things i drop

Libraries are Wonderful Things

2008-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

keith's flight was delayed to lax.... i had already left the house in case their was traffic (as happens in LA) so i kept going to the airport. i stopped at a grocery store for an apple and a cinnamon roll. then the flight was delayed again. so i put barnes and noble into the gps and headed off the 2.5 miles. no barnes and noble. then i thought to myself i don't really want a barnes and noble, i want a library. there was one less than a mile from the failed barnes and noble and i found books, glorious books, and internet. to access the internet i had to get a library card. i'm thinking i should start collecting library cards. i should have kept my nevada ones.... interestingly it was easier to get a library card in a county where i am not a resident than it was for me to get a library card at the library 1/3 a mile from my house & po box.

Awesome Information from Sarah the Guru of All Internet Utility

2008-11-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

sarah just showed me how to get rid of the find bar in firefox when done with it (initiate with ctrl F and close with ESC). if you want it to go away by itself after a little bit of time just use forward slash (the button to the right of the period).
this made my day. i've been wanting to know this for a while now (just didn't really know what to search on or even if it existed). yup i'm that nerdy.

An Interesting Color Test

2008-09-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

from some weird link that sarah posted in some feed thingy i don't feel like taking the effort to re-find. here's a color test thingy that seems simple but is actually surprisingly difficult. i got a score of 7.... perfection is a score of 0.

An Interesting Article by Desmond Ford

2008-09-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

rather than do some useful work this afternoon i have been reading various interesting things like the sections on sustainability in C&EN from Aug 18 and reading some on Desmond Ford since we are going to hear him speak at the Loma Linda campus hill church this sabbath. here's a link to an article by Desmond Ford and here's a quote that i found poinent.

A vast array of modern sciences blatantly contradicts the literalistic reading of the opening chapters of Genesis. In addition to this fact the church must recognise that its efforts to evangelise the world are largely unsuccessful among educated people because there is this same issue of the great gap between science and Genesis when the latter is interpreted literally. Thus the Christian church today makes progress in the third world but is retreating in the industrialised countries of the globe.

Vista - another crappy view

2008-08-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

vista has some internet commercials called the mojave experiment where people are told vista is mojave and then they love it. clearly not actual users given time to realize how it has created new problems. myself, yesterday found a new realm of crappiness when i tried to delete a dll that was part of a program I, wanted to delete. it pretended to be all Unix-y and didn't allow me to have file permissions to delete it. i found some command line instructions for giving myself ownership & permissions for the file. still no delete. had to boot to safe mode to delete a dll. you go mojave. granted some stuff is nice like the integration of good handwriting recognition for the tablet... but if you don't have a tablet stick with XP .

Software List

2008-08-13T16:11:00.001-07:00

so i think i finally have my software where i want it on my new tablet for work. for those of you who are truely nerdy and want to know what i consider needed on my tablet here's my list.

• firefox (duh!)
• truecrypt (thanks to kev & neal for encouraging me to encrypt my data)
• 7zip (because i like it better than windows)
• openoffice (i can't stand using word anymore)
• M$office (excel still rocks, unfortunately)
• java (need this for some web stuff and other programs i run)
• flash, shockwave (online homework system we use for two classes needs these)
• quicktime and real player alternative (the real ones are so annoying and these seem to work)
• paint.net (for that quick graphics edit)
• inkscape (vector graphics!)
• exifer (i can't escape this program even though it is no longer being supported. it allows for saving exif data and putting it back on, which doesn't get lost as often as it used to thanks to paint.net, but this program also will redo the thumbnail and allows me to edit the exif, iptc, jpg information in bulk)
• gimp (for any massive graphics editing i decide to do)
• canon utilities (so i can plug my camera on the microscope into the tablet)
• eclipse with texlipse and miktex (for doing TeX projects like writing tests and potentially pdf's for lecture, the miktex takes care of the packages while exlipse and the texlipse plugin allow me to do the editing of my giant basically text file that is then plugged into the actual TeX compiler)
• jabref (a database interface for keeping track of references for use in TeX, makes it so much easier to do a bibliography)
• chemsketch (this is free for educational use, i don't like it as well as chemdraw but that is expensive, i have also used bkchem with good results esp since it saves it in svg so i can edit it with inkscape if it needs more work)
• scifinder scholar (a very, very good searching tool for chemistry put out by chemical abstracting services, CAS, i'm glad that we decided to spring the money from our red budget for this)
• putty (used to talk to the chemistry server neal helped me set up)
• openvpn (so i can dial into the vpn on the campus for servers and scifinder)
• jarnal (an opensource program that allows writing on all sorts of thing, including fake notebook paper, but important to me pdf's. then you can save them as a pdf. this works great on a tablet. so i can write on forms or write on pdf presentations and save the results.)
• pen attention (allows me to use the pen as a pointer in a way by putting a bubble of pink around the pen cursor so that students can see while i wave about on the screen with it)

Reading Online vs. Print

2008-07-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

an interesting article from the new york times on kids and reading on-line. it raises many questions for me on how i spend my time as well as what i emphasize in class. should i be requiring the e-book edition of the text instead of the print?

Gender Words

2008-07-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

i recently bough "MySQL in a Nutshell" from O'Reilly. and was intrigued by the usage of her as a pronoun so i did a quick google and found this response from the publisher to another buyer's similar question. my first response to the practice of alternating the gender is YAY! i enjoy having the generic be a woman. trivial? yes. but still when i am reading along and it says "she" i do in fact think 'hey it is talking about me!' which says i am more affected by gender language than i would like to admit. and i would dearly love it if english did come up with a grammatically correct gender neutral set of words for this usage (without it sounding so ugly as we have culturally made "it" sound)

my response to the guy that originally wrote the letter is "dude, if you are going to reject books that contain good technical information merely because they use a pronoun that you find offensive than you don't deserve the knowledge they contain." we all can choose to be offended or not. i personally chose to try my best to not be offended when people assume i am a guy or assume because i am a woman i have a particular role (except pregnancy that is an acceptable assumption of gender role). i don't always succeed but i do know that i wouldn't let it stand in my way of obtaining an education from a person or a book. this guy and his offense to using the feminine form would not be a welcome addition to my classroom.

and as long as i am rambling about gender... i heard on NPR that a postal worker is trying to get permission to wear a kilt to work (technically a male unbifurcated garmet). i think if men aren't allowed to wear kilts then women shouldn't be allowed to wear skirts.

age discrimination

2008-07-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

i ran into the site http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/ and found it funny and generally of like mind to me. i don't believe in age discrimination so i am not fundamentally opposed to having an older president. i do think that in generally older people have additional obstacles but there a wide varients on when old is old. there is a friend here who is approaching 80, but still a good thinker etc. mccain however i think shows his thought age more in this post linked to below than his physical age and i have to agree with the post that i'm not sure a person who chooses to not use a computer can be an effective president.

The computer.

Chemistry in Bite Size

2008-07-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

i disclose personal bias in that i own stock in BASF and i wanted at one time to work for them because they really do some great chemistry...

they produce a pretty cool podcast that i just found today on chemistry in everyday life.

