soapbox

…or, if you’ll permit my bastardized Latin: Snakes on a Plane.

I know lots of y’all already know about this movie, but I still just had to make a post to share some promo shots I stumbled across today. Sam Jackson seems to have some issues with certain airborne reptiles.

But, then again, maybe not?

Man, I would have loved to have attended this today.

That would have been way cooler than working.

“David Ortiz will be actively involved in the instruction and guidance of participating youth who want to learn to hit like the pro.

Each registrant will receive a gift bag including an item autographed by David Ortiz.”

Of course, the $299 sticker price is nothing to sneeze at, but hey, quality time with Big Papi being Big Papi would probably be worth it.

is above me, and I see lightning flashes off in the south… i am taking darks. It was clear enough when I started observing, and I have never cranked the focus up above 900, but it is so humid, I guess it needs to be that high to get the best seeing one can get today–2.5 arc seconds.
go northdome!

I am sitting where Aaron’s desk used to be, listening to my favorite on-line christian radio station, and no one can see that I am not working, but posting a blog, since the desk is facing the door. I love my new space in 305! Furthermore, I cleaned out the microwave and the book shelf, and I took the other flat screen monitor. The wires from the monitor and speaker are cleanly and nicely wrapped around the desk. I have been “hanging out” with the computer specialist in the psychology department, so he has been helping me with all my computer wants and needs (and other ones as well… – just kidding!!).

It is rediculously hot outside, but I am in my air conditioned office in a cute skirt and halter top. The telescope on the roof is working fabulously, and I keep collecting data, and my psychology computer friend keeps me company and sometimes even brings me ice cream while I take the 10-15 min long obserations of RR Lyrae stars. I miss Nathaniel, since it is difficult to reduce data when there is nothing in the headers, and I have to figure out by myself what keywords to include, and why some bizarre error messages come up. It would be nice to beable to pester Nathaniel to figure out how to reduce the data. But Wegner is back, and Thor is also around, and they have been more then helpful, since they are so glad that someone is using the twinky telescope on the roof. And I actually have my first images reduced.

Brian has been gone the last 2 weeks, so I have spent many afternoons swimming in various swimming spots and riding in my psycology computer guy’s BMW to various hikes and cute restaurants.

I’m actually doing some work today (well, not at the moment since I’m blogging) and I have to say that nice things are nice and we, as fairly affluent grad students/post-docs/whatever else, should be pretty happy with our position in life.

I realized that while the office I’m in now is pretty gross (the carpet has stretched so much that it forms folds and mounds by my temporary computer and the chair I’m sitting in is less than ideal), things are pretty good. I’m relaxed in my linen pants and natural cotton everything else, I have a nice “timepiece” on my wrist, and I’m writing in a Moleskine notebook with a fountain pen to figure out how to best streamline a process.

You can add the fact that I’m now typing on an attractive brushed aluminum laptop and posting on a nifty little linux server that I control.

Anyway, if you’re not feeling as positive as I am, post a comment and I’ll see what I can do.

i’m feeling a little down right now because of issues getting rid of the car, so i’m going to do what really makes me happy – post cute pictures. i’ll do it after the jump for those who’d like to skip them or look at them later. just a puppy photo or two, then maybe one of becky’s birthday present.
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Specifically house-type things. It’s really just proof that you need to know how much things are worth so you don’t get horribly ripped off.

1. There were two broken window panes that the house inspector found and we required that they be fixed before we took ownership. Now, these are old single-pane windows. It’s just glass. You scrape out the putty, get a new piece of glass for maybe $1 (the panes are only around 6×6 inches), press some glazing points into the frame to hold the glass in place, and the put new putty over the top. Even accounting for the fact that you have to buy full containers of glazing putty and the points, we’re still talking less than $10 for parts and maybe 20 minutes of labor per pane. The previous owners paid $175 to have it done. Lesson: a lot of things around the house are easy to fix and can be done much more cheaply than hiring someone.

2. The upstairs sunroom has 10 windows that wrap all the way around it. Apparently the previous owners wanted cellular blinds on all of them. At Home Depot, you can get cellular blinds for something less than $25 each (these windows are around 12 inches wide) and they’ll even cut them to your exact width. Total: around $250. The previous owners went to a curtain store and had someone come out to custom measure, insert a colored accent piece to match the walls, and then install the blinds. Total: $2250. Holy shit in the morning! They wasted two thousand dollars!

3. The house used to have a slate roof but it apparently leaked a lot so it got replaced with some really high quality shingles. When they replaced the roof, they also installed new gutters and new gutter guards.* In case you don’t know, gutter guards keep leaves out of the gutters so they don’t get clogged which can lead to all sorts of water problems. Also of note is the fact that gutter guards aren’t very helpful against pine needles. However, there aren’t any pine trees in a 500 foot radius from the house. Despite the new non-leaking roof and working gutters, the previous owners paid to have twice-yearly inspections of the roof (which can be expected just by walking up into the attic) and twice-yearly gutter cleanings.

*However, they didn’t fix the collapsing ceiling and falling paint caused by the water in the master bedroom closets. I guess they liked plaster and fragments of paint on their clothes.

4. The kitchen stove. First off, these people did not cook. Ever. The reason I know this is that between the microwave and the coffee maker, there was no free counter space to work on. Given the condition of the refridgerator too, they just didn’t prioritize food very much. However, the kitchen stove is a brand-new top of the line GE model in sparkling stainless steel (all the other appliances are white). I looked it up on Sears and it’s a good $800 more expensive than a “good” stove. Now, a good kitchen stove should last at least 10 years without any problem at all. They paid for the extended warranty through 2011. I’m willing to bet a large sum of money that their cars are undercoated too.

Ok, I think I’m done ranting for the moment.