picture. I'd be thrilled if either one won, but I'd prefer Brokeback to win, just because it would be nice to see people recognize that that movie is a traditional love story, even if it is a love story of two guys.
- I get the results of my candidacy exam next Wednesday. Frankly, I'm very surprised that they're ready this early. The faculty aren't exactly the swiftest when it comes to getting feedback. When I got the email, I was feeling a whole slew of emotions. Mainly, though, I felt a little nauseated, just because I have both great hope and great fear about what the results will be. Everyone keeps telling me I'll be fine, but I don't have that much faith in myself. Hey, it comes with being a pessimist. I'm really hoping to get good news, but I'm also trying to keep my expectations low, only because I know what a crushing blow it is to have high expectations and have them shattered. That's how I felt the last time I took the test. So, I guess we'll see what happens.
- I sent in a proposal for a fellowship on Tuesday. Ray was encouraging me to apply because the research I'm doing fits in nicely with the goals of this particular NASA program. So, most of Monday was spent writing up the proposal, which was really hard work, but I think I ended up with a decent piece of writing. It was such a hassle getting it in, though, because they encouraged people to use their online system, which is what they'll exclusively be using next year. So, basically we were their beta testers, which I always hate being. That system that they have is very un-user-friendly. It seriously took forever to get anything done with it. I hope they do something to make it easier to use by next year.
- I've been very anti-social of late. I'm not sure why. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I know I'm not the most social person out there. Anyone that knows me knows that. I'm perfectly comfortable sitting at home watching TV or curling up with a good book. But lately, people have just been getting on my nerves. Not so much people I know, but random people in the store. I swear, half the time I'm just about ready to punch people because they're being stupid. But, that's not really the problem. I just haven't felt like hanging out with other people. I'm sort of in my loner/broody phase. It doesn't help that my circle of friends if very dynamic, in that it changes quite often. Now I'm working on building a new circle, but that takes time for me. Plus, February is notoriously a bad month for me. Too many emotional things to deal with. This year, I get the added bonus of stressing about candidacy exam results and going to a conference. So, basically I'm on one hell of an emotional roller coaster until March, really. It kind of sucks, but what can I do?
- Speaking of the conferences coming up. Two weeks from tomorrow I'll be on my way to Hawaii!! I can't wait. Yes, it's for a conference, but I definitely am going to enjoy my stay there too. Maybe spend some time on the beach (with lots of sunblock because I burn incredibly easily). I'm of course going to go to the Hard Rock in Honolulu, just because. I'd love to go to Pearl Harbor, just to be historical. And it looks like there's a hiking trail up a mountain near Waikiki that I'd like to go on, but I'd probably have to get hiking boots for that, so that may be a no-go. I'm also kind of hoping to see an eruption in the distance just to take a picture of it. I'd like to do more touristy stuff, too, like go to their zoo, a few museums, maybe go to the north shore, etc. And it would be so great to see anyone from the cast of Lost. That would be so cool!! It should be a good time, regardless, though.
- Speaking of Lost, I was a little upset that they were showing a rerun this week. I thought in the week leading into February sweeps they would have shown a new episode. But, of any of the episodes they could have shown, I'm glad it was the first Hurley-centric episode. I don't know why, but I find parts of it very funny. Of course, I have a dark sense of humor sometimes. I did have a thought occur to me when Hurley's money manager was telling him that he owned a box company. I'm wondering if that was the same box company that Locke was employed at. I think Locke worked at a box company, anyway. They do like to have people interconnected like that. It's just a thought, and anyone that reads this that watches Lost is welcome to comment on my speculation.
- Invasion was a rerun, too, and I was sort of hoping it would be one that I haven't seen yet, but alas, it was. I ended up sleeping through most of it.
- I've also become addicted to Dancing with the Stars. Most of the time I have not watched a reality show, mainly because I think they're stupid, but this one is actually fun to watch, at least the dancing portion is. I don't watch the result show, because I hate how they can drag out saying which couple got the fewest votes for so long. That's the thing I hate about American Idol, too. I know it's to add drama, but it just annoys the hell out of me. They could spend five minutes doing the results, and then move on. Anyway, I'm just ranting there, so I'll stop now.
- This weekend is Super Bowl weekend, and apparently any local channel won't let us forget that the Steelers are in it this year. Frankly, I don't really give a damn either way about who wins. I'm not a huge Steelers fan (I only rooted for them last year because I lived with two major Steeler fans), and I don't really like the Seahawks either, because Holmgren turned into an ass at Green Bay before he took the job in Seattle. So, I guess I'll just be watching for the commercials. I was invited through someone to a Super Bowl party, where they're having turducken (which just sounds like a weird thing to even contemplate creating, but better sounding than tofurkey), but like I said before, I'm feeling relatively anti-social lately. So, I probably won't go. We'll see, though.
Well, I guess that's about it from me, at least for now. I'll probably leave Walker pretty soon and head home, and maybe take a nap. Either that, or crash in front of the TV for the night. Either way, it'll be nice and relaxing.
- The other day I woke up to the radio playing (I hate getting up with an annoying beeping sound) and they were playing one of Sheryl Crow's songs, Good is Good. The opening line is "Good is good and bad is bad." Even with being rather incoherent when I wake up, I thought that that statement was completely stating the obvious. I was like, "Well, duh," when I heard them. I had started out thinking that those were the stupidest lyrics I've ever heard, but them remembered a different song that was relatively popular several years ago: LFO's Summer Girls. That song qualifies as the dumbest song ever to be recorded. It's like that group didn't even care if their song made any sense. I hated that song so much!! Mainly because I'm one who actually listens to lyrics, at least when singers enunciate them enough. Anyway, that's just a rant.
- Gilmore Girls was amazingly good this week, especially the last twenty minutes or so. There isn't much to spoil about it. Basically it was a fight among Rory, Lorelai, Emily, and Richard about what's happened previously in this season. But, it wasn't all fight. It was just completely different from previous episodes, but so very good. I can't understand why more people don't watch it, besides the fact that it's on the WB. I also recently read a fascinating plot twist that's coming up, which is that Richard was a member of the Life and Death Brigade when he was at Yale. The fallout from that will be very interesting to see. I just realized that this random thought probably has no bearing on anyone that reads my blog, but hey, it's interesting for me, and that's what matters, right?
- I went to see Brokeback Mountain last weekend. It's a very good movie. Great story, great direction, great acting. I can definitely see why it's winning so many awards. However, it didn't really come as a surprise to me that the cast of Crash won the SAG award for best ensemble. At this moment, for me, there is a tie between these two movies for best picture of the year, hell, even ever. The cast in Crash was amazing, and I loved the way everyone's story was tied to someone else's. Both of them are great movies, and they're both nominated for Best Picture. I'd be thrilled if either one won, but I'd prefer Brokeback to win, just because it would be nice to see people recognize that that movie is a traditional love story, even if it is a love story of two guys.
- I get the results of my candidacy exam next Wednesday. Frankly, I'm very surprised that they're ready this early. The faculty aren't exactly the swiftest when it comes to getting feedback. When I got the email, I was feeling a whole slew of emotions. Mainly, though, I felt a little nauseated, just because I have both great hope and great fear about what the results will be. Everyone keeps telling me I'll be fine, but I don't have that much faith in myself. Hey, it comes with being a pessimist. I'm really hoping to get good news, but I'm also trying to keep my expectations low, only because I know what a crushing blow it is to have high expectations and have them shattered. That's how I felt the last time I took the test. So, I guess we'll see what happens.
- I sent in a proposal for a fellowship on Tuesday. Ray was encouraging me to apply because the research I'm doing fits in nicely with the goals of this particular NASA program. So, most of Monday was spent writing up the proposal, which was really hard work, but I think I ended up with a decent piece of writing. It was such a hassle getting it in, though, because they encouraged people to use their online system, which is what they'll exclusively be using next year. So, basically we were their beta testers, which I always hate being. That system that they have is very un-user-friendly. It seriously took forever to get anything done with it. I hope they do something to make it easier to use by next year.
- I've been very anti-social of late. I'm not sure why. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I know I'm not the most social person out there. Anyone that knows me knows that. I'm perfectly comfortable sitting at home watching TV or curling up with a good book. But lately, people have just been getting on my nerves. Not so much people I know, but random people in the store. I swear, half the time I'm just about ready to punch people because they're being stupid. But, that's not really the problem. I just haven't felt like hanging out with other people. I'm sort of in my loner/broody phase. It doesn't help that my circle of friends if very dynamic, in that it changes quite often. Now I'm working on building a new circle, but that takes time for me. Plus, February is notoriously a bad month for me. Too many emotional things to deal with. This year, I get the added bonus of stressing about candidacy exam results and going to a conference. So, basically I'm on one hell of an emotional roller coaster until March, really. It kind of sucks, but what can I do?
- Speaking of the conferences coming up. Two weeks from tomorrow I'll be on my way to Hawaii!! I can't wait. Yes, it's for a conference, but I definitely am going to enjoy my stay there too. Maybe spend some time on the beach (with lots of sunblock because I burn incredibly easily). I'm of course going to go to the Hard Rock in Honolulu, just because. I'd love to go to Pearl Harbor, just to be historical. And it looks like there's a hiking trail up a mountain near Waikiki that I'd like to go on, but I'd probably have to get hiking boots for that, so that may be a no-go. I'm also kind of hoping to see an eruption in the distance just to take a picture of it. I'd like to do more touristy stuff, too, like go to their zoo, a few museums, maybe go to the north shore, etc. And it would be so great to see anyone from the cast of Lost. That would be so cool!! It should be a good time, regardless, though.
