today i woke up on time...
This whole waking-up-and-putting-on-pants-and-leaving-the-house thing is gonna take some getting used to. I pretty much slept all the way in on the train this morning, so... no big long blog entry today. I have to get some things done this morning before my meetings.
Wednesday, August 30
nearly back to school...
Heading in to work a little later than I had hoped. Seems the little buzzing box on the nightstand only works if you completely wake up before turning the fucking thing OFF. So I got up at 6:30 instead of 5:30. No big deal. Nothing "scheduled" at work until noon anyway.
The thing about oversleeping is... I've been getting pretty spoiled lately. For the first time in more than seven years we've been routinely sleeping past 8:00 AM. And I don't mean one of us gets up with the kids and the other one sleeps... I mean, the kids wake up at 7:00 and go downstairs and play and watch TV and don't require anything of us until 8:15, 8:30 sometimes.
This is a major fucking development, people. Seriously... I was beginning to think I'd have to wait until they both went off to college before I would no longer be awakened by the yelling of little people as opposed to... you know... sunlight.
Anyway, I supposedly have appointments today with my freshmen advisees - that's why I'm going in to the office. "Hi. I'm Dr. Dave. I'll be signing your registration form at the end of every semester. Please don't bother me with any of your other little... problems."
I have a few other things I should take care of. One is my course reader... that needs to be finalized and turned into the printer either today or tomorrow. I have some admini$trative paperwork that needs tracking down. I have to talk to the office administrator who schedules classrooms and make sure she doesn't try to cram my 30-student Astronomy class into a 20-student seminar room. I'm gonna put in a request for the one big lecture hall with the roll-uppy chalkboards. I love those things.
I'm sure there are other things I need to do as well.
I took my car in for its state inspection yesterday. (Can I just say - states that require a full inspection every fucking year... SUCH bullshit... especially for cars less than 5 years old.) I've been having a little trouble with the brakes sort of squealing and grabbing, particularly in damp weather, but only for the first couple of stops. I was expecting to need new brake shoes, but they said it was just an accumulation of brake dust, and they cleaned them off. The whole thing, inspection and all, only cost $70. I was expecting a couple of hundred. I celebrated buy buying the new HD I'd been coveting but was going to deny myself if the car cost too much.
300 gig for $79.99! SHIPPED!(**)
In other computer news, I'm also bidding on an old 400MHz G4 tower on eBay. No other bidders so far, and it's in Manhattan, so I can just pick it up - no shipping! If I manage to get this computer for $10, I'll be very excited. I need a calculation-box to sit around in one of the labs and run simulations and look all "physicsy". Anyway, the auction ends today. The cool thing about living in Manhattan is that you can eBay search for items within 10 miles of your zip-code, and be pretty sure to get a couple of hundred hits for items that are just a short subway ride away. An unforeseen benefit of cramming 6 million people onto a tiny island! I'm trying to limit myself to only the very best deals on neglected-but-useful Macs.
In the meantime, my poor PowerBook is in desperate need of some RAM and some more storage space. The new external HD will help some, but there is only so much I'm willing to take off of my everyday machine and put into storage. I'm starting to look into these services that will, for $300 or so, take your machine in by mail, put a new 120-160 gig HD in it, put your OLD hard drive into an external USB enclosure, and then ship the whole thing back to you overnight. Seems like a good deal, although I don't really so much HAVE $300 right now. I dunno. The other thing to do is to spend the $300 on a 30 gig iPod. If I could move all the music off of my laptop, it would save me almost 20 Gig of HD space right there!
But enough with the computer talk.
I think everyone here is ready for school to start. I think the kids need OUT of the house, I think the wife needs the kids OUT of the house, I KNOW that I need out of the fucking house. The Boy will be starting at a new preschool that is both cheaper and closer than the one he went to last year. He's a little mopey about the whole idea, but he'll snap out of it pretty quickly if I know him. The Girl is starting 3rd grade, which is just crazy when I stop and think about it. I mean, I know she skipped a grade, so isn't "really" a third grader, age-wise, but still. My wife phrased it as "a quarter of the way through her schooling!" which is just scary as hell.
As for my "back to school"... my enrollments look good for the semester. I have 12 students in my history and philosophy of science class, which is a good number for an upper level course. I have 13 right now in Physics I, which is fine. I'd be happier with 15, and there is still time for a few freshman and transfers and registration-slackers to sign up. My Astro class had 26 last I checked, which you have to understand is HUGE for this college. The seminar cap is usually 20, but this class was given special status as a lecture class and raised to 30. I wouldn't be surprised to have it full (or overfull) by the time registration is over. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I was promised some TA help with this class. Hmm. I'll have to look into that.
Well. That was quite the blog post waiting to get out. I should probably go do some real work now that I've wasted an hour, though.
-- -- -- -- -- --
(**) As a Mac user who spent his formative years dealing exclusively with SCSI drives, I'm a little baffled by current hard drive interface nomenclature. If I currently have an IDE hard drive in an external USB/FireWire enclosure... that enclosure will work with an ATA or "parallel ATA" hard drive also, right? But not SATA? It's all very confusing. Any nerds out there who can verify this for me? DD? Anyone?
Heading in to work a little later than I had hoped. Seems the little buzzing box on the nightstand only works if you completely wake up before turning the fucking thing OFF. So I got up at 6:30 instead of 5:30. No big deal. Nothing "scheduled" at work until noon anyway.
The thing about oversleeping is... I've been getting pretty spoiled lately. For the first time in more than seven years we've been routinely sleeping past 8:00 AM. And I don't mean one of us gets up with the kids and the other one sleeps... I mean, the kids wake up at 7:00 and go downstairs and play and watch TV and don't require anything of us until 8:15, 8:30 sometimes.