An Interesting Tale on How the World is Small

2008-07-13T16:17:00.001-07:00

i read spectrum magazine's site on and off... usually what i read is well done.
here's a story that you all might enjoy reading.

an npr story i enjoyed

2008-06-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

trash... i have come to believe it should be sorted, that people should be paid to do it and that it is vital for our economy, environment and people. check out this story about it.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

happy mother's day to my awesome mom!

she came out to help us move into our house.
she did much in many rooms.
here's a small sample below.
she sends me books.
she read books i send her.
there's so much she does and has done (and i am sure will do) for me.

thanks be to God for my mom!

the upstairs bedroom came out really cool. (particularly considering it started with lavender & butterflies.) mom started it all by saying we should paint an accent wall that matched the lampshade so we got some samples from lowe's and picked the color. then we got the curtains at ikea and they go just awesome with the bedspread and sheets i already had. i called mom at least three times for advice on how to finish up with the curtains since i had to hem them. definition for mom: someone who you can call with a question that sounds stupid but you really don't know the answer to and she doesn't make you feel stupid for asking. i ended up folding over 12 cm of material (according to the packaging the material shrinks 4% in the wash so i left some room for them to shrink when i do get around to washing them). i decided to just leave all 12 cm there instead of cutting any off. i think it came out okay. below here is a weird panoramic view of the room. the photo stitching software chopped the bed in half and stretched the door... but it still gives a pretty good sense for the room.

mom also helped decide where some pictures should go and we hung a few. the next best room that mom helped with is the front (is that the living room or the family room i think it is living room....) great room. i would have never thought of putting my bolder boulder poster down here but it works really well with the flower picture that keith took. i also really like the rug that my mom made which you can see of the left side of the picture on the right. she helped put books in the bookcase maximizing interest and space (although there is some blank space now it will fill one i find the box with the bibles). she originally had another picture hanging above the couch by the same artist but keith and i both really liked it in our bedroom (it has lots of details that are good for looking at when going to sleep) so that one ended up there and it isn't as good as the other one but it isn't too bad. the tables are purposefully not exactly lined up and my mom and i both like it that way. keith is stuck with us and our quirky ways =).

finally the downstairs bedroom that we kicked mom out of while she was here (so we could paint it) is finished too. the chocolate wall is really awesome. i think i'll try to get a different bedspread for down here (return the one that is here to our bedroom where i like it). maybe a chocolate and light blue star quilt. but the dark wall goes well with the nightstand and lamp in this room as well. so weirdly both rooms have accent walls to match lamps. but it worked out really well and both rooms look great.
keith is finishing the upstairs edging in the room with no bed and all boxes as i write this. so mom, don't worry we are making progress even after you left =). but it is a really good thing you came or we wouldn't have started and finished so many things!!!

now just to finish stuffing all of last year's finances into a box and get started organizing this year's stuff. you'll note my desk is overloaded with papers. though mom did put a picture and the vase in my area to spruce it up a little bit. as an aside to this post... quicken is lame-o. they stopped letting banks allow the download into the version i have trying to force me to upgrade. well ha on them because i am going to go open source... even though that will take me some time to learn the new program and get my data all in the right categories at least it will be free and better!

Chicken or the Egg Type Question

2008-05-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

i read a reasonably interesting article from msn about how the economy for men is definitely down while for women it isn't as clear. basically women are more employed than men because they are in sectors that aren't as hard hit by the downturn. however women are in jobs that pay less than men.

so here's my question: do women work in jobs that pay less because (a) the jobs occupied predominately by women (who don't demand raises and still have a stigma of not being the breadwinners so don't need the salary) or (b) the jobs are low paying to begin with and men just don't want to work those jobs?

it is certainly more complicated than a simple question but what i am really trying to get at is maybe women still have some personal building to do in demanding raises or does more work need to be done in raising the pay rate of jobs across the board so that all jobs are worked by men & women because they all pay at appropriate rates.... that kinda rambled and didn't quite make sense... but no time to fix.

Go Metric

2008-04-29T17:23:00.001-07:00

i heard on NPR that we are the only big country to not officially adopt metric. our non-standard friends are liberia and burma (or myanmar). needless to say we just aren't standard with the rest of the world. i didn't catch the whole npr story as i was listening while trying to write my synthetic scheme for tomorrow's work in lab. but basically i think the idea was we need to catch up with the rest of the world or it will leave us behind even if we are big. the rest of the world is still bigger. so anyways here's a link with some interesting information on how other countries made the switch to metric.

I Kept Looking for the Mistake

2008-04-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

i get e-mail from spectrum magazine and i read the blurb for a story and i read it like three time because i couldn't believe it. here's the blurb followed by a link to the spectrum blog post.

Adventist Political Hopeful Speaks to Neo-Nazi Group

Tony Zirkle, a South Bend, Indiana, lawyer and Republican primary candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, District 2. On Sunday, he spoke to a Chicago group celebrating the birthday of Hitler. Recently, Zirkle, an Andrews University Theological Seminary student, raised the idea of segregating races in separate states. In 2006, he received 30 percent of the GOP primary vote in Indiana's 2nd District.

What's that book that he recommends in the video?

here's a link to the blog with video

If I had a million dollars.....

2008-04-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

i would buy a multifunction solid ink xerox 8560 MFP/D

Local vs. Global

2008-03-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

there is some emphasis in some places to buy locally from local businesses. and that makes a lot of sense in some cases. here's two instances of local business and than one case of a global business that i have encountered in the past week that show the positive sides of both.

today i went to the credit union to get a cashier's check. it was very quick, very easy with a low fee. now when i have gone to bank of america in the past it was a long ordeal to get the cashiers check and while i don't think there was a fee the interest rates on the savings account certainly make up for that. the credit union has okay rates, but the service is without parallel and they know who i am even though i don't go there very often.

the post office here where i have my po box i consider to be a local business though some would argue it isn't. but i think a great deal of the money spent ends up going toward people's salaries which are local people mostly. i could be wrong on this and should probably do research to back up that opinion... but they remembered that i wanted the american scientist stamps that just came out since i asked about them and so one of the employees saw me come in to check my po box and came to tell me the stamps were in. that's really good service.

finally an instance of where a global business is good for local people. i was at starbucks spending some gift card money (occasionally a student will give me a gift card to starbucks at christmas, don't worry it doesn't affect my grading). while i was waiting for my coffee a lady behind me recognized a friend behind the counter and the conversation included the barista saying, 'working here and getting health insurance.' yes in general i would say spending $2 on coffee (or more) is a waste of money but having an employer in the community that has health insurance is probably worth that price. so even though i don't often get coffee there i do feel better in that indulgence than buying something from wal-mart.

PO Box part II

2008-03-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

another advantage to having to walk to a po box is sunshine. apparently us desk sloths don't get sunshine to manufacture our own vitamin D and thus are deficient. and this leads to all kinds of weird problems. so a few minutes in the sun (without sunscreen) would do us all good.

PO Box

2008-02-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

what's cheaper than a gym but gets you exercising? get a po box near where you work, within walking distance and then get your mail sent there. i pay about $6/month to force myself to walk 1.4 mi at least once a week. without that i think i'd be a noodle. and i have to get the mail since important stuff does come every now and again.

Envy

2008-02-07T08:39:00.001-08:00

i confess that i am envious of two friends who ride bikes well enough to actually participate in events. i've never been good at bicycling and this past quarter i certainly haven't even come close to keeping in shape. if i ever do decide to take up biking i might do it by joining a team to go on a ride through team in training. apparently you get coached to do some momentous event and all you have to do is raise money for a good cause. i could get behind that. plus then i would get a more rapid rise to competency with the aid of professional coaching. yup i believe you work harder with someone telling you to work harder.

Post-Pre-Thumb Hole

2008-02-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

i finished the thumb hole and then made it all the way to the end, even knitting my final row and binding off. but i'm going to undo it. the thumb hole needs to be bigger. i thought about just leaving it because i can make it work but i think i'll be happier if i just redo that part. so here's some pictures before taking it apart.

BTH - Before Thumb Hole

2007-12-15T16:18:00.000-08:00

here's the current state of my knitting project (part of the keep extremities warm coalition) . i am about to start the thumb hole. which should be exciting (hopefully i won't ruin it or i won't get lost enough to have to call sarah). my lovely hand model is keith.

Thanksgiving - A Time to Learn (aka have fun)

2007-11-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

every thanksgiving we get together with dan & sarah we have a good time and do cool stuff. i really feel privileged to have them as friends for multiple reasons. one reason is they have cool knowledge. this thanksgiving i learned two new activities (or rather started the learning process) and a couple new games. the two games were dance dance revolution, which i am quite bad at but still enjoy playing, and a card game called apples to apples. my two activities were knitting and shooting a gun.

for the knitting i decided to take it on when sarah suggested a cure for the cold mouse hand... little sleeves for the wrists. so for my first knitting project i am doing those which involves knitting on the round with double pointed needles. so far it is not too bad. pictured below is my gauge swatch which also doubled as my learning how to knit piece. i unraveled it soon after the picture and began a wrist thingy.for shooting we went to a really neat area in oregon called leslie gulch. the rocks had lots of creviaces and nooks. a few arches. the area was really interesting and beautiful. i learned to shoot a 22. which apparently is just above a bb gun (never shot one of those either). once i was guided through how to use the sight properly it was surprisingly easy to actually hit targets.

