"this one goes to 400 Mb/sec..."
I saw an ad on dealmac.com the other day for a sale price on this electric guitar with a built in USB port so you can plug it in to your computer directly for digital recording purposes.
I am sorry, but there is something so UN-rock-and-roll about a guitar with a fucking USB port... I can't even get my head around it.
And yet... for $99...
I think Computer-Geek-Dave and Rock-and-Roll-Dave are going to have to fight this one out. We'll get back to you.
Tuesday, November 7
belated halloween book review...
Apropos to the topic, I finished "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova on Halloween night. A few days earlier, when the wife noticed I was about 50 pages from the end, she said "Oh, are you finally almost finished with that?" to which I replied, "Yes, I'm getting close to the end and THERE BETTER BE A FUCKING PAYOFF AFTER ALL THIS!!!"
Well, there is a payoff, but I'm still not 100% sure it was worth the convoluted 500 page train ride through Eastern Europe to get there. I'm not sure I can recommend it unless you really, really like detailed descriptions of Byzantine churches and complicated nesting narrative structures.
I sat in the hotel room reading the letter that my father wrote. "My dear daughter. I can continue now with the story that my friend and mentor Professor Rossi related to me on that day. He took me aside in his office and told me - 'Once I was in Romania and I met a women who knew of this legend. I asked her to tell me everything she knew. She showed me a letter. The letter read. "I, Brother Bartholomew, have discovered a rare document from 11th century Hungary that makes reference to the pilgrimage of monks from Constantinople to Wallachia. The document begins... 'In the year...'"'"'"
I'm sorry? What year? Who is talking? What country are we in? What century is it?
Anyway. There are vampires. So, it's kinda like the DaVinci Code meets Anne Rice, but more realistic. And less gay.
(I should post that review to Amazon.)
Apropos to the topic, I finished "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova on Halloween night. A few days earlier, when the wife noticed I was about 50 pages from the end, she said "Oh, are you finally almost finished with that?" to which I replied, "Yes, I'm getting close to the end and THERE BETTER BE A FUCKING PAYOFF AFTER ALL THIS!!!"
Well, there is a payoff, but I'm still not 100% sure it was worth the convoluted 500 page train ride through Eastern Europe to get there. I'm not sure I can recommend it unless you really, really like detailed descriptions of Byzantine churches and complicated nesting narrative structures.
I sat in the hotel room reading the letter that my father wrote. "My dear daughter. I can continue now with the story that my friend and mentor Professor Rossi related to me on that day. He took me aside in his office and told me - 'Once I was in Romania and I met a women who knew of this legend. I asked her to tell me everything she knew. She showed me a letter. The letter read. "I, Brother Bartholomew, have discovered a rare document from 11th century Hungary that makes reference to the pilgrimage of monks from Constantinople to Wallachia. The document begins... 'In the year...'"'"'"
I'm sorry? What year? Who is talking? What country are we in? What century is it?
Anyway. There are vampires. So, it's kinda like the DaVinci Code meets Anne Rice, but more realistic. And less gay.
(I should post that review to Amazon.)
Monday, November 6
burnt...
...out. I could not feel less like working or writing or blogging or... pretty much anything right now. We had a yet another science department meeting tonight that I kinda blew off without telling anyone. The official story will be something like "Meeting? Monday? There was? Oops!", but the truth is, I just honestly can't deal with it today. The weekend was too long and too draining. Before I can face working again, especially grading, I first have to re-acquire my will to live. I managed to stumble my was through class today, and do a minimum amount of paperwork for this thing that needs to be done by Wednesday. That's it. I'm done.
Tomorrow is election day, and I feel like I should blog SOMETHING about that, but I'll probably wait until it's OVER. I am refusing to allow myself to get any hopes up. I am being steadfastly pessimistic about the prospects of a Democratic congress, because I don't want to be disappointed/depressed on Wednesday morning when the numbers don't *quite* add up.
I just don't have it in me to get all political lately. When the news came out about Saddam Hussein being sentenced to death, all I could manage was a general sigh of dissatisfaction. What does one more dead person really gain us over there, really? It's not even that I'm opposed to the death penalty in any kind of absolute sense (although I personally have no confidence in the ability of our country's justice system to apply it fairly) I just get no sense that after it is done that anything will have changed. All the same people will still hate all the some other people. It just seems like a waste of rope in the end. I get the idea that the people on the news want us to "feel" something about it, though.
Nope.
Anyway. It's Monday. Maybe the teevee will cheer me up.
...out. I could not feel less like working or writing or blogging or... pretty much anything right now. We had a yet another science department meeting tonight that I kinda blew off without telling anyone. The official story will be something like "Meeting? Monday? There was? Oops!", but the truth is, I just honestly can't deal with it today. The weekend was too long and too draining. Before I can face working again, especially grading, I first have to re-acquire my will to live. I managed to stumble my was through class today, and do a minimum amount of paperwork for this thing that needs to be done by Wednesday. That's it. I'm done.