This is a major fucking development, people. Seriously... I was beginning to think I'd have to wait until they both went off to college before I would no longer be awakened by the yelling of little people as opposed to... you know... sunlight.
Anyway, I supposedly have appointments today with my freshmen advisees - that's why I'm going in to the office. "Hi. I'm Dr. Dave. I'll be signing your registration form at the end of every semester. Please don't bother me with any of your other little... problems."
I have a few other things I should take care of. One is my course reader... that needs to be finalized and turned into the printer either today or tomorrow. I have some admini$trative paperwork that needs tracking down. I have to talk to the office administrator who schedules classrooms and make sure she doesn't try to cram my 30-student Astronomy class into a 20-student seminar room. I'm gonna put in a request for the one big lecture hall with the roll-uppy chalkboards. I love those things.
I'm sure there are other things I need to do as well.
I took my car in for its state inspection yesterday. (Can I just say - states that require a full inspection every fucking year... SUCH bullshit... especially for cars less than 5 years old.) I've been having a little trouble with the brakes sort of squealing and grabbing, particularly in damp weather, but only for the first couple of stops. I was expecting to need new brake shoes, but they said it was just an accumulation of brake dust, and they cleaned them off. The whole thing, inspection and all, only cost $70. I was expecting a couple of hundred. I celebrated buy buying the new HD I'd been coveting but was going to deny myself if the car cost too much.
300 gig for $79.99! SHIPPED!(**)
In other computer news, I'm also bidding on an old 400MHz G4 tower on eBay. No other bidders so far, and it's in Manhattan, so I can just pick it up - no shipping! If I manage to get this computer for $10, I'll be very excited. I need a calculation-box to sit around in one of the labs and run simulations and look all "physicsy". Anyway, the auction ends today. The cool thing about living in Manhattan is that you can eBay search for items within 10 miles of your zip-code, and be pretty sure to get a couple of hundred hits for items that are just a short subway ride away. An unforeseen benefit of cramming 6 million people onto a tiny island! I'm trying to limit myself to only the very best deals on neglected-but-useful Macs.
In the meantime, my poor PowerBook is in desperate need of some RAM and some more storage space. The new external HD will help some, but there is only so much I'm willing to take off of my everyday machine and put into storage. I'm starting to look into these services that will, for $300 or so, take your machine in by mail, put a new 120-160 gig HD in it, put your OLD hard drive into an external USB enclosure, and then ship the whole thing back to you overnight. Seems like a good deal, although I don't really so much HAVE $300 right now. I dunno. The other thing to do is to spend the $300 on a 30 gig iPod. If I could move all the music off of my laptop, it would save me almost 20 Gig of HD space right there!
But enough with the computer talk.
I think everyone here is ready for school to start. I think the kids need OUT of the house, I think the wife needs the kids OUT of the house, I KNOW that I need out of the fucking house. The Boy will be starting at a new preschool that is both cheaper and closer than the one he went to last year. He's a little mopey about the whole idea, but he'll snap out of it pretty quickly if I know him. The Girl is starting 3rd grade, which is just crazy when I stop and think about it. I mean, I know she skipped a grade, so isn't "really" a third grader, age-wise, but still. My wife phrased it as "a quarter of the way through her schooling!" which is just scary as hell.
As for my "back to school"... my enrollments look good for the semester. I have 12 students in my history and philosophy of science class, which is a good number for an upper level course. I have 13 right now in Physics I, which is fine. I'd be happier with 15, and there is still time for a few freshman and transfers and registration-slackers to sign up. My Astro class had 26 last I checked, which you have to understand is HUGE for this college. The seminar cap is usually 20, but this class was given special status as a lecture class and raised to 30. I wouldn't be surprised to have it full (or overfull) by the time registration is over. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I was promised some TA help with this class. Hmm. I'll have to look into that.
Well. That was quite the blog post waiting to get out. I should probably go do some real work now that I've wasted an hour, though.
(**) As a Mac user who spent his formative years dealing exclusively with SCSI drives, I'm a little baffled by current hard drive interface nomenclature. If I currently have an IDE hard drive in an external USB/FireWire enclosure... that enclosure will work with an ATA or "parallel ATA" hard drive also, right? But not SATA? It's all very confusing. Any nerds out there who can verify this for me? DD? Anyone?
Tuesday, August 29
Monday, August 28
dave on sports...
Fellow old-guy Andre Agassi is making his last appearance at the US Open this year. I'd like to see him stay in it for a while. I can see him getting thru the first round and second rounds, probably facing Grosjean in the third, and even making it thru to the fourth, where I'd expect him to face Roddick (or maybe Hewitt depending who makes it thru there.) At that point it becomes long-shot-territory, but it sure would be nice to see a fellow old-guy make a run to the quarterfinals and beyond.
I mean, if I can't be in good shape myself, at least I could feel good knowing that one can be 36 and still be at the top of one's game... at least in principle.
If not... I guess there's always Rocky 6.
Fellow old-guy Andre Agassi is making his last appearance at the US Open this year. I'd like to see him stay in it for a while. I can see him getting thru the first round and second rounds, probably facing Grosjean in the third, and even making it thru to the fourth, where I'd expect him to face Roddick (or maybe Hewitt depending who makes it thru there.) At that point it becomes long-shot-territory, but it sure would be nice to see a fellow old-guy make a run to the quarterfinals and beyond.
I mean, if I can't be in good shape myself, at least I could feel good knowing that one can be 36 and still be at the top of one's game... at least in principle.