Just in Time

2007-10-15T16:23:00.000-07:00

my wisdom tooth started poking up and interfering in my mouth (technical term i believe is 'impacted') last year. i let it go since it wasn't bothering me but i knew it would have to come out sometime. a month or so ago i scheduled to get it extracted this wednesday. today (monday) it really started to bother me. i think i'll take an ibuprofen when i get home as it is sore and distracting. good thing the appointment is coming up.

Southwest a Bit Too Southern for My Comfort?

2007-10-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

last weekend in flying to janell's wedding (which was great!) i heard some terms of endearment used improperly. at least i consider it improper.

on the way to the wedding i heard a 30 something woman working for southwest tell a 50ish man 'there you go sweetie." (on one level i found it amusing that a man was called this because so often it is just done to women.) and then on the return trip i heard everyone being called dear or such things when getting drinks.

now, this may be a southern culture thing. or maybe just a culture i am out of touch with. but i totally think that terms of endearment should be reserved for use by those you actually have a personal relationship with. i love it when grandma calls me dear. but someone taking my ticket? forget it. in retrospect i think on a number of southwest flights i have noticed this 'personalization' and so maybe they train everyone to say that so they don't have to use sir, ma'am or miss. (side rant... why another set of terms that identifies the womans state of marriage but not the man's) maybe southwest just hires people from a region where this endearing is considered normal. maybe i just am too sensitive... ya probably.

Hey, I've been there!

2007-10-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

This snopes story talks about an actual place I've been. It really is an awesome place to go, nice views and a cool bridge. Wish I had been there for the story!

Save the Giraffe?

2007-09-22T11:56:00.001-07:00

this ultra short news piece about a giraffe that wandered into a township says that the locals wanted to kill it for eating. the area has a significant food shortage. giraffes aren't endangered. so i think they should have let the people kill it and eat it. maybe peta will come get me for saying that, but really people should be allowed to eat stuff, even if it unusual.

Stop the Junk (some of it)

2007-09-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

so i know some of you, eh-em sarah, like playing the credit card games. but for the rest of us who are tired of getting pre-approved whatever you can opt out of the junk mail that originates from your credit bureau data by visiting www.optoutprescreen.com

Something to Reflect On Before Going to Teach a Class

2007-09-12T20:02:00.001-07:00

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
- Laurence J. Peter

The Floor

2007-09-11T14:28:00.001-07:00

we've hit bottom... okay not really since the first floor is really the second floor but anyways we got a new floor. the old carpet in the halls was coming up and was definitely a safety hazard... long story end we have a new floor that we didn't choose. it was supposed to be white with random gray & maybe some blue tiles. instead we get the flag. okay well at least it isn't in the pattern of the flag, but the whole thing just reminds me of a grocery store. it also clashes quite horrendously with the ugly 80's mural near the g chem labs.

Cool Nerd god

2007-09-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

in response to kev's post

Delisting

2007-09-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

okay i'm officially out of my depth in stock. actually i know next to nothing about stock and honestly am not too interesting in learning right now... i'll leave that to keith.

today i looked at my yahoo portfolio and found that my BF is no longer listed. turns out that due to the expense of being listing on an exchange in the US they decided to stop trading over here. they still trade on the frankfurt exchange, apparently. good thing i plan on keeping it a while...

If you host a picnic

2007-08-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

an end of summer party/picnic always sounds like a good idea. and then people go and make it complicated. like by inviting people to go sailing. one of our dept. members recently bought a sailboat and decided to invite people onto the boat during the picnic. here's some observations in no particular order.
1. don't get your prop caught in a buoy line while motoring to the dock.
2. go sailing several times yourself before inviting others along.
3. don't assume that anyone on the boat knows or cares to help.

one trip back to the dock the boat almost didn't make it back because the sails suddenly caught some wind... another trip the passengers had to tell him that there was no way they were going to help since they didn't know the first thing about sailing and weren't in a mood to learn in 2 minutes from a complete novice... the final and third trip didn't make it out of the bay (on a small lake) since somehow they got stuck in the weeds without any wind and the motor quit...

finally, i have learned my instincts regarding boats is good: never own one. maybe rent one. learn, yes take a class, if you plan on doing anything complicated like sailing

Vitamins

2007-08-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

Every so often I read my Adventist Review stuff that comes in my inbox. I was interested by one of the health questions and so I clicked. To my surprise I found an answer that I agree with. (I say surprising because so often Adventists push 'natural' and vegetarian as cure alls and I don't agree.) Read below and then consider consulting your doctor before taking supplements, even if they seem innocuous.

Patients with a variety of chronic diseases have not been benefited by supplements; in fact, some have been harmed by them.

In an analysis of more than 60 randomized trials involving nearly a quarter of a million persons, vitamin supplements were tested, both singly and in combinations.

In the 47 studies with the best methodology, beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E, given either singly or in combination, were associated with between a 4 to 16 percent higher mortality. Vitamin C and selenium had no effect on mortality risk.

These are relatively small risks, but they do suggest we have no basis on which to promote such supplements.

In One Day

2007-08-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

long ago, in a land somewhat far away i used to have a job that i hated. i was the receptionist for a mortgage broker. i hated answering the phone, still do, messed up a few things and mostly it was boring. but the great thing about the job was i read a book a day. really i did. i would finish a book in the morning. walk to the library at lunch to get a new book and then read half of it in the afternoon.

yesterday morning i met my mom at the bookstore, sorta. we live many miles apart so i went to a bookstore here and she went to a bookstore in rapid. but we were both at the bookstore picking out a book and then sat down and had coffee while starting on the book. it was a lot of fun and i think a new tradition. in any case i got ghost brigades by john scalzi. i had read old man's war a while ago when i checked it out a the library. i knew he had done a sequel but hadn't gotten around to requesting it through inter library loan. since it was paperback it was relatively inexpensive and i was in the mood for some good sci-fi. rather than write a review here that is inadeqate i direct you to sfreviews, which has a great review of the book. once i got started i couldn't put it down. i did some work on the poster of our alaska trip while reading (my computer takes a while to process some things). but mostly i spent sunday reading. so i finished the book all in one day. yup it was that good.

Americans Don't Know Geography Anyways

2007-07-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

we went to see the simpson's movie on sunday. i found it worth the time and money because i enjoy the humor of the simpson's. everything gets reduced to absurdity. so i really enjoyed when ned flanders pointed out the four states that you can see from a hill by springfield--ohio, kentucky, nevada, and maine. i bet many americans don't even know those states are in different regions of the country (okay except ohio and kentucky are next to each other). this joked paired well with when homer said that leaving alaska would be returning to the united states.

Petty Battles

2007-06-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today I had lunch with two people from the department to discuss why our Introductory course doesn't count for General Studies requirements when other courses do. Basically it came down to petty battles between people. We think we have a strategy, including the strategy of not pointing out the obvious stupidity of others, to get the course accepted as a general studies course.

This afternoon I was reading C&EN and found a quote in there about nomenclature. Don't get me wrong I think that nomenclature is highly important, but I found the following both hilarious and sad.

'It was probably one of the low points of my career,' one attendee tells C&EN 'when we spent 30 minutes arguing whether the word should be spelled co-crystal or cocrystal.'--C&EN, June 18, 2006 page 28

My department chair pointed out a while ago that if people agree on something don't discuss it. I nearly lost my non-battle to have all students wearing goggles and not safety glasses in lab because I brought it up for discussion.

Meetings and discussions... tell me about your most pointless one.