Tomorrow is election day, and I feel like I should blog SOMETHING about that, but I'll probably wait until it's OVER. I am refusing to allow myself to get any hopes up. I am being steadfastly pessimistic about the prospects of a Democratic congress, because I don't want to be disappointed/depressed on Wednesday morning when the numbers don't *quite* add up.
I just don't have it in me to get all political lately. When the news came out about Saddam Hussein being sentenced to death, all I could manage was a general sigh of dissatisfaction. What does one more dead person really gain us over there, really? It's not even that I'm opposed to the death penalty in any kind of absolute sense (although I personally have no confidence in the ability of our country's justice system to apply it fairly) I just get no sense that after it is done that anything will have changed. All the same people will still hate all the some other people. It just seems like a waste of rope in the end. I get the idea that the people on the news want us to "feel" something about it, though.
Nope.
Anyway. It's Monday. Maybe the teevee will cheer me up.
weekend wrap-up...
No time to blog all weekend, what with the crazy schedule of events and the molasses-slow hotel internet connection. No time to blog NOW, really, what with the week's worth of neglected grading and unthoughtabout classes, but... that sort of thing seldom stops me.
The presentation was fine - sparsely attended but well-received. One guy told me it was the best talk he'd seen during the whole conference. Somebody told me something similar at the last conference as well. I'm not in it for the compliments, of course, but it's nice to hear.
After my talk I went back to the hotel to change, grabbed a tea and a brownie at Starbucks and then walked back to Harborplace to have lunch with the wife and kids at the Cheesecake Factory (a two-hour + order with the wait beforehand) ate seriously too fucking much, then drove up to the wife's cousin's (for more food) that evening. Sunday we met for brunch at a greasy diner with my Dad and my Grandmom and I ordered the french toast + eggs + bacon + sausage + heart disease special. I dread getting on the scale this week.
The kids were slightly sick and sleep deprived and generally unpleasant a lot of the time, but it didn't really peak until we got home last night. I heated up some leftover pizza for them, and called them down for dinner, and the Boy walked into the kitchen, picked up his plate, and said "I didn't even WANT pizza". Then he dumped his slice straight into the trash can. Then I beat him unconscious. It's been much quieter since then.
The whole NaNonFicMo idea has been back-burnered, naturally, with all that's been going on. I still want to write every day this month, but instead of a single project, I'm thinking I should spread things around a little. I'm going to pull up some half-written manuscripts and get those polished up and ready to send in. The more we work on these "guidelines for scholarship", the more it looks like things at the college are going to become significantly more publish-or-perishy over the next 5 years or so. And I'd REALLY rather not perish at this point in my career. So it's time to step up from this "two conference talks a year" plan and get a few short articles published. Somewhere around here I have a list of "crappy little journals where I could probably easily get a paper in". Maybe I'll start there.
No time to blog all weekend, what with the crazy schedule of events and the molasses-slow hotel internet connection. No time to blog NOW, really, what with the week's worth of neglected grading and unthoughtabout classes, but... that sort of thing seldom stops me.
The presentation was fine - sparsely attended but well-received. One guy told me it was the best talk he'd seen during the whole conference. Somebody told me something similar at the last conference as well. I'm not in it for the compliments, of course, but it's nice to hear.
After my talk I went back to the hotel to change, grabbed a tea and a brownie at Starbucks and then walked back to Harborplace to have lunch with the wife and kids at the Cheesecake Factory (a two-hour + order with the wait beforehand) ate seriously too fucking much, then drove up to the wife's cousin's (for more food) that evening. Sunday we met for brunch at a greasy diner with my Dad and my Grandmom and I ordered the french toast + eggs + bacon + sausage + heart disease special. I dread getting on the scale this week.
The kids were slightly sick and sleep deprived and generally unpleasant a lot of the time, but it didn't really peak until we got home last night. I heated up some leftover pizza for them, and called them down for dinner, and the Boy walked into the kitchen, picked up his plate, and said "I didn't even WANT pizza". Then he dumped his slice straight into the trash can. Then I beat him unconscious. It's been much quieter since then.
The whole NaNonFicMo idea has been back-burnered, naturally, with all that's been going on. I still want to write every day this month, but instead of a single project, I'm thinking I should spread things around a little. I'm going to pull up some half-written manuscripts and get those polished up and ready to send in. The more we work on these "guidelines for scholarship", the more it looks like things at the college are going to become significantly more publish-or-perishy over the next 5 years or so. And I'd REALLY rather not perish at this point in my career. So it's time to step up from this "two conference talks a year" plan and get a few short articles published. Somewhere around here I have a list of "crappy little journals where I could probably easily get a paper in". Maybe I'll start there.