If not... I guess there's always Rocky 6.
vote for pluto...
As someone who is about to teach a college astronomy class in a week, I suppose I should really weigh in on the Pluto controversy, huh?
The thing is... I really don't care.
Meaning I don't care about the result. Pluto is a planet, it's not a planet... whatever. I find that less distubing than the fact that I'm unable to keep up with how many freaking moons each planet has from year to year. (Saturn... 20? 30? 60? Who the fuck knows anymore?)
What is interesting is the whole process of inventing a definition. Because it touches on a lot of issues that I think are really important for students taking astronomy in particular, and science in general, to come to terms with. What makes planets round? What is Pluto made of, and how can we know such a thing? What's the deal with its orbit and the whole thing where sometimes it's closer to the Sun than Neptune? Why are the other planetary orbits so nearly circular in the first place (Newton saw it as clear evidence of God's hand in the creation of the universe) and what can this fact tell us about the origin of the Solar System. What is this 2003 UB40 (or whatever the hell it's called) object that people are talking about? Are their other objects beyond Pluto waiting to be discovered?
Imagine how much people would learn about the science of astronomy if the newspapers spent as many columns talking about these ideas as they've devoted to covering the bickering over arbitraty definitions of planethood. As a result, I'm considering restructuring the whole first few weeks of my Astronomy course around these questions. If nothing else, maybe the whole "controversy" will spark a little student interest in the subject.
As someone who is about to teach a college astronomy class in a week, I suppose I should really weigh in on the Pluto controversy, huh?
The thing is... I really don't care.
Meaning I don't care about the result. Pluto is a planet, it's not a planet... whatever. I find that less distubing than the fact that I'm unable to keep up with how many freaking moons each planet has from year to year. (Saturn... 20? 30? 60? Who the fuck knows anymore?)
What is interesting is the whole process of inventing a definition. Because it touches on a lot of issues that I think are really important for students taking astronomy in particular, and science in general, to come to terms with. What makes planets round? What is Pluto made of, and how can we know such a thing? What's the deal with its orbit and the whole thing where sometimes it's closer to the Sun than Neptune? Why are the other planetary orbits so nearly circular in the first place (Newton saw it as clear evidence of God's hand in the creation of the universe) and what can this fact tell us about the origin of the Solar System. What is this 2003 UB40 (or whatever the hell it's called) object that people are talking about? Are their other objects beyond Pluto waiting to be discovered?
Imagine how much people would learn about the science of astronomy if the newspapers spent as many columns talking about these ideas as they've devoted to covering the bickering over arbitraty definitions of planethood. As a result, I'm considering restructuring the whole first few weeks of my Astronomy course around these questions. If nothing else, maybe the whole "controversy" will spark a little student interest in the subject.
Sunday, August 27
my life...
Ok readers... raise your hand if the job of "cleaning house" for you involves tasks like cleaning cat vomit off of a stuffed moose.
The makers of Roomba should make a robot that can scrub cat vomit off of things. It would need to have a directional microphone that could recognize and pinpoint the sound of "urk! urk! urk! BLARGHH!" I'd pay serious money.
Ok readers... raise your hand if the job of "cleaning house" for you involves tasks like cleaning cat vomit off of a stuffed moose.
The makers of Roomba should make a robot that can scrub cat vomit off of things. It would need to have a directional microphone that could recognize and pinpoint the sound of "urk! urk! urk! BLARGHH!" I'd pay serious money.
Friday, August 25
an IM from the wife in her new basement office...
"I have decided I am not going to pay attention to the various mighty thumps and bumps being transmitted to my office. I'm just ignoring them. Do you think this is a good strategy? OTOH, if you want to contact me nonelectronically, I suppose you could have the kids jump on the living room floor in an SOS pattern."
"I have decided I am not going to pay attention to the various mighty thumps and bumps being transmitted to my office. I'm just ignoring them. Do you think this is a good strategy? OTOH, if you want to contact me nonelectronically, I suppose you could have the kids jump on the living room floor in an SOS pattern."
curiously well equipped...
I was reading a bunch of Lifehacker-ish articles today about keeping an emergency kit full of doodads packed inside of an Altoids tin to keep in your laptop bag or car or whatever. It seemed like such a fun project that I went around the house and packed my own. Some people take a gadget approach, others a medical approach, others a "survivalist" approach. I basically tried to think of all the things I often find myself thinking - "Fuck, if only I had a..." Here is what I have so far...
I still need to add some sewing stuff and safety pins, a tiny pencil, and maybe some post-it notes. A separate pill-sized tin holds 6 Altoids and 4 Sudafed.
Any other ideas?
I was reading a bunch of Lifehacker-ish articles today about keeping an emergency kit full of doodads packed inside of an Altoids tin to keep in your laptop bag or car or whatever. It seemed like such a fun project that I went around the house and packed my own. Some people take a gadget approach, others a medical approach, others a "survivalist" approach. I basically tried to think of all the things I often find myself thinking - "Fuck, if only I had a..." Here is what I have so far...
NYC metro card
$4 (two dollar bills and 8 quarters) wrapped in rubber bands
Two band aids
Two paper clips
Two binder clips
Two guitar picks
One ponytail holder
One travel-pack of sunscreen
Two toothpicks and a travel roll of dental floss
I still need to add some sewing stuff and safety pins, a tiny pencil, and maybe some post-it notes. A separate pill-sized tin holds 6 Altoids and 4 Sudafed.
Any other ideas?
wait, wait...