Bad Choices

2007-06-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

it haunts me how many bad choices students make. they don't study. they don't show up on time to class or tests, they don't answer 10 questions on a 70 question multiple choice test with no penalty for guessing, they sleep with people who hurt them, they stay up late at night, they turn in papers late, they ignore generous hints, they wear revealing clothes (guys and girls) without understanding, they choose what they want to do based on money, they lie, they don't get help.

there are other students i'm so proud to have taught. the one who we gave a g. chem award to which meant a CRC handbook. the professors got thank you notes from that student and mine included a note about how the book had to be put in the closet since it was distracting from studying from finals. the student who earnestly asks questions because knowledge is desired rather than a grade. another student who pays attention, works hard, and doesn't try to pretend everything is fine when things are not. that student asked for help and will get an incomplete that i am sure will be made up as soon as possible. the student who says thanks for the help even when a C- is assigned.

The problem with bookstores and libraries

2007-05-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

i went to the library this morning for some inspiration and to prepare some stuff for class. i ended up buying two paperback books (hey only 50¢ total). then i went back to the library for my class today since i had a library/computer assignment for them. i left with two books checked out that look interesting. when am i going to read these? i don't know, but that is the problem/nice thing about libraries and bookstores. i just can resist getting a book or 10.

Frustration

2007-02-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

i wish...
that keith had a job down here
that our house would sell
that we had our own place down here

it is getting frustrating that thinks aren't working out. making me think, what if? i wasn't supposed to take this job? i am not supposed to stay in this job? we have to stay apart for a long time?

maybe i should not be here... maybe i projected my will and made it "God's will"

frozen squirrels....as weapons

2007-01-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

need i say anything more than to get you to read this snopes post? ... i thought not.

Amazing Sight

2006-12-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

one thing i never would have guessed i would see... someone trying to stay awake while taking a test. i know my lectures aren't always riveting so when people can't stay awake i understand that. but i saw a student who was slapping his own cheeks to stay awake while taking the test. amazing. just get some sleep before a test! it is more important to a good grade than people think.

thought of the day prompted by quote of the day

2006-12-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

the quote of the day on my google homepage

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.
- Bernard Bailey

this prompted my thought of the day: most Adventists think we are the center of the universe--theologically and tragically many still think geographically. what am i doing to fix this without hurting the people who think this?

Thanksgiving Table

2006-11-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

we are having t-day dinner one day late because david was coming in on t-day. so here's my table this year. i had wanted some large mums, but ended up with small... use what you can get.

Crazy Me

2006-10-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

so once again i am silly enough to participate in nanowrimo (national novel writing month). since i don't have much else right now besides work to keep me busy i should enjoy it just to have something to distract me from work. i really liked my general plot from last year so i am going to rescue a couple of things from that and write one this year. it'll be good, i promise. hahahah okay it will be slightly amusing. read it at velnano06.happyhumans.com

Fun Reading

2006-10-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

i really enjoy reading snopes.com for misc. things that are likely to come into my inbox or just for fun. there's even a randomizer if you have enough time on your hands to read random things. the part that makes it particularly good is the writing. top notch. funny, thoughtful, and clear you always get a well written article there. today i looked at some of the newest articles and found one on aspartame as an ant poison (false). part of what made it so fun to read is that they actually bought some ant farms and grew their ants on aspartame. another article was about using your pin number in reverse at an atm to summon the police. well worth the read too--thoughtful and informative. and i really enjoyed the author's sign off

Barbara "neither Smith nor Wesson is known to prompt mental acuity in those they are pointed at" Mikkelson.

Ego?

2006-09-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

so i've noticed a few of the students who have come by my office so far (mostly people that are either clueless or brown-nosing) have called me mrs. helbley (and i think one quiet one even said miss).
now i don't know if i am being egotistical or if i really should do something about this. i would prefer that students choose from the following three options: dr. helbley, professor helbley, or jennifer. i feel that if a student wants to be informal with a teacher and is comfortable calling me by my first name that is fine. but if they want to use a title it should be dr. or professor. i wonder if some of the guys get called mister. or if it is just women that they assume don't have a ph.d. i'm contemplating asking one of the younger men faculty in the dept. if they get called mister. i'm pretty sure that if i talked to the other woman in the dept. that she would say she's been called miss or mrs. we were talking on sunday before school started and she said just the other day someone doing some freshman orientation stuff walked into her office while on the cell phone and asked her to open a door for them. when she couldn't the cell phone talker requested that she go find someone that could. she's pretty sure that cell phone talker thought she was the secretary. and that if she had been a man that assumption would never have been made.

i could be over reacting. it may not matter at all in the long run. it is too bad that i still think that there is the possibility of gender bias by people because i think in general that isn't true. so what do you think? should i ignore the mrs. or should i try to fix it?

Cooking Essentials

2006-09-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

well i finally found the cutting boards at my current place of residence. but this past couple of weeks i have made two purchases which i have determined are essential for a kitchen of mine.
-non-stick fry pan
i purchased an exceptionally cheap one at wal-mart for $5. i didn't find a fry pan at the place i am staying. there was a large cast iron skillet but i am not prepared to try my cooking skills with such a monster. it would take forever to heat and probably require a lot of fat to keep my fried egg from sticking.
-rice cooker
i've made rice twice since getting here. both times i burnt my rice to the bottom of the pot and had to scrub it for a while to get it clean. so i broke down and got a rice maker at target for $15. now hopefully i won't have to scrub for extended periods after cooking rice and i can cook it unattended. i hate having to wait for rice to cook on the stove: i'm not supposed to lift the lid to see what it is up to but i shouldn't leave because the water might boil over since the stove is less than precise in its flaming.

word-lag

2006-09-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

merriam-webster online has a blurb about some of the "new" words in their latest edition of their college dictionary. some of the words are definately a bit late in their addition such as ollie, but there were a couple i'd not heard. i love to be reminded of words i forget about and learn new ones. so for those who are interested you can go to see the definitions of such words (or groups of words) as mouse potato, ollie, aquascape, unibrow, biodiesel, and manga.

Can't Help It

2006-09-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

i remember when my dad was buying this one house on norwood ave that had 4 bed and 2 3/4 bath and an office with a nice lot. it was a pricey house which since i was in i think about 7th grade i don't remember what pricey was in those days and probably didn't actually know what the cost was. but my dad at some point said that he couldn't help looking at the house and wanting to buy it . it was so much nicer than the other houses and it was new.

i now know what it is like to be a bit greedy for a nice house. i have gotten attached to the niceness of our new house and so looking around at what is available here makes me realize i can't help but look at the nice new houses. there are probably some real deals on the market, but i also look at them and see tile kitchen counters when i really wish for tiled granite or granite. i see worn out carpet or aqua carpet on the flyers. or old appliances. or dark houses. or ugly walpaper. all of these things are fixable, but the new ones are so nice....

People (not) Ready

2006-09-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

there is a microsoft commercial that has a guy going to his new job and people are very helpful in telling him how things work. everything from getting a cup of coffee to finding orientation.

my new job is people not ready. i got my id card the other day when i checked in with human resources (actually they filled out a slip of paper and then sent me down the hall for the card from student services). i asked the guy at student services so this will work as my library card, right? and he said yes and it also functioned for copies and the cafeteria and some other stuff i can't remember. so this morning i went to the library to check out books. card doesn't work. the girl says go next door to "mike-holl" to activate it and she disappeared. like i know what "mike-holl" is. and did she mean next door like the offices that were next to reference or the next building? so i thought i'd try to figure it out by reading a faq on the library web site. nothing useful. so then i asked the reference desk person. didn't know anything about it. so i went to the next building, wandered around for a minute and found a door with a guy in it and a small sign next to the doorway that said "micol". asked him about it. he said i had to go to information services to get it activated. (at least he was nice and didn't pretend i should already know all this stuff. when i asked where IS was he actually gave good directions.) so i went to IS and asked about activating my card. oh the guy who does that just went to his other job so you'll have to come back in the afternoon. and i asked for a sheet on how to set up my voicemail for my office phone. oh well once we get you in it should be self-explanitory. but i still left empty handed. they are going to get crap from me this afternoon. i want my card activated and they better have written instructions from me.

anyways. the chemistry dept. is very very helpful and nice, but the rest of the campus.... definately people not ready.

oh ya, did i mention that they lost the I-9 i sent down and somehow missed sending me other paperwork or lost what i sent. at least i am getting paid.

oh baby

2006-09-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

there are two cats in house i am staying in. one is ellusive and stripped, tommy. but the other is dumb and friendly, baby. it is a conformation that i don't particularly like, short legs and kinda droopy stomach, and the butt high in the air. like the left cat but with more stomach. i think it is some sort of bombay cat gone wrong in breeding somewhere. the interesting part about this cat is it likes to chase shaddows. not the wiggling hand, the shaddow that it casts. your hand can be 3 inches above the carpet and this cat will pounce on the shaddow. like i said high intelligence.