- Speaking of Lost, I was a little upset that they were showing a rerun this week. I thought in the week leading into February sweeps they would have shown a new episode. But, of any of the episodes they could have shown, I'm glad it was the first Hurley-centric episode. I don't know why, but I find parts of it very funny. Of course, I have a dark sense of humor sometimes. I did have a thought occur to me when Hurley's money manager was telling him that he owned a box company. I'm wondering if that was the same box company that Locke was employed at. I think Locke worked at a box company, anyway. They do like to have people interconnected like that. It's just a thought, and anyone that reads this that watches Lost is welcome to comment on my speculation.
- Invasion was a rerun, too, and I was sort of hoping it would be one that I haven't seen yet, but alas, it was. I ended up sleeping through most of it.
- I've also become addicted to Dancing with the Stars. Most of the time I have not watched a reality show, mainly because I think they're stupid, but this one is actually fun to watch, at least the dancing portion is. I don't watch the result show, because I hate how they can drag out saying which couple got the fewest votes for so long. That's the thing I hate about American Idol, too. I know it's to add drama, but it just annoys the hell out of me. They could spend five minutes doing the results, and then move on. Anyway, I'm just ranting there, so I'll stop now.
- This weekend is Super Bowl weekend, and apparently any local channel won't let us forget that the Steelers are in it this year. Frankly, I don't really give a damn either way about who wins. I'm not a huge Steelers fan (I only rooted for them last year because I lived with two major Steeler fans), and I don't really like the Seahawks either, because Holmgren turned into an ass at Green Bay before he took the job in Seattle. So, I guess I'll just be watching for the commercials. I was invited through someone to a Super Bowl party, where they're having turducken (which just sounds like a weird thing to even contemplate creating, but better sounding than tofurkey), but like I said before, I'm feeling relatively anti-social lately. So, I probably won't go. We'll see, though.
Well, I guess that's about it from me, at least for now. I'll probably leave Walker pretty soon and head home, and maybe take a nap. Either that, or crash in front of the TV for the night. Either way, it'll be nice and relaxing.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
State of the Union
This is going to be relatively short post for right now, mainly about the State of the Union address. I just took a poll on CNN.com asking about how I feel about the sountry after the State of the Union address. Since I didn't watch it, I clicked that radio button. When the results came up, nearly half the people taking the poll didn't watch it. It's pretty sad that more people didn't watch Bush's speech. (I have my priorities, a.k.a. my TV shows to watch. I'll probably read the transcript of the address, or maybe just a list of key points.) You'd think more people would be enthused about politics. Although, at this point in his second term, I think a good portion of America is unhappy with the direction the country is going. I know I am.
Anyway, that's all I'm going to say for now. I have a really busy Wednesday ahead of me.
Anyway, that's all I'm going to say for now. I have a really busy Wednesday ahead of me.
Friday, January 27, 2006
My thoughts on recent controversy
Here I am sitting in front of the computer in my office, waiting for Matlab to process code yet again, so I've decided to write another post, mainly on controversial topics that are currently regaining controversy due to news coverage.
The first of which is the abortion debate. Here's where I stand on that subject. I'm pro-choice. I know, that's not entirely surprising, since I'm quite leftist. However, I don't mean to say that women deciding to have an abortion should enter into it lightly. I'd much prefer some other option, if possible. Of course, if giving birth would harm/kill the mother, or if the child was a product of rape, an abortion is probably a likely outcome. However, a woman that becomes pregnant by having indiscriminate, unprotected sex should not just have an abortion on a whim. They really need to think about whether they can handle having a child, or if they'd want to give a child up for adoption, or many other things.
Having said that, I still am pro-choice, because I feel that women should have a choice. I also think that some people are just not meant to be parents. Of course, lately, just about everyone I've seen with kids are not good parents. (Seriously, go to any store and just watch what parents let their kids get away with.) Part of this is due to society. It's almost as if punishing kids is a faux pas. If you spank a child, you could almost get sent to prison for child abuse. And what, really, is a "time-out" going to teach a child? But, here I go off on a tangent that really could be saved for a different post.
Back to the abortion issue and what's going on with the Alito hearings.... I read relatively recently that Bush is touting that soon abortion will be illegal, as part of his "morals-based" political stance. (Don't even get me started on how hypocritical that is.) Mainly, he's saying that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, thus making abortion illegal. I think this is one of the stupidest things the Supreme Court could do. I say this because some women are going to want to have an abortion, no matter what the law is. So, my feeling is that if a woman is going to have an abortion, wouldn't it make more sense for them to have the procedure done safely, by a doctor? If abortion is illegal, women who want to terminate a pregnancy would have to come up with other ways to do it, most of them likely to be harmful to these women. It's going to happen no matter what, illegal or not. I just don't see how overturning Roe v. Wade would be a good idea, even for the Bible-thumping followers of Bush. Yes, it's immoral in Christianity to have an abortion, but so are a lot of things. (That's the thing about Catholicism, specifically. People pick and choose what things in the Bible should be followed. You can't have it both ways, people!)
That's just my take on this. And if Alito does get confirmed to the Supreme Court, I think the country is heading for trouble. Hell, from what I've been hearing (and granted, I listen to mainly left-biased news) the president could gain power if Alito does get confirmed. And considering how well off the country is at the moment, I'm a little scared by what could happen if Bush gets his way with his nomination.
Another controversial thing lately is the whole James Frey basically writing a novel, for all intents and purposes. I heard that Oprah yesterday was very good with Oprah basically berating Frey about how factual his book was. I saw some of it on Anderson Cooper 360 last night, and I just have to say, go Oprah! Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And she proved it. Boy, I'm surprised she kept as calm as she did. I could have easily seen her show turn into some sort of Jerry Springer incarnation. I'm glad she kept it relatively civil, and not started bitch-slapping him. I also am glad that she wasn't afraid to say she made a mistake. It's so refreshing to hear that.
The last controversial thing I want ot mention in this post is about Brokeback Mountain. The only thing I want to say is that it's finally come to State College. I'm not surprised it took this long, because central Pennsylvania is basically Alabama in between to relatively urban areas. I guess they finally brought it here because it's winning awards. The theaters around here seem to do that with smaller movies like that. I think it took them quite some time to show Crash here, and then it wasn't in theaters very long. I'm a little worried that's what's going to happen with Brokeback. I really, really want to go see it, though. And I may just do that, even if I have to go by myself. I'd much rather go with someone (going to a theater by yourself just seems sad), but if no one wants to go with me, I will go by myself. When is a better question. I will make time for it sometime within the next week, though, because I'm afraid that it won't be showed in theaters here for very long. So, if anyone does want to go with me, feel free to comment and let me know!
Alrighty, my code is done processing, so I'm off to continue working.
The first of which is the abortion debate. Here's where I stand on that subject. I'm pro-choice. I know, that's not entirely surprising, since I'm quite leftist. However, I don't mean to say that women deciding to have an abortion should enter into it lightly. I'd much prefer some other option, if possible. Of course, if giving birth would harm/kill the mother, or if the child was a product of rape, an abortion is probably a likely outcome. However, a woman that becomes pregnant by having indiscriminate, unprotected sex should not just have an abortion on a whim. They really need to think about whether they can handle having a child, or if they'd want to give a child up for adoption, or many other things.
Having said that, I still am pro-choice, because I feel that women should have a choice. I also think that some people are just not meant to be parents. Of course, lately, just about everyone I've seen with kids are not good parents. (Seriously, go to any store and just watch what parents let their kids get away with.) Part of this is due to society. It's almost as if punishing kids is a faux pas. If you spank a child, you could almost get sent to prison for child abuse. And what, really, is a "time-out" going to teach a child? But, here I go off on a tangent that really could be saved for a different post.
Back to the abortion issue and what's going on with the Alito hearings.... I read relatively recently that Bush is touting that soon abortion will be illegal, as part of his "morals-based" political stance. (Don't even get me started on how hypocritical that is.) Mainly, he's saying that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, thus making abortion illegal. I think this is one of the stupidest things the Supreme Court could do. I say this because some women are going to want to have an abortion, no matter what the law is. So, my feeling is that if a woman is going to have an abortion, wouldn't it make more sense for them to have the procedure done safely, by a doctor? If abortion is illegal, women who want to terminate a pregnancy would have to come up with other ways to do it, most of them likely to be harmful to these women. It's going to happen no matter what, illegal or not. I just don't see how overturning Roe v. Wade would be a good idea, even for the Bible-thumping followers of Bush. Yes, it's immoral in Christianity to have an abortion, but so are a lot of things. (That's the thing about Catholicism, specifically. People pick and choose what things in the Bible should be followed. You can't have it both ways, people!)
That's just my take on this. And if Alito does get confirmed to the Supreme Court, I think the country is heading for trouble. Hell, from what I've been hearing (and granted, I listen to mainly left-biased news) the president could gain power if Alito does get confirmed. And considering how well off the country is at the moment, I'm a little scared by what could happen if Bush gets his way with his nomination.
Another controversial thing lately is the whole James Frey basically writing a novel, for all intents and purposes. I heard that Oprah yesterday was very good with Oprah basically berating Frey about how factual his book was. I saw some of it on Anderson Cooper 360 last night, and I just have to say, go Oprah! Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And she proved it. Boy, I'm surprised she kept as calm as she did. I could have easily seen her show turn into some sort of Jerry Springer incarnation. I'm glad she kept it relatively civil, and not started bitch-slapping him. I also am glad that she wasn't afraid to say she made a mistake. It's so refreshing to hear that.