I have a bunch of backlogged pictures I want to get up on Flickr. This first batch is for the NPR nerds out there... pix from our taping of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me". The camera wasn't playing nice with the lighting in the auditorium, so some of them are a little blurry. (Click for the large versions on Flickr.)
First - announcer Carl Kasell and guest-houst "Luuuuuuuke" Burbank.
Panelists for our week - Roy Blount Jr., Paula Poundstone, and Tom Bodett.
And my wife chatting with / stalking Paula after the show...
Anyway, It was fun to see the show live. And it was even more fun to listen to the 45 minute show this week and have a chuckle about everything from the 2 hour taping that you DON'T get to hear on the radio. All the best stuff gets cut, as you might imagine.
I have a bunch of backlogged pictures I want to get up on Flickr. This first batch is for the NPR nerds out there... pix from our taping of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me". The camera wasn't playing nice with the lighting in the auditorium, so some of them are a little blurry. (Click for the large versions on Flickr.)
First - announcer Carl Kasell and guest-houst "Luuuuuuuke" Burbank.
Panelists for our week - Roy Blount Jr., Paula Poundstone, and Tom Bodett.
And my wife chatting with / stalking Paula after the show...
Anyway, It was fun to see the show live. And it was even more fun to listen to the 45 minute show this week and have a chuckle about everything from the 2 hour taping that you DON'T get to hear on the radio. All the best stuff gets cut, as you might imagine.
does anyone else smell burning thigh flesh...?
You've probably all heard by now that Apple is recalling 1.8 million laptop batteries, and... you guessed it, kiddies... Dr. Dave's serial number falls right smack in the middle of the affected range.
So... after the first 24-hour barrage of requests was over and Apple's support page recovered from the traffic, I finally got through to the online support form and ordered my replacement. They tell you to take your battery out and only use the computer plugged in until your new battery comes. Then they tell you it may take 6 weeks. Umm... fuck YOU Apple... I'm going to stop using my laptop portably for six weeks? I'll risk catching my pants on fire, thanks.
(PS - for those of you who would use this opportunity to take a shot at Apple, I'll point out that these batteries are manufactured by SONY, and are the same ones that Dell just had to recall.)
You've probably all heard by now that Apple is recalling 1.8 million laptop batteries, and... you guessed it, kiddies... Dr. Dave's serial number falls right smack in the middle of the affected range.
So... after the first 24-hour barrage of requests was over and Apple's support page recovered from the traffic, I finally got through to the online support form and ordered my replacement. They tell you to take your battery out and only use the computer plugged in until your new battery comes. Then they tell you it may take 6 weeks. Umm... fuck YOU Apple... I'm going to stop using my laptop portably for six weeks? I'll risk catching my pants on fire, thanks.
(PS - for those of you who would use this opportunity to take a shot at Apple, I'll point out that these batteries are manufactured by SONY, and are the same ones that Dell just had to recall.)
Thursday, August 24
Wednesday, August 23
maybe i'll forward her all of my Nigerian scams...
Now that we have a computer that is just for the kids, we gave my 7 year-old daughter her own email address the other day. Now I must suffer very stiffly written and nearly content-free emails all day long.
"Daddy - why did you take a picture of that bug fort?"
I need to find some safe-kid-spam sites for her... weekly emails from American Girl or something. It's funny, though... we got home from shopping yesterday and she got out of the van and said very matter-of-factly... "I'm going to go check my email." I think we've created a monster.
Now that we have a computer that is just for the kids, we gave my 7 year-old daughter her own email address the other day. Now I must suffer very stiffly written and nearly content-free emails all day long.
"Daddy - why did you take a picture of that bug fort?"
I need to find some safe-kid-spam sites for her... weekly emails from American Girl or something. It's funny, though... we got home from shopping yesterday and she got out of the van and said very matter-of-factly... "I'm going to go check my email." I think we've created a monster.
Monday, August 21
movin' on down...
Well, amazingly enough, we made our goal of moving all of the wife's office furniture down to the basement yesterday. I take credit for that, as the wife took lots of breaks and naps. There is still a lot of work to do down there, though. We need to install shelving in the closet before she can get all organized. (Ha!) Same goes for the playroom. We need to make an Ikea trip for three white bookshelves to contain the dizzying array of toys, games, and puzzles. It's hard to say when we'll get around to that, although the wife is considering going today, without me. We'll probably spend less money that way.
Anyway, I also put together the NEW computer desk for the OLD desktop which will now be the NEW kids computer in the OLD office. (Which needs a NEW name.) The new computer desk also holds my old iBook, which is all set up and happily servering to the web. It gives me great pleasure to access the website from my Powerbook and think about the long trip that the data is taking from the iBook, out of the house, across the Internets, and back to the living room.
Anyway, I should probably post pictures of the lovely basement once it is all finished. I should also post pictures from the cruise, and from "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me"... for those of you dying to know what Carl Kassel really looks like. I'll get around to it at some point, I'm sure.
For now, I should stop bloggering and do something productive.
Well, amazingly enough, we made our goal of moving all of the wife's office furniture down to the basement yesterday. I take credit for that, as the wife took lots of breaks and naps. There is still a lot of work to do down there, though. We need to install shelving in the closet before she can get all organized. (Ha!) Same goes for the playroom. We need to make an Ikea trip for three white bookshelves to contain the dizzying array of toys, games, and puzzles. It's hard to say when we'll get around to that, although the wife is considering going today, without me. We'll probably spend less money that way.
Anyway, I also put together the NEW computer desk for the OLD desktop which will now be the NEW kids computer in the OLD office. (Which needs a NEW name.) The new computer desk also holds my old iBook, which is all set up and happily servering to the web. It gives me great pleasure to access the website from my Powerbook and think about the long trip that the data is taking from the iBook, out of the house, across the Internets, and back to the living room.