Turning

2006-09-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

well i made it down to the city of riverside and hung up my hat (okay actually hung up my lab coat). keith came down with me to give me some company on the way and to help me get settled and then he flew back last night. i will be living with a lady that teaches at the academy down the street. it is only about a mile away. so that will be nice. the traffic is not so nice. people don't use turn signals... they just cut over when they want. well i am going to try to use my turn signal (i'll still probably have to cut in pretty quickly or else the other drivers will cut me off) but my goal is to not let these drivers make me a bad driver (although keith might say i am one already so there's nothing to ruin).

AK Trip Itinerary

2006-08-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

here's our preliminary trip itinerary. we'll certainly deviate, but it is a starting point.

Bagging It

2006-08-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

so keith has been working on baggage for his motorcycle. on sunday we went on a marathon shopping trip to get some bags to go on the rack that he has built. one of the things we found was saddle bags at the army surplus store. keith didn't want them vibrant army green.

so we got some dye from wal-mart and plunked the bags in the dye in a bucket in the backyard. we used a handle from a plunger to poke the bag and keep it aggitated in the dye bath for 30 min. and turned the bag around in the bath using our hands with some nitrile gloves on. we were hoping for a charcoal gray. it came out darker.... still definately green, but darker, muted. so that came out alright.
UPDATE:
here's some pictures of bag modifications. for additional support we added some straps that go from the back of the bag, around the bottom and then will hook into the existing D-rings. also added was a microsuede backing to the bag which covers the straps on the back side of the bag so things don't rub as much on the seat of the bike.

Done .... (almost)

2006-07-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

so my defense went well... exceptionally short. 1 hr including their deliberation time of a couple minutes and signing my papers. so now i just have to do my corrections and then turn in my crapola of papers. should be all done by friday.

yay!

Pray and Cross your Fingers

2006-07-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

from a comment prompt....
my defense of my ph.d. is this tuesday 25 july at 9 am. so hopefully i'll pass and everyone will sign my papers and i'll be done (except for the grammar edits which are sure to be turned in by the committee).
so hopefully by the end of july i'll have all my paperwork turned in and i'll officially be graduated in august.

Quote

2006-07-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

from a simpsons we watched last night:
Bart Simpson: Hey look at me! I'm a grad student. I'm 30 and I made $600 last year.
Marge Simpson: Bart! Don't make fun of grad students - they just made a terrible life choice.

classic!

A Glass of Iced Tea

2006-06-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

yesterday i made some iced tea from celestial seasonings bengal spice tea (adding some sugar while brewing the hot tea). the curious thing is that i drink it from a glass glass. i prefer to drink most of the time at home from a plastic cup. water, pop, juice. but iced tea i have some great need to drink from a glass made from glass.

Excel as a Scientific Calculator

2006-06-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

there are many things excel can do and it does a pretty good job at even though it is designed around being a financial piece of software. for instance it has some decent column picking capabilities and does regression (can even get it to spit out some sheet calculations on many types of functions by modifing the x column(s) you choose for it). so people use it for scientific data analysis. myself included.

but it has some definate shortfalls that a good piece of scientific software would fix. for instance the ability to pick peaks out of a spectrum would be nice. also nice would be if you could enter data in min.sec and have it convert to seconds for analysis purposes. you can get excel to do these things but it takes some fanangling.

there is probably a better program out there to do scientific analysis but tradition, familiarity, and the fact that many people already have excel because they buy ms office means that excel will probably stay in the scientific toolbox for a long time to come.

Speeding

2006-06-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

i dislike that people don't understand how to judiciously speed. there are times when traffic conditions warrent going over the speed limit by 10 mph. but then there are those crazies that weave in and out of traffic so they can go by at 20 mph faster than the middle speed people. there are of course the dilusional people that believe they should be able to go at any speed they want on a road and that they are perfectly capable of determining an appropriate speed for a road they may not have ever driven before. what really gets to me is when police run red lights and it isn't clear that there is an emergency anywhere. in southern nevada a highway patrol officer wanted to get home for dinner so he zoomed along in his patrol car at 110 mph. unfortunately speed is dangerous and he killed 4 people. fortunately he is no longer a highway patrol officer and has the potential of serving jail time.

we must always remember when driving in a car that driving at high speed is dangerous and what is more dangerous is driving at a speed that is relatively higher than those around us. the speed limit isn't always convenient, but most of the time people do try to put some thought into how fast they think we should travel under normal conditions on the road. and after all a cold dinner or a late meeting is just fine relative to the lives of four people.

Lo-Fi Faith Meme

2006-05-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

sarah tagged me with this.
for those who, like me, didn't know what a meme is
meme n (mëm): A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. From the Greek mimëma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.

1: List three (3) words that describe your faith.

foundation, flexible, inquiring

2: Describe a belief you are certain about and one with which you struggle.

certain: those that believe in God, by whatever name, and his power to transform will be saved.

struggle: how much sin we can discard in this life. people are asked to live Godly lives but there are some things we excuse as something out of our control, i.e. someone with a birth defect is clearly not how God intended them to be but there's nothing we can do about that. where do we draw the line at things that God will fix later in heaven (everyone's body is not perfect) and things that we should work with God to fix while on earth?

3: What is your mission in life?

benefit others. earth isn't perfect but we contribute to making it livable and enjoyable through helping others in a variety of ways--emotional support, friendship, conversations of faith, improvement of products, laughter, comfortable living, humanitarian aid...

4: Describe one thing that interferes with authentically living out your faith.

being an introvert. i do not make friends easily or have casual conversations with people and so my ability to help others directly is limited. Jesus was in constant contact with others and although i believe that we don't have to be exactly like Jesus to be who Jesus intends us to be, i do believe that we are designed to be socially dependant on each other and should offer social support.

5: What is your favorite story from the Hebrew Scriptures? Why?

Ruth. loyalty pays off, that makes me feel good about myself.

6: What is your favorite New Testament story? Why?

peter and the sheet of unclean animals. it reveals the complexity of issues that believers are faced with. God could have written down a new leviticus but he didn't. instead He gave peter an metaphor for how we are to behave toward others. why not just say something? because stories communicate more than rules.

7: Describe a meaningful action you took because of your faith.

meaningful action. that could be anything. i suppose the vagueness allows for better personal expression of the responder. i helped someone i didn't know pack up and move in the snow because God wants us to help others. i took my soon-to-be job because i think God opened doors for it rather than a more lucritive job in a place i love living.

8: Does your faith differ from that of your parents? If so, how?

It is difficult to distinguish, for me, the differnce between faith and how personality affects faith. I am definately more libral than my dad and more conservative than my mom in terms of behavior. But if the interpretation of behavioral expressions of faith is due to true differences in faith or personality interpreting faith (proper interpretation does take into account the personality and circumsatances of the reader) i do not know. fundamentally we all believe in righteousness by faith in Jesus balanced by faith without works is dead and a strong belief in the truth of the Bible.

9: Who or what was most important in the development of your faith?

books, the Bible, religious books, non-fiction, fiction, all of them. without question the ability to read other people's opinions, thoughts, and lives without having to talk to them is an amazing impact on my life.

10: Pass it on! Tag at least two other religious/faith bloggers.

because the job i am going to take is from my church i choose two people employed by my church: my mom and alodia.

Less Cheese Lasagna

2006-05-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

a loose recipe for lasagna that i adapted from a friend. she makes her own veggie filled tomato sauce, but i am lazy so i just use two premade jars.