The last controversial thing I want ot mention in this post is about Brokeback Mountain. The only thing I want to say is that it's finally come to State College. I'm not surprised it took this long, because central Pennsylvania is basically Alabama in between to relatively urban areas. I guess they finally brought it here because it's winning awards. The theaters around here seem to do that with smaller movies like that. I think it took them quite some time to show Crash here, and then it wasn't in theaters very long. I'm a little worried that's what's going to happen with Brokeback. I really, really want to go see it, though. And I may just do that, even if I have to go by myself. I'd much rather go with someone (going to a theater by yourself just seems sad), but if no one wants to go with me, I will go by myself. When is a better question. I will make time for it sometime within the next week, though, because I'm afraid that it won't be showed in theaters here for very long. So, if anyone does want to go with me, feel free to comment and let me know!
Alrighty, my code is done processing, so I'm off to continue working.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Political Tests
I've been bored for the past hour or so, because I've had to let some code run in Matlab, so I've been playing around on the internet while it runs. I decided to take three political personality tests, just to see where I am in the political spectrum.
According to these tests, the only strict thing I can conclude is that I'm a liberal, which should surprise no one. However, each of the tests I took placed me somewhere different on the liberal spectrum. The world's smallest political quiz (look it up on Google) showed that was was strictly libertarian. That kind of surprised me because I took that quiz a while ago and it told me I was a liberal libertarian. So, I guess my choices have changed since the last time I took the quiz.
Two other quizzes I took were much more involved than the world's smallest political quiz. The first of these, the Political Compass, showed that I was leftist and libertarian. In fact, I was bordering on communism on that quiz. I guess I'm not all that surprised because I think communism, in theory, might be a good thing. However, I don't think it will ever be a good thing in practice, especially in America, where we've become so entrenched in capitalism.
The other lengthy quiz I took was the OKCupid! Politics test, which again can be googled. That one didn't put me so much in the liberal libertarian part of the spectrum, though. It said I was a solid Democrat, which, again, isn't all that surprising if you know me at all. The thing that did surprise me, though, was that I was basically bordering socialism. Although, now that I'm comparing results from the other quizzes, I'm not as surprised. I still think that socialism, in theory, isn't bad. It's just that the people who've put it into practice haven't adhered strictly to the theory of socialism. However, again, I must say that putting socialism into practice in America would be a futile effort. We're much to ensconced in capitalism. And the rich are very used to being rich, while the poor get practically no help whatsoever.
Anyway, I was bored, and wanted to find something to keep my mind occupied while waiting for my code to be done running. And these results seemed interesting enough to write a post about. Plus, it might inspire some people that read this blog to take some of the quizzes and see where they are placed in the political spectrum.
I've already got another post brewing in my head regarding recent goings-on in Congress, but that's another topic for another time. Although I may create another post if my damn code doesn't finish running in a decent amount of time. But, for now, I'm off to patiently wait for my code to stop.
According to these tests, the only strict thing I can conclude is that I'm a liberal, which should surprise no one. However, each of the tests I took placed me somewhere different on the liberal spectrum. The world's smallest political quiz (look it up on Google) showed that was was strictly libertarian. That kind of surprised me because I took that quiz a while ago and it told me I was a liberal libertarian. So, I guess my choices have changed since the last time I took the quiz.
Two other quizzes I took were much more involved than the world's smallest political quiz. The first of these, the Political Compass, showed that I was leftist and libertarian. In fact, I was bordering on communism on that quiz. I guess I'm not all that surprised because I think communism, in theory, might be a good thing. However, I don't think it will ever be a good thing in practice, especially in America, where we've become so entrenched in capitalism.
The other lengthy quiz I took was the OKCupid! Politics test, which again can be googled. That one didn't put me so much in the liberal libertarian part of the spectrum, though. It said I was a solid Democrat, which, again, isn't all that surprising if you know me at all. The thing that did surprise me, though, was that I was basically bordering socialism. Although, now that I'm comparing results from the other quizzes, I'm not as surprised. I still think that socialism, in theory, isn't bad. It's just that the people who've put it into practice haven't adhered strictly to the theory of socialism. However, again, I must say that putting socialism into practice in America would be a futile effort. We're much to ensconced in capitalism. And the rich are very used to being rich, while the poor get practically no help whatsoever.
Anyway, I was bored, and wanted to find something to keep my mind occupied while waiting for my code to be done running. And these results seemed interesting enough to write a post about. Plus, it might inspire some people that read this blog to take some of the quizzes and see where they are placed in the political spectrum.
I've already got another post brewing in my head regarding recent goings-on in Congress, but that's another topic for another time. Although I may create another post if my damn code doesn't finish running in a decent amount of time. But, for now, I'm off to patiently wait for my code to stop.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
A Little Breather....
I finally have a little time to write something in here. I swear, ever since I got back here from Christmas at home, I've been pretty much swamped. First, studying for the candidacy exam, then starting to reacquaint myself with the research I'm doing, and recently starting the application process for a fellowship Ray wants me to apply for. It's a wonder that I even get any down time.
Of course, my body has been rebelling a bit by causing me to be very, very exhausted when I get back home after work. I told this to my doctor when I went to see him on Friday because of some jaw pain I have, so I get to have blood drawn tomorrow. Yay. I'm not a big fan of needles in general, so getting blood drawn is always such a fun experience. So, we'll see what the results of that are. Hopefully everything is normal and I'm just tired because of the depression.
I've also decided that I probably need to try some new anti-depressants. The ones I'm on currently don't seem to be working. It could be just that I haven't been on the "theraputic dose" for long enough. I'm not sure, though. I'd just like to feel like a normal human again. I was doing good on Prozac, but I also got the shakes from that. Although, now that I think about it, I've always kind of had a natural shakiness to me, and I think the increased shakiness was due to sitting directly next to my grandmother during both Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. She's not the easiest woman to deal with on the best days. I'll probably talk to the psychiatrist about this and see what he thinks.
Let's see. What else is new with me? I've sent the first draft of my fellowship proposal to Ray today. Hopefully he'll have some time to give some feedback to me, so I can get it ready to be sent out next Wednesday. I think it's pretty good, but I'm sure I should include some stuff in it to more broadly coincide with NASA's objectives. I'm just hoping I won't have to do too much to it before sending it off. At least I'm not as panicky as I was about it anymore. Things are starting to work themselves out. The only part I'm a bit worried about is getting my transcripts from Carroll, because their mail system is less than efficient. Hopefully I will be able to get them. I should probably do a search of my apartment to see if I have a copy of an unoffical one as a backup.
Not a whole lot is new with me lately. I've been making progress at work, which is a good feeling. For a while there, I wasn't making much progress at all because I couldn't figure out what I had done before. But, I finally figured it out early last week, so I'm redoing some stuff that I already did. I'm doing that for two reasons. One is just to familiarize myself with the programs I'd already written. The other is because the criteria for the depth levels over the continental shelf has been changed to accurately depict the same levels the rest of the team is using. I'm also changing some variable so they're not as cumbersome as they originally were, but not too much so that they're not descriptive of what they represent. I'm also putting more comments in my code, because that's the one thing that bothers me about other people's code. So many coders don't give enough explanation to their code. I had that problem with the radar analysis programs I used for my master's work. There weren't enough comments, and many variables had similar names (for example, n, nn, nnn, nnnn, nnnnn), so they made no sense to me. It also got quite confusing when I was trying to search for a certain variable, like nnn in the above example. That's just irritating.
Apparently we're supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow overnight. I'm sort of excited about it because this has been the weirdest January I've ever seen, with it being so warm at all. I'm not complaining, but I've been thinking that it's just wrong to be able to go outside without a coat in the middle of January. However, I won't be thrilled if it ends up being enough to cancel or delay classes. I'm supposed to teach a lab tomorrow that's already behind because we got Martin Luther King Day off. So, I'm really hoping I'll be able to make it out of my parking lot tomorrow. In any normal parking lot, this wouldn't be a problem. Mine, however, has a rather steep hill to go up to get to the main road. So, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Speaking of labs, sort of, I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the work being turned in by the two labs I did teach last week. Most of the people did really well on their labs. No one got a perfect score, but that's because I'm rather picky when it comes to grading. Most people who lost points lost them because they didn't label their isopleths. Without labels, they are just lines on a map that have no meaning. So, I'm sure a lot of people will be pissed that they got points off there, but they'll just have to deal with it and do them better next time. But, even with that, the averages for both labs were pretty high, approximately 43/48. That's pretty good from me, because I'm very anal. So, they should be proud of the work they've done so far, at least most of them. Some people didn't work as hard as others, and hopefully they'll realize that after this lab.
Well, I guess that's about it. I should probably cut this off here before it gets too long. Plus, it's almost time to watch my Sunday night shows. (I have my priorities.) So, I'll end with that, and then see if it starts snowing before I go to bed.
Of course, my body has been rebelling a bit by causing me to be very, very exhausted when I get back home after work. I told this to my doctor when I went to see him on Friday because of some jaw pain I have, so I get to have blood drawn tomorrow. Yay. I'm not a big fan of needles in general, so getting blood drawn is always such a fun experience. So, we'll see what the results of that are. Hopefully everything is normal and I'm just tired because of the depression.
I've also decided that I probably need to try some new anti-depressants. The ones I'm on currently don't seem to be working. It could be just that I haven't been on the "theraputic dose" for long enough. I'm not sure, though. I'd just like to feel like a normal human again. I was doing good on Prozac, but I also got the shakes from that. Although, now that I think about it, I've always kind of had a natural shakiness to me, and I think the increased shakiness was due to sitting directly next to my grandmother during both Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. She's not the easiest woman to deal with on the best days. I'll probably talk to the psychiatrist about this and see what he thinks.