Anyway, I should probably post pictures of the lovely basement once it is all finished. I should also post pictures from the cruise, and from "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me"... for those of you dying to know what Carl Kassel really looks like. I'll get around to it at some point, I'm sure.
For now, I should stop bloggering and do something productive.
and they wonder why i take lots of naps there...
Below is a transcript of a conversation at my in-laws. This conversation is representative of most conversations that take place there. The topic of this particular conversation was the film version of The DaVinci Code.
Did I mention we invited them for Xmas?
Below is a transcript of a conversation at my in-laws. This conversation is representative of most conversations that take place there. The topic of this particular conversation was the film version of The DaVinci Code.
Wife: ... and Ian McKellan was great as...
Dad:... the professor.
Wife: Right, Professor...?
Brother: Professor...?
Me: Teabing
Dad: Professor...?
Wife: Tea...? Tea...?
Dad: Tea...?
Me: Teabing.
Brother: TEASLEY!
Dad: Professor Teasley.
Wife: Yeah, Ian McKellan was great as Professor Teasley.
Me: (leaves room)
Did I mention we invited them for Xmas?
day planner...
It's the first time I've taken an early rush hour (6:30) train in a very long time. Was I always this tired in the mornings? I think an earlier bedtime is in order once the semester really begins. For now, I'm going in for a day of meetings and stuff. A schedule of "the stuff" is in order, perhaps...
7:00 - Spend the train ride working on some document for the science meeting later today. It's a "reflection" of some sort. God knows, I'm nothing if not reflective.
8:00 - Arrive at the office. Pick a document of some sort for the first day of classes to finish, print out and Xerox. Check mailbox to see if my astronomy textbook has arrived.
9:00 - If the astronomy text book has not arrived, call the sales rep for the textbook company and yell at them.
10:00 - Email the senior acquisitions editor from the major textbook publisher (not the same one) who wants to speak with me on the phone to tell her I'm back from vacation. Resist the temptation to say anything nerdy about her name, which is from Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings".
11:00 - Meet with the director of the music program to talk about my science and music course. I'm not sure what he wants, but he seems excited.
12:30 - Have a science meeting to prepare for the upcoming science meeting.
2:00 - Science meeting with a guest from some national science education organization of which our school is apparently a member. After several years hearing colleagues talk about them, and 3 or 4 visits to their webpage to try to figure it out, I'm still completely unclear on what exactly it is they DO. Try to resist the urge to ask during the meeting - "What exactly do you... DO?"
?:00 - Take train home and try to do something more productive than nap.
It's the first time I've taken an early rush hour (6:30) train in a very long time. Was I always this tired in the mornings? I think an earlier bedtime is in order once the semester really begins. For now, I'm going in for a day of meetings and stuff. A schedule of "the stuff" is in order, perhaps...
7:00 - Spend the train ride working on some document for the science meeting later today. It's a "reflection" of some sort. God knows, I'm nothing if not reflective.
8:00 - Arrive at the office. Pick a document of some sort for the first day of classes to finish, print out and Xerox. Check mailbox to see if my astronomy textbook has arrived.
9:00 - If the astronomy text book has not arrived, call the sales rep for the textbook company and yell at them.
10:00 - Email the senior acquisitions editor from the major textbook publisher (not the same one) who wants to speak with me on the phone to tell her I'm back from vacation. Resist the temptation to say anything nerdy about her name, which is from Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings".
11:00 - Meet with the director of the music program to talk about my science and music course. I'm not sure what he wants, but he seems excited.
12:30 - Have a science meeting to prepare for the upcoming science meeting.
2:00 - Science meeting with a guest from some national science education organization of which our school is apparently a member. After several years hearing colleagues talk about them, and 3 or 4 visits to their webpage to try to figure it out, I'm still completely unclear on what exactly it is they DO. Try to resist the urge to ask during the meeting - "What exactly do you... DO?"
?:00 - Take train home and try to do something more productive than nap.
Sunday, August 20
back...
Back home from Chicago. I probably have things to blog about, but I can't really think of any right now. I will say that an hour and a hlaf flight floowed by a 2.5 hour DRIVE home from the airport...? Kinda stupid.
One bit of good news. I got home to find a letter from the university informing me that I'm getting a $2500 merit bonus on top of the flat 2% raise. Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!!
Back home from Chicago. I probably have things to blog about, but I can't really think of any right now. I will say that an hour and a hlaf flight floowed by a 2.5 hour DRIVE home from the airport...? Kinda stupid.
One bit of good news. I got home to find a letter from the university informing me that I'm getting a $2500 merit bonus on top of the flat 2% raise. Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!!
Wednesday, August 16
interdisciplinary fun...
It's official... I'm team teaching my "Music and Science" class in the Spring with a member of the music faculty. (The choral director to be precise.) He claims to know something about the psychology of music perception. We'll see. In any case, it will be open to 50 undergrads instead of he usual 20-25. FIFTY STUDENTS!! It'll be almost like teaching at a real college!
It's official... I'm team teaching my "Music and Science" class in the Spring with a member of the music faculty. (The choral director to be precise.) He claims to know something about the psychology of music perception. We'll see. In any case, it will be open to 50 undergrads instead of he usual 20-25. FIFTY STUDENTS!! It'll be almost like teaching at a real college!
upgrade...?
Those of you who pay attention to such things may be aware that there has been an upgrade at Google/Blogger that add some moderately-interesting new features to Blogger. But they seem to require you to set up a NEW blog using your Google account. Presumably this enables your Google sevices to connect to your Blogger services, and brings Google one more step towards global domination. Anyway, this may serve as a good excuse for me to migrate "second order approximation" over to a new URL and to give the blog a little re-tooling.