1 box no boil noodles
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1-2 packages frozen spinach, thawed
2 packages tofu
16 oz cream cheese
parmesan cheese for top

put cream cheese in microwave for 30 seconds or until easily stirred into drained tofu. use tofu mixture instead of ricotta mixture usually called for in lasagna. layer lasagna, spinach, and tofu mix in layers until pan is full. sprinkle with parmesan if desired. bake 50-60 foil covered at 375, then 5 min uncovered. let sit for 15 min out of oven before serving.

Short Stories

2006-05-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

upon my my motorcycle I peered into the small red, 80's car that drove beside me. clinging to the furry black seat cover as it transitioned to the head rest on the passenger side was a striped kitten. It openeded its mouth and i saw the teeth and tongue arch into a plaintive meow. off i zoomed to visit my own cat at home; i'm sure she also was crying right now as she wanted her wet food.

our bank of mailboxes is backward. first off it is on the left side of the street when i am coming home. it should be on the right so i can stop to get the mail. sometimes i go home and walk back to get the mail. other times i pull to the wrong side of the street and get out to get the mail. rarely i'll park on the proper side of the street and walk across. the walking path doesn't actually go to the mailboxes, it just runs behind them so that when they decide to actually put in landscaping there it will be trampled by the few of us that walk to get our mail and use the walking path instead of the street. the key hole is very close to the left side of the door of our box and the key turns to the left, toward the short side of the door.

two trucks that owners projected identies onto using the liscence plates cruised in front of me in the morning cool. one claimed 'oldgold' the other 'bkbeuty'. i wondered what the english black beauty would think of a western truck being named after him. old gold could be ginger from the book as the two pulled away as a team and i remembered something about a movie of black beauty coming out soon, or something. could a movie convey that book? i don't think so.

lumps of paper stack my desk. i should clean them. but they lend some air of importance to what i do. someone with a clean desk either is efficient or has nothing to do. i can't be either of those. their bulk reminds me of how much i should be doing instead of typing here.

When it Rains....

2006-04-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

today has been an affirming day. on the plus side.
on the minus side, i can't believe that things happen all on one day.

a month or more back i submitted a cold resume to a company near reno that produces biofuel. which i think is a way cool product and where i think our petroleum industry will move eventually. today i just got an e-mail asking for me to submit an application for a research chemist position there. when i submitted my resume there wasn't a chemist on staff (that i knew about, there were only a handful of people employed there but it is part of a bigger family of companies). the owner of the company is highly intelligent in research in business and highly ethical. it would have been great to work under this old dude.

earlier in the morning i talked with the chair of the department of chemistry & biochemistry where i have an offer to teach next year. we finished discussing the offer they sent me and tidied up some loose ends on that and so i anticipate signing that offer next week.

i really felt like God was holding off on all possible job opportunities for me up here so that i would be available to teach at this college. i didn't recieve a single interview before that one. in fact when i went to the job fair i talked with a couple of companies that sounded interested. one of them pretty much said they would bring me out for an interview the next day. the next day he called up and said when he pitched me to the president of the company the president was totally not interested. the other company didn't follow up until last week and then it was only asking for an electronic copy of my resume.

i must say it is tempting, but i really feel like God is asking me to teach. i know that it won't be as easy a job as the one with the biofuel place. i won't get compensated as highly and my hours during the school year won't be always that great. today the chair of the aforementioned department wanted to make sure we were sure about moving and me taking the job. i said we knew what we were leaving and what we were going to and felt it was what God was asking. God sure likes to keep opportunities open to make sure i know what i am doing.

now if God will just make the way super clear by getting keith a good job. i feel like i am being quite selfish right now by persuing this without keith having a job yet.

Taxes

2006-04-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

i hope everyone reading this already filed taxes and even better recieved their refund. i dislike doing the taxes, mostly because i know it shouldn't be as hard as it is sometimes. to be truthful the irs does do its best to make things workable, they have some very nice faqs and worksheets that help out. i was trying to determine if we'd have to pay capital gains next year if we sold our house this year and found a worksheet and publication to help me determine what would be excluded. it was pretty good.

what is broken and annoying is the tax system. we have continually added and subtracted things from the fed income tax and deductions so that now it is unclear what really the base is. i hope someday congress starts over. we can't realistically go on forever with something based in an age where silicon was still found only in sand and glass.

Dangerous Territory

2006-04-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

we had a really good time visiting my potential employer (even though it has been previously mentioned elsewhere, i won't mention the name again because blogging about jobs has turned into a danger, and just maybe a small amount of anonymity may be a good thing). east la isn't as bad as downtown. they still have trees and mountains. the traffic wasn't so much fun, but there are ways around it that may work out.

we had a really good time talking with the faculty and the department is definately on the move up, not just trying to maintain being a feeder school for doctors, dentists, etc. those students are the bulk and therefore the money makers, but they still want to graduate some people that want to stay in the field. the administration was nice and seemed to be in decent touch with how things really are (the assistant provost is the aunt of someone i went to high school with). there's always politics, but the head of the department seems to do a very good job protecting his people and fighting for them when needed. we got along well with all the people we met and i think i can really contribute to the students there.

at the end of the trip the dept. head said they would be making an offer on paper, but that he wanted us to know they were interested. so now we are looking for a job for keith and trying to figure out exactly how much we need to get out of his salary, where we can afford to live, and what to do with our houses up here.

MOM! =)

2006-03-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

last week my mom took the train out to reno and visited for the week. i had a super good time and love having my mom around. we did some shopping, hung out, and made curtains for the dining room.

they came out really well and make the room look way cool. my is an awesome sewer and i'm glad that i learned a little bit of her knowledge this trip.
yay for my mom!

Linux to the rescue

2006-03-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

there is a computer at work that interfaces with the flourimeter. i collect data but how, oh how, can i get it off? the computer runs windows 98 (not se and probably never patched). for some highly curious reason it recognizes one memory stick that a person in the group has, but not others (and when i try to load drivers for my memory stick using the other memory stick and transportation, i get a big fat nothing). so back to good old floppy you say. good idea. it worked once. and then the floppy drive didn't eject my disk and after retrieving my floppy disk with a pair of nice tweezers, the floppy doesn't read disks anymore. oh ya. no network card. not that it matters since there isn't a network drop in the room anyways. sooo how to get my data.
keith came up with the brilliant idea: boot to linux on cd and then copy to usb memory stick.
so yesterday i found and burnt my copy of knoppix and then called up my linux brilliant brother to help me out. the computer didn't have enough memory to load the gui (kde) so i used the terminal. so he stepped me through mounting the hard drive and my memory stick and then copying and unmounting. it was kinda fun.

moral of the story, get yourself a good bootable copy of linux (preferably include tools to reset windows stuff) and keep it at work. you never know when you'll need it.

Misc References

2006-03-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

i love it when i recognize a misc. reference as part of a film or tv show. last night i was watching star trek: DS9 and the crew on one of the ships started quoting poetry and another filled in a couple of lines. i remembered the lines and realized i haven't read "Charge of the Light Brigade" in quite a while, which is what they were reciting. sad, but good.
read it here.

Right to Bear Arms

2006-02-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

i read an article from an occupational safety website about how the courts are backing up employees rights to bear arms. at issue is if an employee is permitted to have a firearm in his or her car in the company parking lot. the basic arguement of employers is that it is safer to not have firearms at the company. employees argue it is thier right to have the ability to defend themselves in their car... and i would say to go hunting after work or whatever.

i sympathize with the idea of keeping a workplace safe, but i agree with the court in this case. which is a bit abnormal for me since i am not really a big gun rights person. however i think that the companies should be allowed to have people check-in firearms if the proper security is in place on the company premises (i.e. limited acess and regular patrols). it will be interesting to see if this type of thing becomes an issue for reducing the shootings at places of employment.

Hangings

2006-02-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

in my closet, cloaked in white plastic
hangs my wedding dress
i enjoyed wearing it
i like the style
but
i wish i had worn my mother's dress
when i got married i didn't know how
my parents felt about their marriage
they are now divoriced
my mom wanted me to wear it
i should have listened to her
but she didn't push it, at all
because she loves me
i was worried that my dad might
not like to see me wear it
at thanksgiving i was at my dad's
new house and saw a picture
that i have always liked of his
it is a green and gray drawing of a lake
and a cabin
i remember it from when i was young
and have always felt part of the scene
somehow
we talked of where he was going
to hang the picture
i commented how much
i have always liked that picture
he said he likes it too
it reminds him of when times were good
with my mom
she gave it to him
and then i understood
too late
that i should have worn
my mom's wedding dress.