Let's see. What else is new with me? I've sent the first draft of my fellowship proposal to Ray today. Hopefully he'll have some time to give some feedback to me, so I can get it ready to be sent out next Wednesday. I think it's pretty good, but I'm sure I should include some stuff in it to more broadly coincide with NASA's objectives. I'm just hoping I won't have to do too much to it before sending it off. At least I'm not as panicky as I was about it anymore. Things are starting to work themselves out. The only part I'm a bit worried about is getting my transcripts from Carroll, because their mail system is less than efficient. Hopefully I will be able to get them. I should probably do a search of my apartment to see if I have a copy of an unoffical one as a backup.
Not a whole lot is new with me lately. I've been making progress at work, which is a good feeling. For a while there, I wasn't making much progress at all because I couldn't figure out what I had done before. But, I finally figured it out early last week, so I'm redoing some stuff that I already did. I'm doing that for two reasons. One is just to familiarize myself with the programs I'd already written. The other is because the criteria for the depth levels over the continental shelf has been changed to accurately depict the same levels the rest of the team is using. I'm also changing some variable so they're not as cumbersome as they originally were, but not too much so that they're not descriptive of what they represent. I'm also putting more comments in my code, because that's the one thing that bothers me about other people's code. So many coders don't give enough explanation to their code. I had that problem with the radar analysis programs I used for my master's work. There weren't enough comments, and many variables had similar names (for example, n, nn, nnn, nnnn, nnnnn), so they made no sense to me. It also got quite confusing when I was trying to search for a certain variable, like nnn in the above example. That's just irritating.
Apparently we're supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow overnight. I'm sort of excited about it because this has been the weirdest January I've ever seen, with it being so warm at all. I'm not complaining, but I've been thinking that it's just wrong to be able to go outside without a coat in the middle of January. However, I won't be thrilled if it ends up being enough to cancel or delay classes. I'm supposed to teach a lab tomorrow that's already behind because we got Martin Luther King Day off. So, I'm really hoping I'll be able to make it out of my parking lot tomorrow. In any normal parking lot, this wouldn't be a problem. Mine, however, has a rather steep hill to go up to get to the main road. So, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Speaking of labs, sort of, I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the work being turned in by the two labs I did teach last week. Most of the people did really well on their labs. No one got a perfect score, but that's because I'm rather picky when it comes to grading. Most people who lost points lost them because they didn't label their isopleths. Without labels, they are just lines on a map that have no meaning. So, I'm sure a lot of people will be pissed that they got points off there, but they'll just have to deal with it and do them better next time. But, even with that, the averages for both labs were pretty high, approximately 43/48. That's pretty good from me, because I'm very anal. So, they should be proud of the work they've done so far, at least most of them. Some people didn't work as hard as others, and hopefully they'll realize that after this lab.
Well, I guess that's about it. I should probably cut this off here before it gets too long. Plus, it's almost time to watch my Sunday night shows. (I have my priorities.) So, I'll end with that, and then see if it starts snowing before I go to bed.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Blogger Anniversary
Today is my first anniversary of having a blog. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to write too much about it right now, but I thought I should acknowledge it. I'll hopefully write more in the coming days. But, for now, I'm off to bed.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Wiped out
Today I taught my first Meteo 3 lab of the semester. It went pretty well, even though the students were a bit quieter than I expected them to be. Luckily, everyone had enough time to finish the lab before they left. Well, all those that remembered to bring their books with them. I don't know why some people thought they wouldn't have to have their texts, considering it contains the lab component as well. Anyway, the kids were relatively smart. Many had trouble with isoplething, but I've heard that before, so it wasn't a huge shock to me. I'm still working on the best way to explain it so that people will get it. I haven't quite come up with it yet. However, by the end of class, those students that actually asked about isoplething seemed to be getting the hang of it.
Earlier today I had a slight panic attack. I was looking at info for a fellowship Ray wants me to apply for, and realized that I had two weeks until the deadline to get it to them, and I have so much crap that I need to take care of for that. I need official transcripts from both Carroll and Penn State, an original signed letter of recommendation from Ray, a five-page proposal, and some other junk too. Much of this I'm pretty sure I can get done relatively quickly. However, the one thing that may not work out is the original signed letter from Ray, since he's in Antarctica at the moment. I can't quite figure out how that's going to work. Anyway, after looking at all that I need to do, I started to panic just a little bit, because I have to teach and grade and get research done and not go completely insane. Basically I was on the verge of a major panic attack just because there's more on my plate than I'd like there to be at this point. However, there's not a whole lot I can do. All I can do is try to get everything done on time and see what happens.
The only reason Ray wants me to try for this fellowship is so that I have funding. Granted, that's important and all, but I haven't had much luck in the past with getting fellowships or awards or the like. We'll see, though. I should give it a shot because I'd probably get more from the fellowship than I do getting funded through grants the way it is. The fellowship is worth up to $24,000 per year, so I guess it would be worth my while. However, if I start to feel like my grip on reality is slipping, I may just give up.
Another thing on my mind about applying for this fellowship is that I'm still not quite certain of my future at Penn State. If I didn't pass the candidacy exam, I'm done. So, if I apply for the fellowship and get it, but didn't pass the candidacy exam, I wouldn't know what to do about that. I guess NASA could just take it back and award it to someone else. But I'm not really sure how that would work.
Speaking of the candidacy exam, it really sucks that I have to wait so long for the results. Not only because of the fellowship thing, but also because I need to know if I should renew my lease or not. I suppose I should talk to the rental office to see what they say. All I know is that after 180 days, they automatically renew the lease, and that's coming up pretty quickly. And since I don't know how well I did, I'm not entirely certain I'll need to renew the lease. And if I do renew and then don't pass, then I'll have to go through the trouble of subletting, which will just be an extra pain that I really don't need.
Of course, only time will tell about that.
Anyway, on to some randomness....
The first random thought I have stems from my last entry. I wrote about the stupid signs that are all over PA. I also have to comment on the drivers in this state. I realize that when I'm driving Rt. 119 or Rt. 22, or any of the other non-interstates that you need to take to get just about anywhere from State College, at night, my brights will be needed to see anything that may jump out at me. Most of these routes are pretty much through wilderness with the occasional town scattered throughout. I don't have a problem using my brights, and I'm even kind enough to go back down to regular headlights when I notice cars approaching from the other direction, especially on a two lane road. However, I am incredibly sick of the people who don't realize they're being rude by leaving their brights on, even when people are driving in the opposite lane. I got so pissed off by it on Saturday night, that at one point, I turned my brights back on just to see how they liked it. It took them about two minutes to get the point, but at least they did. I swear, whatever happened to common courtesy??
My second random thought deals with the Oprah book club incident. First of all, I had lost a little respect for her when I went into a Borders before Christmas with Ingrid in Greensburg for our annual Christmas gift exchange. We were walking around just looking at books (trust me, I could spend hours in a bookstore). In the classics section, we saw a three-pack of books by Faulkner that bore Oprah's seal of approval. I know this is just my and her opinion, but I can't understand how Faulkner is considered a good writer. I've only read half of one of his books, and that was The Sound and the Fury, and I hated it. And Oprah's seal of approval covered that book. Seriously, I'm shocked. Of course, it's only my opinion, but I lost just a teeny bit of respect for her. And now with the "embellishment" of a memoir by this James Frey, I'm thinking her book club seal of approval isn't quite cutting it. I'm just a little ticked that a book was sold as non-fiction when parts of it weren't, in fact, true. Non-fiction, to me, means that all the facts presented in the book are real and accurate. Otherwise it's just a story.
My third random thought has to do with the Golden Globes last night. Some of the winners were predictable, like Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix winning for Walk the Line. However, I'm glad that Brokeback Mountain won best drama and best director. I'm also glad that Felicity Huffman won for her role in Transamerica. It's about time that people start recognizing "non-traditional" people, shall we say. I'm not quite sure how to phrase that better, besides saying gays and transsexuals. Anyway, I'm proud of the voters for recognizing films that deal with sensitive issues, considering the America we're living in currently.
I was also quite excited by Sandra Oh's win for Grey's Anatomy. Her acceptance speech was so cute, and she's just a fabulous actress. She makes acting look so easy, and I'm glad other people realized that.
My last random thought, I think, is about something I saw on CNN.com today. There was an article about Hillary Clinton making comments on how the Bush administration is one of the worst, if not the worst administration in American history. All I can say to that is, preach on, Hillary!
With that, I'm off to have some dinner and rest to regain some energy that was used up during teaching today.
Earlier today I had a slight panic attack. I was looking at info for a fellowship Ray wants me to apply for, and realized that I had two weeks until the deadline to get it to them, and I have so much crap that I need to take care of for that. I need official transcripts from both Carroll and Penn State, an original signed letter of recommendation from Ray, a five-page proposal, and some other junk too. Much of this I'm pretty sure I can get done relatively quickly. However, the one thing that may not work out is the original signed letter from Ray, since he's in Antarctica at the moment. I can't quite figure out how that's going to work. Anyway, after looking at all that I need to do, I started to panic just a little bit, because I have to teach and grade and get research done and not go completely insane. Basically I was on the verge of a major panic attack just because there's more on my plate than I'd like there to be at this point. However, there's not a whole lot I can do. All I can do is try to get everything done on time and see what happens.
The only reason Ray wants me to try for this fellowship is so that I have funding. Granted, that's important and all, but I haven't had much luck in the past with getting fellowships or awards or the like. We'll see, though. I should give it a shot because I'd probably get more from the fellowship than I do getting funded through grants the way it is. The fellowship is worth up to $24,000 per year, so I guess it would be worth my while. However, if I start to feel like my grip on reality is slipping, I may just give up.