Because what I need to be doing 2 weeks before classes start is reworking my entire fucking weblog.
Those of you who pay attention to such things may be aware that there has been an upgrade at Google/Blogger that add some moderately-interesting new features to Blogger. But they seem to require you to set up a NEW blog using your Google account. Presumably this enables your Google sevices to connect to your Blogger services, and brings Google one more step towards global domination. Anyway, this may serve as a good excuse for me to migrate "second order approximation" over to a new URL and to give the blog a little re-tooling.
Because what I need to be doing 2 weeks before classes start is reworking my entire fucking weblog.
Monday, August 14
vintage gadgets beware...
I've had more than a little free time so far on this vacation, and what time I haven't spent eating cookies has been spend on eBay. My watch list is full of $20-$50 crap I don't need, from Apple eMates to MIDI drum pads.
Not good...
I've had more than a little free time so far on this vacation, and what time I haven't spent eating cookies has been spend on eBay. My watch list is full of $20-$50 crap I don't need, from Apple eMates to MIDI drum pads.
Not good...
Friday, August 11
macs and the city...
Somehow we let the 11:00 news tonight lapse into an episode of Sex and the City, which we've never really watched, and the plot revolved around Sarah Jessica Parker's computer crashing, and they actually namedropped TekServe, the place over on 23rd Street where I've taken my flaky iBook in the past.
Never before have I felt so hip.
I think it's the first time anything on that program has held my attention for even a minute.
Somehow we let the 11:00 news tonight lapse into an episode of Sex and the City, which we've never really watched, and the plot revolved around Sarah Jessica Parker's computer crashing, and they actually namedropped TekServe, the place over on 23rd Street where I've taken my flaky iBook in the past.
Never before have I felt so hip.
I think it's the first time anything on that program has held my attention for even a minute.
it must be said...
... because I'm scheduled to fly to Chicago tomorrow... regarding the current airline security business and the terror red alert and the "no liquids" rule.
Given that the British authorities have suppsedly thwarted this terrorist plot... what really is the point of confiscating MY Starbucks NOW?? And why RAISE the terror alert level? Wasn't it MORE dangerous to fly LAST week, when there was an UNTHWARTED terrorist plot???
The best thing I've seen has been the footage on CNN of TSA officers taking away peoples' (supposedly possibly explosive!!) liquids at security and DUMPING THEM ALL TOGETHER IN A BIG BIN!!!
They're keeping us SAFE, folks!!
... because I'm scheduled to fly to Chicago tomorrow... regarding the current airline security business and the terror red alert and the "no liquids" rule.
Given that the British authorities have suppsedly thwarted this terrorist plot... what really is the point of confiscating MY Starbucks NOW?? And why RAISE the terror alert level? Wasn't it MORE dangerous to fly LAST week, when there was an UNTHWARTED terrorist plot???
The best thing I've seen has been the footage on CNN of TSA officers taking away peoples' (supposedly possibly explosive!!) liquids at security and DUMPING THEM ALL TOGETHER IN A BIG BIN!!!
They're keeping us SAFE, folks!!
live and online...
The old Apple iBook which has been languishing in a drawer in my office for almost a year finally has a job to do. It is sitting in the basement right now, wirelessly serving webpages to the outside world from behind my router's firewall. I'm quite impressed with myself.
There is nothing much on there right now, since classes haven't started. I did put last semester's Modern Physics lectures up, just as a sort of "proof of concept" to see how fast the downloads are. Any readers out there interested in a free virtual course in relativity... let me know and I'll mail you the URL.
This also opens the door for a possible Second Order Approximation Podcast. Maybe some day.
The old Apple iBook which has been languishing in a drawer in my office for almost a year finally has a job to do. It is sitting in the basement right now, wirelessly serving webpages to the outside world from behind my router's firewall. I'm quite impressed with myself.
There is nothing much on there right now, since classes haven't started. I did put last semester's Modern Physics lectures up, just as a sort of "proof of concept" to see how fast the downloads are. Any readers out there interested in a free virtual course in relativity... let me know and I'll mail you the URL.
This also opens the door for a possible Second Order Approximation Podcast. Maybe some day.
Thursday, August 10
quick somebody start gathering pairs... 2 pigeons, 2 rats, 2 hobos...
I got caught in a fucker of a rainstorm today. Rain is bad enough, but there is something about NYC that makes a hard rain look even harder. I took the C train down from the museum, thinking I would just get off on 8th Ave walk the couple oflong blocks over to the office. But when I got off the subway and headed for the exit, I was faced with a crowd of people just standing around at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the downpour outside. Fuck. I waited around for 5 minutes or so to see if maybe it was just a quickie, but it didn't seem to be letting up, so I turned around and paid the extra two bucks to get BACK on the subway, backtrack, and take the L across town.
I hung around the exit for a while, and when the Biblical Flood let up for a minute and turned into Ordinary Really Hard Rain, I made my move and sprinted two blocks to my office.
Good news? Cardio workout for the day taken care of.
Bad news? Soaked. To. The. Bone.
It was pretty awful. I only had a little while before my meeting, so I went to the science lab and dug through the drawers to find some leftover "Science Lab Open House" t-shirts. The biggest size they had was a medium, and I've lost weight folks, but not that much weight. (And I definitely haven't gotten any shorter!) But it served well enough as a dry buffer between my skin and my soaking wet shirt.
Oh, and needless to say, when I left the lab to go to my meeting... not a cloud in the sky.