Real Estate

2006-02-08T18:36:00.000-08:00

a new website was launched by the same guy that did expedia. i think this one, so far, is a bit better. but it still has some things that make you go "huh?". anyways, you can look at home value information and other stuff like taxes on at zillow.com.

well everyone but those who live in 83642 because they don't have data for that area yet and for us since they don't even acknowledge our street's existance yet.

House bottom level

2006-01-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

my mom wanted to see some pictures of progress on us unpacking the house... below is most of the bottom level. lets just say that progress is relavite (at least the stuff is out of the box even if it has kinda regurgitated everywhere.).

why my family is great

2006-01-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

they know stuff and look stuff up for me.

moving always mean misplacing things--at least it does for me.

earlier when we moved we didn't have internet and we don't have a tv. and i wanted to know what the weather was going to be the next day. so i called my brother and he was my remote web browser. what makes my brother even more cool is that he looked it up for me while he was on a trip. yup, that is how cool my brother is. he was staying in a hotel in tennesee (i think) and he had brought a laptop along and had internet access. so even though i am sure he had way better things to do, he took the time to boot the lap top and play my internet. that's my awesome brother.

this morning i wanted to make waffles for breakfast. i haven't found my "joy of cooking" yet. yesterday i anticipated i'd want to make waffles so i looked on the internet for the recipe and while i found many that had "good reviews" they weren't what i wanted. the joy of cooking has never let me down for waffles--they are really good--and i wasn't up for messing with something that works so well. so i called up my mom this morning and she dropped what she was doing just so she could find the recipe and read it off to me. and she knew exactly that i couln't do without that recipe. i love that she knows me, and the recipe, that well.

Cat Recognition

2006-01-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

i was browsing around looking at different cat doors. (we are putting one in the sash window in the living room for our cat, the one from the old house was for a different window size, shape so i was looking to see what else was out there.) ran across this very, very cool project where the cat door recognizes that the cat wants in and lets it in. like in these pictures.

but then if the cat, flo, has some critter. say a mouse. the door locks and doesn't let the cat in. way cool. or if something else comes along, like a skunk, it is rejected too.

i highly reccomend the website quantum picture, specifically the flow control project.

Housing Isn't Bubbly

2005-12-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

the new york times has an interesting article on why there isn't a housing bubble and why prices won't drop.

Note to self.. and whoever wants to read it

2005-12-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

posted a comment on a blog post about motorcycle pollution and should return and comment again after reading the article.

New House

2005-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

we did our inspection yesterday. it was fun to see the house pretty much done. they have to do a couple of things (fix the gap between the frame and the front door and the gap between the garage door and floor, and fix the garage door opener and some other little stuff like small grout cracks). but here it is in some sort of glory.

front of house

two shots of the kitchen, 12 inch granite tile, we had to buy a fridge (delivery next friday)

from the dining room looking to living room & front door

family room, gas fireplace, we added a plug and ethernet plug to the wall

view out the window upstairs by the stair well

our bedroom, forgot to get the master bath... will have to get it later and improve this picture it doesn't really show anything... the window is behind where the pic was taken, the door to stairwell is to the right of keith and the door to bath is to the right close to where i was standing

Just a Couple of Mukluks

2005-12-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

warning: misuse of the word mukluk ahead. mukluks are in fact a soft boot or sock. i am using it in the sense that mukluk just sounds like a scoundrel... and i suppose one could think of it as something that looks nice on the outside and is fuzzy and warm, but is kinda stinky on the inside.

that's keith and i... the mukluks. we both forgot each other's birthday this year. alodia had a beautiful spiel about her husband kevin. me, i made him pack stuff up for our weekend of house sitting and pick up the renters' check.

at least we are a pair. we do appreciate each other and love each other. we just aren't so good at dates. we have a copy of our wedding invitation on the wall (at least we do when we have our own living quarters) so we know when we are married. otherwise i would just have to guess at sometime in the spring.... uhhh march i think.

btw: the pic is from visitnunavut.com which is a pretty interesting site and makes me want to visit the newest canadian province.

Grace Murray Hopper

2005-12-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

today would be Grace Hopper's birthday if she hadn't died (in 1992, born 1906). in computer class in 8th grade my friends and i liked to call her grass hopper in order that we might remember something close to her name for tests. but really i have always admired her. she was a pioneer in programming in many ways.
according to the biography here

Perhaps her best-known contribution to computing was the invention of the compiler, the intermediate program that translates English language instructions into the language of the target computer. She did this, she said, because she was lazy and hoped that "the programmer may return to being a mathematician."

so she's who we have to blame for lazy programmers =).
but seriously she is worth reading about. besides the above short biography below are another couple of links of interest.
gracehopper.org biography
article at wikipedia (also includes a picture of a moth that was in a computer, after removal it was taped into a lab notebook. just awesome record keeping if you ask me.)

Who\What am I?

2005-12-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Taller than an average guy or gal
yet not so tall as to reach the ceiling
I brighten the room without any feeling
Shaped like an I, but not an uncial
Everyone must own one of me, so goes the rationale.

Bend to Alturas

2005-11-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

our squat blue car sped along highway 31, the gas pedal on cruise. the morning was ear freezing cold, but only if you didn't put on your hat. we were prepared for all kinds of contingencies--tools to fix the car, new relay 109, warm jackets, boots, camera, motorcycle helmets, snorkling gear.

ranch fields fenced by barbed wire were intersperced with evergreen forest. in one field two deer munched on the calf-high grass. as we approached the intersection to fort rock, there appeared a flock of ravens. then two golden eagles launched themselves from 15 feet off the road to our left. on the horizon we saw the pale gray clouds were dropping to road level. snow was on the way.

the small town of silver lake arrived on the road. along with some cows. a man on a horse with two dogs was herding the faster bunch of cows with a woman behind the slower cows. keith waved at the man, then the woman, and they raised thier gloved hands in return. as we moved away at 5 mph from the man, he turned in the saddle. perhaps he wondered if he knew these people in the car or why they waved. but who did he know that owned such an impractacle vehicle as a foriegn made car?

the snow began to fall and collect on the road. the back windshield wiper was utilized to wash off the snow spray and the gray dust of road travel that had collected over the last several months. a herd of antelope watched us as we passed. they were content to eat next to the now dormant sprinkler system.

as we neared paisley, the snow picked up into a definate storm. we stayed on the road, slowly driving on, trusting the studded snow tires and brakes. on through lakeview the flurries followed us. just before the border several deer bounded across the road in front of the vehicle before us. even the deer just born this year effortlessly cleared the fence.

at alturas the snow was still falling and we were hungry. we made it through town without noticing anything exciting enough to stop the first time around. at the end of town, keith started his u-turn with the steering wheel and finished it with the emergency brake. the road was slick enough for some fun. at the black bear diner we ate burgers (vege and massive cow) with mounds of french fries. outside the weather was warmer and the roads a bit clear.

Sometimes it works

2005-11-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

i'm boiling off solvent today. sometimes it works better than other times...don't know why. there is a good explanation of
how to rotovap. the basics are you reduce the pressure and solvent boils. sometimes it boils nicely for me other times it bumps and spatters when i am boiling off water ... today it is being nice, yay =).

Reminded me of my mom =)

2005-11-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

i went to make biscuits tonight, couldn't find my cookbooks so looked on-line and found this recipe
never fail bicuits
read the reviews and this one reminded me of my mom.

I'm a great cook (even if I say so myself)but I have never been able to make biscuits, well ones people want to eat. That is until now my family ate them all (12 biscuits wow) instead of the boys using them for weapons.Thanks alot Madison.

Moving...