Another thing on my mind about applying for this fellowship is that I'm still not quite certain of my future at Penn State. If I didn't pass the candidacy exam, I'm done. So, if I apply for the fellowship and get it, but didn't pass the candidacy exam, I wouldn't know what to do about that. I guess NASA could just take it back and award it to someone else. But I'm not really sure how that would work.
Speaking of the candidacy exam, it really sucks that I have to wait so long for the results. Not only because of the fellowship thing, but also because I need to know if I should renew my lease or not. I suppose I should talk to the rental office to see what they say. All I know is that after 180 days, they automatically renew the lease, and that's coming up pretty quickly. And since I don't know how well I did, I'm not entirely certain I'll need to renew the lease. And if I do renew and then don't pass, then I'll have to go through the trouble of subletting, which will just be an extra pain that I really don't need.
Of course, only time will tell about that.
Anyway, on to some randomness....
The first random thought I have stems from my last entry. I wrote about the stupid signs that are all over PA. I also have to comment on the drivers in this state. I realize that when I'm driving Rt. 119 or Rt. 22, or any of the other non-interstates that you need to take to get just about anywhere from State College, at night, my brights will be needed to see anything that may jump out at me. Most of these routes are pretty much through wilderness with the occasional town scattered throughout. I don't have a problem using my brights, and I'm even kind enough to go back down to regular headlights when I notice cars approaching from the other direction, especially on a two lane road. However, I am incredibly sick of the people who don't realize they're being rude by leaving their brights on, even when people are driving in the opposite lane. I got so pissed off by it on Saturday night, that at one point, I turned my brights back on just to see how they liked it. It took them about two minutes to get the point, but at least they did. I swear, whatever happened to common courtesy??
My second random thought deals with the Oprah book club incident. First of all, I had lost a little respect for her when I went into a Borders before Christmas with Ingrid in Greensburg for our annual Christmas gift exchange. We were walking around just looking at books (trust me, I could spend hours in a bookstore). In the classics section, we saw a three-pack of books by Faulkner that bore Oprah's seal of approval. I know this is just my and her opinion, but I can't understand how Faulkner is considered a good writer. I've only read half of one of his books, and that was The Sound and the Fury, and I hated it. And Oprah's seal of approval covered that book. Seriously, I'm shocked. Of course, it's only my opinion, but I lost just a teeny bit of respect for her. And now with the "embellishment" of a memoir by this James Frey, I'm thinking her book club seal of approval isn't quite cutting it. I'm just a little ticked that a book was sold as non-fiction when parts of it weren't, in fact, true. Non-fiction, to me, means that all the facts presented in the book are real and accurate. Otherwise it's just a story.
My third random thought has to do with the Golden Globes last night. Some of the winners were predictable, like Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix winning for Walk the Line. However, I'm glad that Brokeback Mountain won best drama and best director. I'm also glad that Felicity Huffman won for her role in Transamerica. It's about time that people start recognizing "non-traditional" people, shall we say. I'm not quite sure how to phrase that better, besides saying gays and transsexuals. Anyway, I'm proud of the voters for recognizing films that deal with sensitive issues, considering the America we're living in currently.
I was also quite excited by Sandra Oh's win for Grey's Anatomy. Her acceptance speech was so cute, and she's just a fabulous actress. She makes acting look so easy, and I'm glad other people realized that.
My last random thought, I think, is about something I saw on CNN.com today. There was an article about Hillary Clinton making comments on how the Bush administration is one of the worst, if not the worst administration in American history. All I can say to that is, preach on, Hillary!
With that, I'm off to have some dinner and rest to regain some energy that was used up during teaching today.
Monday, January 16, 2006
It's finally over.....
It's been a week since I took the candidacy exam, and this is the first day I've really felt somewhat normal again. It's really hard being completely stressed out for weeks on end. I'm so overjoyed that it's over, though. I think part of the reason for that is that I've decided that no matter what the result is, I'm not taking it again. If I pass, obviously I won't have to take it again, and if I fail both sections, I'm just going to leave. The only way I'd take it a third time is if I only pass one of the sections, or if the department makes me an offer I can't refuse if I don't pass either section. I do take some comfort in the fact that I walked out of both sections feeling like I couldn't write down any more than what I did. I think that's a good sign. Now it's all in the graders' hands.
Other than that, not much else has been happening with me lately. I've been kind of zombie mode for a good chunk of the past week. I also had to get reacquainted with my research, which took the better part of a few days. However, I now feel like I can remember what I've actually done and make some decent progress. Of course, I really need to make progress in the next month, since I'm presenting a poster at the Ocean Science Meeting in late February. However, the location is a damn good incentive to actually get work done. Going to Hawaii in February sounds wonderful, even though the weather here hasn't been too terrible lately. (We are supposed to get some ice tomorrow, though, so the previous sentence may be nixed by then.)
Today I spent a good hour or so preparing my lesson for the Meteo 3 kids tomorrow. I'm actually not that stressed out about it because I've taught this stuff before. Plus, all the stuff I need to cover in lab this week is pretty basic stuff. I realize that some of them will have a hard time with isoplething and converting units, but that's what I'm there for. The only thing that is really annoying is that because we had today off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, one of my labs is behind the other two. So, one day in the near future I'll have to cover twice the material in lab and have them stagger when they hand stuff in. It's not really a big deal, though, because I'm gone for a week for the OS meeting, so all my labs are going to have to do that at some point. It's still annoying, though.
On Saturday I went to Greensburg to visit with Ingrid and just celebrate the fact that the candidacy exam is over. The weather wasn't very pleasant for driving, though. Outside of Altoona, I encountered very strong winds. Then I passed under a sign that has its lights flashing when there are strong cross winds. Every time I see that sign and it's blinking, I have already gone about ten miles before reaching that sign and have already experienced the strong cross winds. It seems like a pointless sign to have where they have it. When I got to places that were more sheltered from the wind, the snow started. It wasn't too bad, mainly because I took it pretty cautiously. I wasn't driving too slowly, but still slow enough to apparently piss people off. But, I'd like to live a little bit longer, so I'm more cautious. Call me crazy about that.
Anyway, I made it to the mall ok, and just people watched until Ingrid got there. Then we got lunch, and walked around the mall for a bit. The White Barn Candle Company (affiliated with Bath & Body Works) was having a semi-annual sale (like most of the mall, it seemed), and they had some of their candles half off, which is quite a sale considering how expensive they normally are. I got a mint chocolate chip ice cream candle. It smells so good. And it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. That was really the only purchase I made. Then we continued to walk around the mall, stopping here and there looking at things and just making idle conversation about the TV shows we watch and stuff of that sort. It was just a good time.
Then we went to see Rumor Has It, which is a very cute movie, but not entirely what the commercials make it out to be. This doesn't really surprise me, though, because commercials rarely show what any movie is really about. I'd still recommend it to anyone to go see it, or at least rent it. I'm just glad it's one of those movies that has an ending. These days it seems that movie makers feel that they can just end movies wherever the hell the feel like it, even if it doesn't feel like an ending. One example of this is Prime. That was also a good movie (and again, not what the commercials made it out to be), but the end didn't really feel like an ending. I want a movie to provide closure to the story it's presenting.
After the movie, we went out for dinner, and then I left to come back here. The drive wasn't too bad. Any moisture that may have been on the roads evaporated quickly due to the very strong winds that came behind the cold front. Once I got to unsheltered areas just before Altoona, there was blowing and drifting snow, and again there was a very helpful sign (electric, nonetheless) saying that I could encounter blowing snow and to drive cautiously when I had noticed that myself for a decent amount of time before that. I swear, Pennsylvania must spend more money on useless signs that on useful ones, like, for instance, speed limits signs. That's just a small gripe from me, though.
Well, I think that's about it for now. I'm heading off to watch the Golden Globes. I'm kind of an awards show junkie. Plus, I've actually seen some of the movies that are nominated, which is kind of cool, since usually around this time, the nominated movies aren't ones I've seen. So, I'm off and cheering on the movies and TV shows I want to win.
Other than that, not much else has been happening with me lately. I've been kind of zombie mode for a good chunk of the past week. I also had to get reacquainted with my research, which took the better part of a few days. However, I now feel like I can remember what I've actually done and make some decent progress. Of course, I really need to make progress in the next month, since I'm presenting a poster at the Ocean Science Meeting in late February. However, the location is a damn good incentive to actually get work done. Going to Hawaii in February sounds wonderful, even though the weather here hasn't been too terrible lately. (We are supposed to get some ice tomorrow, though, so the previous sentence may be nixed by then.)
Today I spent a good hour or so preparing my lesson for the Meteo 3 kids tomorrow. I'm actually not that stressed out about it because I've taught this stuff before. Plus, all the stuff I need to cover in lab this week is pretty basic stuff. I realize that some of them will have a hard time with isoplething and converting units, but that's what I'm there for. The only thing that is really annoying is that because we had today off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, one of my labs is behind the other two. So, one day in the near future I'll have to cover twice the material in lab and have them stagger when they hand stuff in. It's not really a big deal, though, because I'm gone for a week for the OS meeting, so all my labs are going to have to do that at some point. It's still annoying, though.
On Saturday I went to Greensburg to visit with Ingrid and just celebrate the fact that the candidacy exam is over. The weather wasn't very pleasant for driving, though. Outside of Altoona, I encountered very strong winds. Then I passed under a sign that has its lights flashing when there are strong cross winds. Every time I see that sign and it's blinking, I have already gone about ten miles before reaching that sign and have already experienced the strong cross winds. It seems like a pointless sign to have where they have it. When I got to places that were more sheltered from the wind, the snow started. It wasn't too bad, mainly because I took it pretty cautiously. I wasn't driving too slowly, but still slow enough to apparently piss people off. But, I'd like to live a little bit longer, so I'm more cautious. Call me crazy about that.