Anyway - the Darwin exhibit? Good, but not THAT fucking good.
I got caught in a fucker of a rainstorm today. Rain is bad enough, but there is something about NYC that makes a hard rain look even harder. I took the C train down from the museum, thinking I would just get off on 8th Ave walk the couple oflong blocks over to the office. But when I got off the subway and headed for the exit, I was faced with a crowd of people just standing around at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the downpour outside. Fuck. I waited around for 5 minutes or so to see if maybe it was just a quickie, but it didn't seem to be letting up, so I turned around and paid the extra two bucks to get BACK on the subway, backtrack, and take the L across town.
I hung around the exit for a while, and when the Biblical Flood let up for a minute and turned into Ordinary Really Hard Rain, I made my move and sprinted two blocks to my office.
Good news? Cardio workout for the day taken care of.
Bad news? Soaked. To. The. Bone.
It was pretty awful. I only had a little while before my meeting, so I went to the science lab and dug through the drawers to find some leftover "Science Lab Open House" t-shirts. The biggest size they had was a medium, and I've lost weight folks, but not that much weight. (And I definitely haven't gotten any shorter!) But it served well enough as a dry buffer between my skin and my soaking wet shirt.
Oh, and needless to say, when I left the lab to go to my meeting... not a cloud in the sky.
Anyway - the Darwin exhibit? Good, but not THAT fucking good.
one-day work-week...
Heading into the city today on a late morning train. I'm at the cafe now, poking around on the laptop for an hour or so. I have a meeting at 4:00, some paperworky things to attend to at the office, but other than that, I think I may spend most of the afternoon at the Museum of Natural History. There is a Darwin exhibit there that is closing in a few weeks.
As for the work that needs to be worked on this morning.... I want to give the syllabi one more look and then print them all out. It will feel nice to know that there is a stack of them sitting there printed and ready so soon. I also want to take a look at the course-pack for my physics class... add a few things to it and get it all ready to go to the copy place at the end of August.
I'm starting to feel almost ready for the semester. I've started work on some nitty-gritty details like a semester-long reading list for one class (something I never do... I always just open the book at the end of every day and tell them what to read) and a plan for how I'm going to assign homework. Things will be a little different this semester, and I think that's a good thing.
Today's fitness update... 201!! That means I'm down about 11 lbs since the cruise. The 38 jeans are comfortably loose, but there is still a long way to go before 36 territory. That's the most depressing thing about this process... how fat I STILL AM after losing more than 10 pounds. Anyway, it would be nice to see the southside of 200 before we leave for Chicago on Saturday, because it is going to be REALLY HARD to maintain good eating habits at my wife's parents' house. My wife has one of those "bowl of M&M" moms. The willpower will be tested!
Oh. I just remembered... I want to go to Whole Foods today. The tea supplies are dwindling, both at home and the office.
The fucking wireless is dead here. Maybe I should work for a while.
Heading into the city today on a late morning train. I'm at the cafe now, poking around on the laptop for an hour or so. I have a meeting at 4:00, some paperworky things to attend to at the office, but other than that, I think I may spend most of the afternoon at the Museum of Natural History. There is a Darwin exhibit there that is closing in a few weeks.
As for the work that needs to be worked on this morning.... I want to give the syllabi one more look and then print them all out. It will feel nice to know that there is a stack of them sitting there printed and ready so soon. I also want to take a look at the course-pack for my physics class... add a few things to it and get it all ready to go to the copy place at the end of August.
I'm starting to feel almost ready for the semester. I've started work on some nitty-gritty details like a semester-long reading list for one class (something I never do... I always just open the book at the end of every day and tell them what to read) and a plan for how I'm going to assign homework. Things will be a little different this semester, and I think that's a good thing.
Today's fitness update... 201!! That means I'm down about 11 lbs since the cruise. The 38 jeans are comfortably loose, but there is still a long way to go before 36 territory. That's the most depressing thing about this process... how fat I STILL AM after losing more than 10 pounds. Anyway, it would be nice to see the southside of 200 before we leave for Chicago on Saturday, because it is going to be REALLY HARD to maintain good eating habits at my wife's parents' house. My wife has one of those "bowl of M&M" moms. The willpower will be tested!
Oh. I just remembered... I want to go to Whole Foods today. The tea supplies are dwindling, both at home and the office.
The fucking wireless is dead here. Maybe I should work for a while.
Wednesday, August 9
enlightenment through debt...? priceless...
I saw this ad in the sidebar of one of my Yoga sites. Oh how I wish it were a joke, but it seems not to be. Talk about missing the point.
I saw this ad in the sidebar of one of my Yoga sites. Oh how I wish it were a joke, but it seems not to be. Talk about missing the point.
i'll have to check with my chiropractor to authorize any head-banging...
I know it's wrong on so many levels, but I'm finding it difficult to resist the temptation to buy tickets to see Iron Maiden in concert in October.
I wonder if my old acid-washed denim jacket with the patches is still at my Dad's house?
I know it's wrong on so many levels, but I'm finding it difficult to resist the temptation to buy tickets to see Iron Maiden in concert in October.
I wonder if my old acid-washed denim jacket with the patches is still at my Dad's house?
Tuesday, August 8
Monday, August 7
stevenote news...
Meh. Nothing too earth-shattering from the big Apple WWDC conference today. No big "one more thing..." hardware announcements. Just Leopard stuff. Like Tiger, it appears that it will have just barely enough gee-whizziness to make me plop down$79 for the upgrade. At least I have until Spring.