2005-11-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

yesterday we moved. fortunately we had several good friends with trucks and trailers to help us out. we got everything out except a couple things that we picked up this morning. we packed all our stuff into the garage, house, and sheds at my in-laws' house. we signed the papers for selling the house this morning. so hopefully wednesday we'll be rich... okay not rich, but in good financial stead for a month and a half.
i don't know where anything is... so i'll have to get the kitty a new food bowl for her wet food. the kitty is adjusting quicker than i thought. she started exploring last night (came out from her blanket nest under the bed). hissed at the resident cat and meowed for a while. maybe tonight i'll get the clothes out of the boxes and bags... or i could work on my novel (i've been inspired by watching the movie serenity).

That Works?

2005-11-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

i've been packing this week. i went to pack my two combs... well not pack, but just set aside so that i wouldn't pack them as i emptied out the bathroom drawers. there was a build-up of hair oil, shampoo oil, and what-not on the teeth. usually i throw away the comb after a while because this is kinda gross. i have tried various things to clean out the comb... hot water, shampoo, flossing the comb(way too time consuming but decent results). i was feeling very cheap so i didn't want to throw out the combs. i thought of the blue tube of cleaner some barbers/stylists use to clean their stuff and wondered if i could find out what was in there. google returned an interesting result to my comb cleaning query. baking soda so i thought i would give it a try. i put some lump of baking soda in the sink (i buy a large bag since i use it in the cat litter, very effective and cheap when combined with wal-mart cheap litter) and ran hot water. i put the combs in the water and waited for magic. nothing swirled them around. nothing. left them in the sink while i packed the bathroom. bingo. it really did clean the comb off very effectively. so next time you peer into your comb or brush and see the build-up just throw it into a sink of baking soda for a freshing-up.

Pronounciation? Bah!

2005-11-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

i shouldn't have gone to the trouble of finding out how to pronounce the street name. the automated system at the power company pronounced it mis-cue rather than the correct mee-ehsk. no big surprise really. our rental house is on caballo dr. which is spanish for horse and should be pronounced cah-bi-yo but everyone says cah-ball-o.

It's October 31st

2005-10-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

for most people that means halloween. eh, whatever. we don't hand out candy, sorry kids, and do our normal thing. what this date really means, is that tommorrow is november 1st and thus begins NaNoWriMo! (national novel writing month). yipee!!! sarah and i (jen) are doing it again this year and you can follow us on the blogs by clicking on our names. mine will be sporatically good while sarah never fails to give a consistantly good read with great characters.

Honor Deserved

2005-10-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

according to a story on msn

Parks, who died Monday in Detroit at age 92, also will be the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda, the vast circular room under the Capitol dome.

thank goodness for good people like rosa parks.

Just Walking my Wasp

2005-10-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

it seems many children have tied an insect to a thread at some point. apparently some people never stop. now there is the possiblity that wasps will be used to sniff chemicals in airports and such.

National Chemistry Week-Part 2

2005-10-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

hope everyone had a toy filled week where you remembered that all kinds of cool stuff is due to chemists making cool stuff. yesterday was national mole day, naturally. see one mole is 6.022 x 10^23. so on october (10) twenty-third (23) of every year is mole day... and all true supporters observe it at 6.02 am in the morning.
on another fun chemistry note, the chemistry ignobel prize this year: Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota and Brian Gettelfinger of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, for conducting a careful experiment to settle the longstanding scientific question: can people swim faster in syrup or in water?
REFERENCE: "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?" American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, Brian Gettelfinger and E. L. Cussler, vol. 50, no. 11, October 2004, pp. 2646-7.
if you're like me you probaby are thinking isn't this more physics or fluid dynamics? but whatever, they don't stick on technicalities at ignobel. further, it is very important to know that swimming in syrup isn't any slower or faster than swimming in water.

Mr. Rogers' Influence

2005-10-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

i remember mr. rogers' neighborhood. i liked it. the puppets were neat and i generally don't like puppets. he read things and i dunno what else.. but i do remember the shoes and the sweater. you remember, right? he would come in and change his shoes and his sweater and then switch back when he left at the end of the show. it all seemed quite ridiculous to me at the time.
well i seem to do that now. i get to work and take off my jacket and put on my sweatshirt or lab coat. and change my boots (for when i ride my motorcycle) to my lab shoes. and when i leave i reverse the process. when i get home i talk off my shoes and coat. and put on a coat since it is easier and cheaper than raising the temperature in the house. oh well... at least he taught me something.

National Chemistry Week - pt 1

2005-10-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

This week is national chemistry week! woot! Theme this year: The Joy of Toys (yup TOYS!)(National Chemistry Day aka Mole Day is next sunday, more on that on 10/23 posting)
to start you off on a fun week: first go and play the cute game where you make a bouncy ball. after your trial and error has yielded you the proper bouncy ball ratios go to the pdf on how to make your very own bouncy ball.
Have a Ball!

Fire Extinguisher Training

2005-10-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

i went to fire extinguisher training today. some people mock it but i enjoyed it. there was some good information about what kind of fire extinguisher to use in what situation. also good review of how to assess the situation as to whether you should just exacuate or use the fire extinguisher. basically if you are by yourself it is safer to evacuate; also if there is a lot of smoke just leave. the best part about the training is you get to use a fire extinguisher on a real fire. they had a little box that they had some diesel and regular gas in which they set on fire. each of us had to put it out with an abc powder fire extinguisher. kind of like this

some of the people there were disappointed because they were computer geeks who lived in the server room and that has CO2 extinguishers, but we didn't get to practice with any of those. last time i took the training we used one, they are heavy! the guy also said if you have an extinguisher at home that is dry chemical abc with a metal head on it the university would service that for free every year. that was pretty cool. personally i have one with a cheap plastic head so i'll throw it out in 5 yrs.

New Street Name

2005-10-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

the house we are moving to dec 29 (yup that's when we sign our papers to get our house) is on a street called Miesque. i've read about the filly on-line, very impressive miler. but i couldn't figure out how to pronounce it. taking a break from reading journal articles, i thought i wonder if there is a video of her breeders' cup win. so i looked up what year she won her second one, and then searched for a breeders' cup website. and ta-da. the 'time capsule' of ntra.com has her 1988 win of the mile.

oh ya... it is pronounced mee-ehsk (jennifer's system of pronounciation) with emphasis on the last syllable.

Fall Menu

2005-10-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

last night i cooked a meal i like, and keith does not. i thought he would be in class all evening but he got out early. he came home and ate cereal. i however had the following, which i found very tasty & warming.

brown rice & lentils
sauté one large onion
add 1 cup lentils, 1 cup brown rice, 7 cups water
bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed.
butternut squash & apple
bake or microwave cut in half, cleaned out squash until soft;
peel squash & mash
add half a stick of butter (salt if butter is not salted), 3-5 tablespoons brown sugar
mix together and microwave for an additional 2 minutes
top with chopped, crisp apple

had it again for lunch (mmm leftovers).

Time Well Spent

2005-10-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

i wish that was truth. yesterday morning i was preparing for a productive day. importantly trying to track down a problem with LaTeX. my advisor comes in and has some weird idea about this vacuum pump controller we have. she messed up and bought a valve that isn't totally compatible with everything we have. after she said we were keeping the valve, i looked at the thing and wrote down what we would need to make it work. she ordered only one of the four things i wrote down to order and then came to tell me that we should use quick connect couplings for it. despite the fact that parts for this route were not obviously available from our usual supplier and the fact that we don't really have a need for quick connect couplings. but whatever. i spend something like an hour talking to her and then another hour and a half looking up part numbers and trying to figure out parts that would work (reducing a tube that has an inner diameter of 3/4in to a threaded tube connection that is something around 1/8 in, measuring the current threaded tube connector to determine if it was tapered iso or npt, etc...). the drawing was the fun part... and took the least time.

Chemistry Nobel Prize 2005

2005-10-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

the chemistry nobel prize in 2005 has been awarded for "for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis". three people recieved the prize. one of them, Robert Grubbs, actually came to speak at the school i go to a year ago. super nice guy and some great chemistry. check out the brief description at nobelprize.org, the animation is a good rendering of what happens and it is kinda fun to watch.