Anyway, I made it to the mall ok, and just people watched until Ingrid got there. Then we got lunch, and walked around the mall for a bit. The White Barn Candle Company (affiliated with Bath & Body Works) was having a semi-annual sale (like most of the mall, it seemed), and they had some of their candles half off, which is quite a sale considering how expensive they normally are. I got a mint chocolate chip ice cream candle. It smells so good. And it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. That was really the only purchase I made. Then we continued to walk around the mall, stopping here and there looking at things and just making idle conversation about the TV shows we watch and stuff of that sort. It was just a good time.
Then we went to see Rumor Has It, which is a very cute movie, but not entirely what the commercials make it out to be. This doesn't really surprise me, though, because commercials rarely show what any movie is really about. I'd still recommend it to anyone to go see it, or at least rent it. I'm just glad it's one of those movies that has an ending. These days it seems that movie makers feel that they can just end movies wherever the hell the feel like it, even if it doesn't feel like an ending. One example of this is Prime. That was also a good movie (and again, not what the commercials made it out to be), but the end didn't really feel like an ending. I want a movie to provide closure to the story it's presenting.
After the movie, we went out for dinner, and then I left to come back here. The drive wasn't too bad. Any moisture that may have been on the roads evaporated quickly due to the very strong winds that came behind the cold front. Once I got to unsheltered areas just before Altoona, there was blowing and drifting snow, and again there was a very helpful sign (electric, nonetheless) saying that I could encounter blowing snow and to drive cautiously when I had noticed that myself for a decent amount of time before that. I swear, Pennsylvania must spend more money on useless signs that on useful ones, like, for instance, speed limits signs. That's just a small gripe from me, though.
Well, I think that's about it for now. I'm heading off to watch the Golden Globes. I'm kind of an awards show junkie. Plus, I've actually seen some of the movies that are nominated, which is kind of cool, since usually around this time, the nominated movies aren't ones I've seen. So, I'm off and cheering on the movies and TV shows I want to win.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Random Question
This is probably one of the more random entries I've posted on here. I'm asking a question to anyone that may read this blog, preferably someone in the State College area, but other opinions are welcome. I've noticed recently that I have a rather sharp pain in the back of my mouth, so I felt around back there (which may not be the smartest idea, but I wanted to find out what was causing me pain) and it felt like a tooth might be trying to push it's way out. So, I'm wondering if anyone that reads this can tell me how to go about finding a good dentist in State College. I figure I should probably go check get it checked out before it does any major damage. The trouble is, I haven't been to a dentist in a long time, and I'm not exactly fond of them. Plus, I haven't had dental insurance until this year. I'm also hoping that this may just be a temproary thing and I won't actually have to see a dentist.
Anyway, instead of rambling on, my question to anyone in State College, or anyone that's been through this kind of thing, is: can anyone recommend a good dentist in this area? Please leave comments!
Anyway, instead of rambling on, my question to anyone in State College, or anyone that's been through this kind of thing, is: can anyone recommend a good dentist in this area? Please leave comments!
Friday, January 06, 2006
Best and Worst 2005
Today I was supposed to have the second part of my candidacy exam, but someone missed their flight from the Orange Bowl, so it's been postponed until Monday. I'm having mixed feelings about that. I really wanted to just get it over with today, but I don't really mind having a little extra time to study and recover from yesterday's part. Honestly, I think I'm kind of liking the idea of a few days between parts. I will probably do better work on the next part with some break in between.
Now after that little rambling preamble, I should probably address the title of this post. The couple magazines I read and some of the entertainment websites out there have put together best and worst lists for 2005, so I've been inspired to do my own version of that. I'll probably list entertainment stuff along with personal stuff. It's just kind of fun, and I figured it might make an enjoyable post. So, off we go!
- Best (relatively) new TV show: Grey's Anatomy. No question about this. It is hands down one of the best-written shows on TV right now. I might have put Supernatural down here, but the shapeshifter episode was too much of a weak point for me.
- Best TV show: Gilmore Girls. Not much more to say about this. Anyone who has watched the show should agree with me.
- Best movie: Crash. I would have said Brokeback Mountain because, from what I've heard, it's an amazing movie, that is also pretty politically relevant these days. However, I didn't see that movie yet because it wasn't playing in the theaters at home (no big surprise there) and it's not playing in State College. So, I'm guessing I'll have to wait to rent that one. Crash, by far, is the best movie I've seen this past year, and perhaps in my life. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, they definitely need to. I still think back to some of the scenes in that movie and am just amazed. Perfect cast, perfect writing. That's all I can say to describe it. Well, not all, but I could write many, many posts on the movie, but that's not what this entry is for.
- Best Movie Sequel: Batman Begins. This was the best Batman movie I've seen. Hands down. Harry Potter might have taken this spot, because it also was good and the best of the Harry Potter movies, but now that I've started rereading the book, it's still good, but I'm thinking that too much was left out of it.
- Best Musician: Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, I like her, mainly because she's the only "Idol" that's really done anything. Plus, her music is amazingly good. Every song I've heard of hers lately sounds different than the previous ones, which I like.
- Best Book and Worst Ending: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I loved the book. It rates quite high on the list of the HP books I've read. However, I didn't like the ending so much. That's not because Dumbledore died, although that was sad in and of itself. It was more the whole anticlimatic reveal of Snape being the Half-Blood Prince.
- Worst Book: The DaVinci Code. I can't really remember if I read that this past year or late the year before. Either way, I was really unimpressed with it because some of the plot twists were incredibly transparent. Plus, I had heard all this hype about how amazing the book is and it was on the bestseller list for a gazillion weeks, so I thought it was going to be this amazingly good book. I was left very disappointed. The only good thing about it was the pictures of the artwork (my sister had that version of the book). I could kind of relive the time I went to the Louvre.
- Best Quote from a TV Show: Gilmore Girls. Basically this category could be filled with about 20 quotes from every episode. The funniest one I heard this year was from Lorelai talking to Rory about prison: "Rory, the penal system is not something we enjoy. It's something with a name that makes us giggle." A close runner-up, which I'm not sure if I can remember accurately, is from Grey's Anatomy. I'll need to preface it a little bit to help explain it. A rape victim was brought into the hospital for some surgery or something. Anyway, the victim had bitten off her rapist's penis. So, at one point in the episode Cristina walked up to Meredith in the lobby of the hospital and asked what Meredith was doing. Meredith said, "I'm just sitting here with my penis." Well, I think it's funny. Other people might not, but I got a kick out of it.
- Funniest Moment on a TV show: Lost. The first Hurley-centric episode, with all the bad luck from using the numbers to win the lottery. The funniest part was when Hurley was talking to his stockbroker and a guy fell from the window behind the stockbrocker. I don't know why I really found that funny, because it's not. I guess I just have a very dark sense of humor. I thought all the flashbacks were funny in that episode, though.
On to more personal stuff...
- Best Thing that Happened to me This Year: This is a tie among many things. (1) Starting to see a therapist was definitely a good move on my part. I've tried to deal with my life alone for so long that it's nice to not have to deal all on my own anymore. (2) Failing the candidacy exam the first time. I know that might not sound like the best thing that has happened, but in the end it was a positive. It kind of gave me a jump start to see that things had to change in my life. Plus, I like to think things happen for a reason. (3) Living alone again. This was the result of the candidacy exam. I knew I had to do this to keep myself sane.
- Worst thing that Happened to me This Year: Medical Crises. This past semester was the semester from hell with medical stuff. It started out with having a persistent headache, which I'd been seeing the doctor for now. Then the optometrist I saw sent me to an ophthalmologist, who sent me to a retina specialist to see if the spot that is on my retina was a mole or a malignant melanoma. I also had an MRI done to see if there was anything wrong with my brain that was causing this persistent headache. I also had to have my cholesterol tested because the MRI found a couple non-specific hardened vessel in my brain. So, basically, this whole semester was stress due to health reasons on one level or another. Oh, and I also started seeing a psychiatrist, who put me on anti-depressants, the first of which gave me a slight tremor (which was moderately exacerbated over Thanksgiving dinner because I was tense around my grandmother). The one I'm on now seem to be pretty good. I'm not shaking too badly now, only when I'm really hungry or sitting next to Grandma at the dinner table. So, yeah, this semester was just one big stress-filled few-month period, that will hopefully get better this semester.
- Best and Worst Class I've Taken: Physical Oceanography. The reason this is the worst is that Dr. Bannon can't teach all that well. Plus, when he's grading he doesn't put any effort into giving feedback. On the final, I got points taken of on problem, and there was no indication of what I did wrong. There was just a red 7/10, among others. However, because he didn't teach all that well and the labs were very intensive, I did actually learn a lot from the class. And I've discovered I like Physical Oceanography much better than the chemical realm, so that's a bonus.
- Biggest Surprise of the Year: TAing next semester. I don't think I have to say much more about that one. I didn't think I'd have to teach. But, I guess I do. At least it's something I've taught before, so I have some frame of reference. But, still, I wish I had been better prepared for it.
Alrighty, I think that's it for now. At least I can't think of any more. Plus, this post is getting a little long the way it is. Anyway, I just wanted to do this because I thought it would be kind of fun. Now, I'm just going to relax the rest of the day and get back to studying over the weekend.
Now after that little rambling preamble, I should probably address the title of this post. The couple magazines I read and some of the entertainment websites out there have put together best and worst lists for 2005, so I've been inspired to do my own version of that. I'll probably list entertainment stuff along with personal stuff. It's just kind of fun, and I figured it might make an enjoyable post. So, off we go!