Meh. Nothing too earth-shattering from the big Apple WWDC conference today. No big "one more thing..." hardware announcements. Just Leopard stuff. Like Tiger, it appears that it will have just barely enough gee-whizziness to make me plop down$79 for the upgrade. At least I have until Spring.
syllabi, etc...
I have three syllabi to write up this semester... one for a brand new course. The brand new one was giving me trouble last night. The first draft came off sounding kind of weird and needy. Probably best not to vent all of your fears that the course is going to suck right there on the first day.
Anyway, I now have all my schedules laid out, grading policies set, scary plagiarism sections written... I may be able to print out final versions this week!
The only thing I haven't figured out for all of my courses is exactly what sorts of assignments I'm going to give them. My usual m.o. (weekly readings, write a 1-2 page response) doesn't really work all that well, because their papers just pile up ungraded. For one class I'm considering a journal approach. For another class, I'm considering a student-constructed Wiki. I'm so lazy, though... I'll probably just fall back on my old slightly-ineffective methods of assessment.
The next step in planning is to actually figure out what I'm doing day-to-day for the first couple of weeks. This is particularly important for the new course, since my greatest fear for that class is "dead air". In fact, since the course isn't really in my area of expertise, I intend to come up with a list of "Things I Actually Know About That I Can Talk About In An Emergency". I should also lay out a week-by-week reading list at the beginning, given that there are FIVE textbooks for the class.
T-minus one month... still a lot of work to do. Where the fuck did the summer go?
I have three syllabi to write up this semester... one for a brand new course. The brand new one was giving me trouble last night. The first draft came off sounding kind of weird and needy. Probably best not to vent all of your fears that the course is going to suck right there on the first day.
Anyway, I now have all my schedules laid out, grading policies set, scary plagiarism sections written... I may be able to print out final versions this week!
The only thing I haven't figured out for all of my courses is exactly what sorts of assignments I'm going to give them. My usual m.o. (weekly readings, write a 1-2 page response) doesn't really work all that well, because their papers just pile up ungraded. For one class I'm considering a journal approach. For another class, I'm considering a student-constructed Wiki. I'm so lazy, though... I'll probably just fall back on my old slightly-ineffective methods of assessment.
The next step in planning is to actually figure out what I'm doing day-to-day for the first couple of weeks. This is particularly important for the new course, since my greatest fear for that class is "dead air". In fact, since the course isn't really in my area of expertise, I intend to come up with a list of "Things I Actually Know About That I Can Talk About In An Emergency". I should also lay out a week-by-week reading list at the beginning, given that there are FIVE textbooks for the class.
T-minus one month... still a lot of work to do. Where the fuck did the summer go?
fitness update...
Still bobbing around the vicinity of 204, 203, 205... I think the not-eating has done all it's going to do without ramping up the exercise level. So I've been doing the treadmill for 25 min or so every other night while the kids bathe. I can now run at 6 mph for 2 min without passing out - up from 90 seconds last week. Progress!
Still bobbing around the vicinity of 204, 203, 205... I think the not-eating has done all it's going to do without ramping up the exercise level. So I've been doing the treadmill for 25 min or so every other night while the kids bathe. I can now run at 6 mph for 2 min without passing out - up from 90 seconds last week. Progress!
Sunday, August 6
fuck, fuck, fuck...
I just went down to the basement to discover that the freezer has been off for about 48 hours. Seems when we moved it into the workshop, it got plugged into a GFI outlet, and when there is a power outage, those things trip and don't come back on until you reset them. The upshot - about $100 of food lost. Good food too... crabcakes and exotic frozen pizza varieties that our local grocery store doesn't carry.
It pisses me off, and there's nothing worse than anger that can't be directed at anyplace in particular.
I just went down to the basement to discover that the freezer has been off for about 48 hours. Seems when we moved it into the workshop, it got plugged into a GFI outlet, and when there is a power outage, those things trip and don't come back on until you reset them. The upshot - about $100 of food lost. Good food too... crabcakes and exotic frozen pizza varieties that our local grocery store doesn't carry.
It pisses me off, and there's nothing worse than anger that can't be directed at anyplace in particular.
Saturday, August 5
exciting stuff...
It took an awful lot of fucking around with my firewall settings, and I had to set up an account with a dynamicDNS rerouting service, but I finally have my computer set up as an Apache webserver.
Now that I know how to do it, I'm going to set up the old white iBook as a full-time webserver in the basement. This means I'll be able to podcast my lectures and keep various other course-things online without having to rely on the university's servers.
I'm very geeked out about this.
It took an awful lot of fucking around with my firewall settings, and I had to set up an account with a dynamicDNS rerouting service, but I finally have my computer set up as an Apache webserver.
Now that I know how to do it, I'm going to set up the old white iBook as a full-time webserver in the basement. This means I'll be able to podcast my lectures and keep various other course-things online without having to rely on the university's servers.
I'm very geeked out about this.
Friday, August 4
big mean professor...
I worked on my syllabi today. I added a section about acceptable format for written assignments. It's the first time I've included such guidelines. The intro to this section reads...
Imagine how popular my classes would be if I was a good teacher and NOT a curmudgeon!
I worked on my syllabi today. I added a section about acceptable format for written assignments. It's the first time I've included such guidelines. The intro to this section reads...
"I hate to be one of those professors who gets all uptight and precise about what format you use when you turn in assignments, but invariably every semester there is some student who insists on turning in homework written in crayon on 3x5 spiral notepad paper, so... it has to be done. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in a reduction of your grade on that assignment by 10% - 20%."
Imagine how popular my classes would be if I was a good teacher and NOT a curmudgeon!
Thursday, August 3
Wednesday, August 2
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