- Best (relatively) new TV show: Grey's Anatomy. No question about this. It is hands down one of the best-written shows on TV right now. I might have put Supernatural down here, but the shapeshifter episode was too much of a weak point for me.
- Best TV show: Gilmore Girls. Not much more to say about this. Anyone who has watched the show should agree with me.
- Best movie: Crash. I would have said Brokeback Mountain because, from what I've heard, it's an amazing movie, that is also pretty politically relevant these days. However, I didn't see that movie yet because it wasn't playing in the theaters at home (no big surprise there) and it's not playing in State College. So, I'm guessing I'll have to wait to rent that one. Crash, by far, is the best movie I've seen this past year, and perhaps in my life. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, they definitely need to. I still think back to some of the scenes in that movie and am just amazed. Perfect cast, perfect writing. That's all I can say to describe it. Well, not all, but I could write many, many posts on the movie, but that's not what this entry is for.
- Best Movie Sequel: Batman Begins. This was the best Batman movie I've seen. Hands down. Harry Potter might have taken this spot, because it also was good and the best of the Harry Potter movies, but now that I've started rereading the book, it's still good, but I'm thinking that too much was left out of it.
- Best Musician: Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, I like her, mainly because she's the only "Idol" that's really done anything. Plus, her music is amazingly good. Every song I've heard of hers lately sounds different than the previous ones, which I like.
- Best Book and Worst Ending: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I loved the book. It rates quite high on the list of the HP books I've read. However, I didn't like the ending so much. That's not because Dumbledore died, although that was sad in and of itself. It was more the whole anticlimatic reveal of Snape being the Half-Blood Prince.
- Worst Book: The DaVinci Code. I can't really remember if I read that this past year or late the year before. Either way, I was really unimpressed with it because some of the plot twists were incredibly transparent. Plus, I had heard all this hype about how amazing the book is and it was on the bestseller list for a gazillion weeks, so I thought it was going to be this amazingly good book. I was left very disappointed. The only good thing about it was the pictures of the artwork (my sister had that version of the book). I could kind of relive the time I went to the Louvre.
- Best Quote from a TV Show: Gilmore Girls. Basically this category could be filled with about 20 quotes from every episode. The funniest one I heard this year was from Lorelai talking to Rory about prison: "Rory, the penal system is not something we enjoy. It's something with a name that makes us giggle." A close runner-up, which I'm not sure if I can remember accurately, is from Grey's Anatomy. I'll need to preface it a little bit to help explain it. A rape victim was brought into the hospital for some surgery or something. Anyway, the victim had bitten off her rapist's penis. So, at one point in the episode Cristina walked up to Meredith in the lobby of the hospital and asked what Meredith was doing. Meredith said, "I'm just sitting here with my penis." Well, I think it's funny. Other people might not, but I got a kick out of it.
- Funniest Moment on a TV show: Lost. The first Hurley-centric episode, with all the bad luck from using the numbers to win the lottery. The funniest part was when Hurley was talking to his stockbroker and a guy fell from the window behind the stockbrocker. I don't know why I really found that funny, because it's not. I guess I just have a very dark sense of humor. I thought all the flashbacks were funny in that episode, though.
On to more personal stuff...
- Best Thing that Happened to me This Year: This is a tie among many things. (1) Starting to see a therapist was definitely a good move on my part. I've tried to deal with my life alone for so long that it's nice to not have to deal all on my own anymore. (2) Failing the candidacy exam the first time. I know that might not sound like the best thing that has happened, but in the end it was a positive. It kind of gave me a jump start to see that things had to change in my life. Plus, I like to think things happen for a reason. (3) Living alone again. This was the result of the candidacy exam. I knew I had to do this to keep myself sane.
- Worst thing that Happened to me This Year: Medical Crises. This past semester was the semester from hell with medical stuff. It started out with having a persistent headache, which I'd been seeing the doctor for now. Then the optometrist I saw sent me to an ophthalmologist, who sent me to a retina specialist to see if the spot that is on my retina was a mole or a malignant melanoma. I also had an MRI done to see if there was anything wrong with my brain that was causing this persistent headache. I also had to have my cholesterol tested because the MRI found a couple non-specific hardened vessel in my brain. So, basically, this whole semester was stress due to health reasons on one level or another. Oh, and I also started seeing a psychiatrist, who put me on anti-depressants, the first of which gave me a slight tremor (which was moderately exacerbated over Thanksgiving dinner because I was tense around my grandmother). The one I'm on now seem to be pretty good. I'm not shaking too badly now, only when I'm really hungry or sitting next to Grandma at the dinner table. So, yeah, this semester was just one big stress-filled few-month period, that will hopefully get better this semester.
- Best and Worst Class I've Taken: Physical Oceanography. The reason this is the worst is that Dr. Bannon can't teach all that well. Plus, when he's grading he doesn't put any effort into giving feedback. On the final, I got points taken of on problem, and there was no indication of what I did wrong. There was just a red 7/10, among others. However, because he didn't teach all that well and the labs were very intensive, I did actually learn a lot from the class. And I've discovered I like Physical Oceanography much better than the chemical realm, so that's a bonus.
- Biggest Surprise of the Year: TAing next semester. I don't think I have to say much more about that one. I didn't think I'd have to teach. But, I guess I do. At least it's something I've taught before, so I have some frame of reference. But, still, I wish I had been better prepared for it.
Alrighty, I think that's it for now. At least I can't think of any more. Plus, this post is getting a little long the way it is. Anyway, I just wanted to do this because I thought it would be kind of fun. Now, I'm just going to relax the rest of the day and get back to studying over the weekend.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Happy New Year!!
I guess I should post an obligatory new year's post since a lot of people seem to be doing that.
New Year's Eve this year was kind of bittersweet for me. The bitter part is that I couldn't spend it at home with my mom and sister because I needed to leave myself plenty of time to cram for the candidacy exam this coming week, and I knew I wouldn't get to study as much if I were at home. Plus, it was Bree's birthday yesterday, and I really wanted to be there for it. But, alas, I couldn't. But I think she was okay with that. Of course, I will definitely need to be there for her birthday next year because she turns 21. That's a biggie that I'd rather not miss. Plus, I don't think Mom and Bree missed mine. Or at the very least, they made it special even if they didn't make it to Waukesha to see me. How sad is it that I can't even remember what went on on my 21st? And no, it's not because I was too drunk to remember anything. My memory is just shoddy in some areas. However, it does retain random trivia well, which isn't incredibly useful, but still is nice when doing crossword puzzles or playing Trivial Pursuit.
Anyway, the sweet part of last night is that I made last minute plans with Josh to go to Chum's and have a couple drinks and ring in the new year. That was incredibly fun. I was glad I could make it, because it seems like I've unintentionally blown him off the past few times he's invited me out, mainly because things came up. Yesterday, though, I didn't really want to spend all of New Year's Eve studying, especially into the night, because I'm not that big of a dork. I probably would have ended up drinking here in my apartment and watching New Year's Rockin' Eve. Going out was much more fun, though. Josh had his friend Rachel there with him, and she's just a blast. I had so much fun just chatting with them and drinking a couple drinks. I also saw Chad and Kevin there, which was nice because I haven't seen them in a while. I should really make it a point to chat with them more often. A little before midnight, the two bartenders were passing out party favors, like noisemakers, hats, streamers, etc. We also got free champagne to toast the new year. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
Of course, as midnight drew closer, New Year's Rockin' Eve was turned on in the bar, just so we could see the ball drop. I must say that Dick Clark is looking really good yet, considering he had a stroke. He is looking a bit older now, but really, it's about time. People can't remain ageless forever, well, at least not with out a lot of cosmetic surgery, and those people just freak me out. Anyway, getting back on track, Josh, Rachel, and I were talking about Hilary Duff and how skinny and sickly-looking she is. It seems like all the teeny-bopper stars have all become anorexic lately. It's just not attractive. Of course, I'm not an authority on this stuff, but I find women to be more attractive when they have some sort of figure to them. I don't mean they should be obese, but they should at least be able to fill out a dress well. On the opposite end of the scale, we had Mariah Carey on Rockin' Eve as well. She definitely can fill out a dress. However, I think she should have perhaps had more of a dress on. It's winter, for Pete's sake! She was dressed like she was about to head to the beach. And it really looked like her dress could hardly contain her breasts. Seriously, I kept half-expecting the bra-thing under her dress to just fly open in the middle and have an even bigger Janet Jackson moment.
So, that was my New Year's Eve. Sometimes the best times are had when things are rather spontaneous.
Today when I woke up, I was surprised to see we were under a winter storm watch. Now, I'm not a forecaster, but all the forecasts I'd been seeing recently didn't lead me to belief that we were going to get anything significantly wintery in the near future. However, here we are now under a winter weather advisory because we could get significant icing. I'm not sure if I really believe that. All I have to say is where is Karen when we need her? She did quite a good job on the last major weather event that we had, all because of her awesome forecasting skills. (As an aside, whenever I start to mention anyone having some skills, I keep wanting to add "and nunchukus skills...." It's just stuck there in my mind from Napoleon Dynamite. That and "Tina you fat lard, come get your dinner!") Anyway, after going off on yet another tangent, my point to this is we'll see if I have power in the morning. If I don't it'll be really fun trying to study all day tomorrow with no power. I'll have to sit next to a window to get the natural light.
On another note, the Packers won today. I'd be more excited, but it's basically a meaningless win. Although I am happy that they beat the Seahawks. I'm still a little bitter at Mike Holmgren leaving the Packers because he wanted to be both head coach and general manager when Ron Wolfe retired, and when he didn't get that, he took off. The double duty didn't work very well for him in Seattle either, since the general manager-ship (is that what you're supposed to say?) was taken away from him. But, at least the Packers started off the New Year and ended their season on a positive note. Now there are two main questions. Is Brett going to leave? That one I'm not too sure about. Of course, it's his decision, but I think he may still have a year left in him. Hell, he probably has several years left in him. The other question is if Mike Sherman is going to be fired. I think that may be a bit pre-emptive of people to discount him. Yes, the Pack has had a bit of a downslide since he took over as head coach from Ray Rhodes (who I think is the major contributor to the downslide of the Pack). However, many of the star players from the Super Bowl Packer team either went to other teams or retired due to injuries. And considering that we had winning seasons for the past several years while rebuilding the team, Sherman's doing a pretty good job. This year is the first major stumbling block, but it's not all Sherman's fault. If our players could just stop getting injured, we'd have a good team. Just looking at all the losses, most of them were only lost by a few points. So, we have a good team, but we just can't pull through in the end. But, we'll see. I'm sure some fans are clamoring for Sherman to be fired, but I don't necessarily think that that will make that big a difference.
I thought I had more random thoughts from my trip home to append to this post, but I can't seem to remember them. Oh, well. It's not a big loss. I'm not even sure how many people care about my scatter-brained thoughts, anyway. I just write them because it's something I do on the AMC message boards. This semester I couldn't watch AMC every day because of school and not having time at night to watch each episode, so I catch up on them on Friday and Saturday. Then I make a long post about random things I've thought during my AMC marathon. Some people on that board really enjoy them. I always get comments back from my thoughts from one person in particular, and we seem to agree in general about the show. And I must say that this person is one of the most articulate 14-year-olds I know. (Now, don't get the wrong idea here. We just chat because I find her thoughts to be very, very insightful. Most people on the board are as impressed with her as I am.) I'm sort of considering creating another blog just to post my random thoughts about AMC on there so I can leave the message board space freer. But, we'll see. I'm so far behind in my soap-watching at the moment, though. Part of my relaxation after the candidacy exam will be catching up on the shows. At least that's the plan.
The candidacy exam is on Thursday and Friday of this week. Yikes! It's coming up so quickly. Plus, we have a snow day set to be Saturday, which I'm hoping we won't have to use. The way it is, I don't have much time to recover before classes start. Luckily, I'm not taking any classes, so the first week for me will be realtively stress-free, but I still have to work on planning out my first lesson for the lab I'm teaching. My point in all of this is that if we have to take part of the exam on Saturday, I really wouldn't have much time to recover. The way it is, I'm planning on recovering Friday after the exam, all weekend long, and then taking Monday off, too. But we'll see what happens. It depends on what Mother Nature decides to throw at central PA. She's such a fickle one.
OK, I guess that's it for now. Happy 2006 everyone!!
New Year's Eve this year was kind of bittersweet for me. The bitter part is that I couldn't spend it at home with my mom and sister because I needed to leave myself plenty of time to cram for the candidacy exam this coming week, and I knew I wouldn't get to study as much if I were at home. Plus, it was Bree's birthday yesterday, and I really wanted to be there for it. But, alas, I couldn't. But I think she was okay with that. Of course, I will definitely need to be there for her birthday next year because she turns 21. That's a biggie that I'd rather not miss. Plus, I don't think Mom and Bree missed mine. Or at the very least, they made it special even if they didn't make it to Waukesha to see me. How sad is it that I can't even remember what went on on my 21st? And no, it's not because I was too drunk to remember anything. My memory is just shoddy in some areas. However, it does retain random trivia well, which isn't incredibly useful, but still is nice when doing crossword puzzles or playing Trivial Pursuit.
Anyway, the sweet part of last night is that I made last minute plans with Josh to go to Chum's and have a couple drinks and ring in the new year. That was incredibly fun. I was glad I could make it, because it seems like I've unintentionally blown him off the past few times he's invited me out, mainly because things came up. Yesterday, though, I didn't really want to spend all of New Year's Eve studying, especially into the night, because I'm not that big of a dork. I probably would have ended up drinking here in my apartment and watching New Year's Rockin' Eve. Going out was much more fun, though. Josh had his friend Rachel there with him, and she's just a blast. I had so much fun just chatting with them and drinking a couple drinks. I also saw Chad and Kevin there, which was nice because I haven't seen them in a while. I should really make it a point to chat with them more often. A little before midnight, the two bartenders were passing out party favors, like noisemakers, hats, streamers, etc. We also got free champagne to toast the new year. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
Of course, as midnight drew closer, New Year's Rockin' Eve was turned on in the bar, just so we could see the ball drop. I must say that Dick Clark is looking really good yet, considering he had a stroke. He is looking a bit older now, but really, it's about time. People can't remain ageless forever, well, at least not with out a lot of cosmetic surgery, and those people just freak me out. Anyway, getting back on track, Josh, Rachel, and I were talking about Hilary Duff and how skinny and sickly-looking she is. It seems like all the teeny-bopper stars have all become anorexic lately. It's just not attractive. Of course, I'm not an authority on this stuff, but I find women to be more attractive when they have some sort of figure to them. I don't mean they should be obese, but they should at least be able to fill out a dress well. On the opposite end of the scale, we had Mariah Carey on Rockin' Eve as well. She definitely can fill out a dress. However, I think she should have perhaps had more of a dress on. It's winter, for Pete's sake! She was dressed like she was about to head to the beach. And it really looked like her dress could hardly contain her breasts. Seriously, I kept half-expecting the bra-thing under her dress to just fly open in the middle and have an even bigger Janet Jackson moment.
So, that was my New Year's Eve. Sometimes the best times are had when things are rather spontaneous.
Today when I woke up, I was surprised to see we were under a winter storm watch. Now, I'm not a forecaster, but all the forecasts I'd been seeing recently didn't lead me to belief that we were going to get anything significantly wintery in the near future. However, here we are now under a winter weather advisory because we could get significant icing. I'm not sure if I really believe that. All I have to say is where is Karen when we need her? She did quite a good job on the last major weather event that we had, all because of her awesome forecasting skills. (As an aside, whenever I start to mention anyone having some skills, I keep wanting to add "and nunchukus skills...." It's just stuck there in my mind from Napoleon Dynamite. That and "Tina you fat lard, come get your dinner!") Anyway, after going off on yet another tangent, my point to this is we'll see if I have power in the morning. If I don't it'll be really fun trying to study all day tomorrow with no power. I'll have to sit next to a window to get the natural light.
On another note, the Packers won today. I'd be more excited, but it's basically a meaningless win. Although I am happy that they beat the Seahawks. I'm still a little bitter at Mike Holmgren leaving the Packers because he wanted to be both head coach and general manager when Ron Wolfe retired, and when he didn't get that, he took off. The double duty didn't work very well for him in Seattle either, since the general manager-ship (is that what you're supposed to say?) was taken away from him. But, at least the Packers started off the New Year and ended their season on a positive note. Now there are two main questions. Is Brett going to leave? That one I'm not too sure about. Of course, it's his decision, but I think he may still have a year left in him. Hell, he probably has several years left in him. The other question is if Mike Sherman is going to be fired. I think that may be a bit pre-emptive of people to discount him. Yes, the Pack has had a bit of a downslide since he took over as head coach from Ray Rhodes (who I think is the major contributor to the downslide of the Pack). However, many of the star players from the Super Bowl Packer team either went to other teams or retired due to injuries. And considering that we had winning seasons for the past several years while rebuilding the team, Sherman's doing a pretty good job. This year is the first major stumbling block, but it's not all Sherman's fault. If our players could just stop getting injured, we'd have a good team. Just looking at all the losses, most of them were only lost by a few points. So, we have a good team, but we just can't pull through in the end. But, we'll see. I'm sure some fans are clamoring for Sherman to be fired, but I don't necessarily think that that will make that big a difference.
I thought I had more random thoughts from my trip home to append to this post, but I can't seem to remember them. Oh, well. It's not a big loss. I'm not even sure how many people care about my scatter-brained thoughts, anyway. I just write them because it's something I do on the AMC message boards. This semester I couldn't watch AMC every day because of school and not having time at night to watch each episode, so I catch up on them on Friday and Saturday. Then I make a long post about random things I've thought during my AMC marathon. Some people on that board really enjoy them. I always get comments back from my thoughts from one person in particular, and we seem to agree in general about the show. And I must say that this person is one of the most articulate 14-year-olds I know. (Now, don't get the wrong idea here. We just chat because I find her thoughts to be very, very insightful. Most people on the board are as impressed with her as I am.) I'm sort of considering creating another blog just to post my random thoughts about AMC on there so I can leave the message board space freer. But, we'll see. I'm so far behind in my soap-watching at the moment, though. Part of my relaxation after the candidacy exam will be catching up on the shows. At least that's the plan.
The candidacy exam is on Thursday and Friday of this week. Yikes! It's coming up so quickly. Plus, we have a snow day set to be Saturday, which I'm hoping we won't have to use. The way it is, I don't have much time to recover before classes start. Luckily, I'm not taking any classes, so the first week for me will be realtively stress-free, but I still have to work on planning out my first lesson for the lab I'm teaching. My point in all of this is that if we have to take part of the exam on Saturday, I really wouldn't have much time to recover. The way it is, I'm planning on recovering Friday after the exam, all weekend long, and then taking Monday off, too. But we'll see what happens. It depends on what Mother Nature decides to throw at central PA. She's such a fickle one.
OK, I guess that's it for now. Happy 2006 everyone!!
Friday, December 30, 2005
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.
- 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.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
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!
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!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
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.
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.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
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.
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