Saturday, November 4
presentation...
It's a little before 9:00 AM, my talk is at 9:30. I've gone over the Keynote presentation one final time... everything seems to be in order, and I think I can drag out what I have to say to fill the whole hour. I peeked at my room... it's SMALL, but holds ~70 chairs. I got on the shuttle bus this morning and the first person I talked to was planning on attending my talk. This bodes well for attendance. I feel like I'm wasting time if I go all the way to a conference and get less than 50 attendees.
Back in the hotel room, the daughter with pneumonia is doing much better, but the boy started getting fevery last night. My wife had planned on taking them to the "Port Discovery" children's museum today while I do the conference. We'll see. She may just wind up trapped in the hotel room with them, which is only fair, since I was trapped in the hotel room with them yesterday ("I'm boooooooooooored") while my wife attended a day of "Stitches East" some kind of knitting expo that I don't even pretend to understand. It's at the same conference center as my NSTA convention, though, so it's kind of fun to sit around the public areas and play "Science Nerd or Knitting Nerd?".
We had dinner with my Mom last night at one of those Japanese steakhouse places. It was fun to watch the kids watch the chef. Nothing impresses a 3-year-old like an onion-volcano. Tonight we are visiting my wife's cousins who live way "upstate" (I know Maryland isn't really big enough to have an "upstate" but they live about as far away as you can live and still be in Maryland) and tomorrow we are having brunch with my Dad and my Grandmom. Two conferences and three family visits in three days with 2 sick kids. Welcome to my life.
It's a little before 9:00 AM, my talk is at 9:30. I've gone over the Keynote presentation one final time... everything seems to be in order, and I think I can drag out what I have to say to fill the whole hour. I peeked at my room... it's SMALL, but holds ~70 chairs. I got on the shuttle bus this morning and the first person I talked to was planning on attending my talk. This bodes well for attendance. I feel like I'm wasting time if I go all the way to a conference and get less than 50 attendees.
Back in the hotel room, the daughter with pneumonia is doing much better, but the boy started getting fevery last night. My wife had planned on taking them to the "Port Discovery" children's museum today while I do the conference. We'll see. She may just wind up trapped in the hotel room with them, which is only fair, since I was trapped in the hotel room with them yesterday ("I'm boooooooooooored") while my wife attended a day of "Stitches East" some kind of knitting expo that I don't even pretend to understand. It's at the same conference center as my NSTA convention, though, so it's kind of fun to sit around the public areas and play "Science Nerd or Knitting Nerd?".
We had dinner with my Mom last night at one of those Japanese steakhouse places. It was fun to watch the kids watch the chef. Nothing impresses a 3-year-old like an onion-volcano. Tonight we are visiting my wife's cousins who live way "upstate" (I know Maryland isn't really big enough to have an "upstate" but they live about as far away as you can live and still be in Maryland) and tomorrow we are having brunch with my Dad and my Grandmom. Two conferences and three family visits in three days with 2 sick kids. Welcome to my life.
Thursday, November 2
boys are weird...
At this very moment, the Boy is in the bathtub singing a song of his own devising which combines the melody of the My Little Pony theme song with the repeated lyrical motif - "Boba Fett".
I'm not even going to ask.
At this very moment, the Boy is in the bathtub singing a song of his own devising which combines the melody of the My Little Pony theme song with the repeated lyrical motif - "Boba Fett".
"Bo-Boba Fett Fett,
Bo-Boba Fett Fett,
Boba, Bobaaaaa - Boba Fett.
Boba F' Fett Fett,
Boba F' Fett Fett,
Boba, Boba, Boba Boba, Boba Fe-e-ett..."
I'm not even going to ask.
all that was missing was the lab coat...
I did a demonstration in physics class today! You should have seen it... there were beakers and everything... it was like... I dunno... like a fucking science class or something!
In other news, I checked the NaNo page, and it IS only a 1000 words a day. I don't know why I thought it was more. Not sure how well I'll be able to focus on writing for the next few days, what with the looming conference presentation and all. Oh, also... my daughter has pneumonia. How fucked up is that? She's had a fever on and off for 3 days, and my wife took her to the doctor today. They aren't too worried, they put her on high-dose Zithromax for 5 days. Hopefully she'll start to get better this weekend. We have all kinds of crap planned in Baltimore. Dragging a wheezing feverish child around with us will likely make us feel like bad parents.
Anyway... just pounded down a half a grande tea, dozed off for 20 min, then finished the other half. So... zing! Off to work on the presentation.
I did a demonstration in physics class today! You should have seen it... there were beakers and everything... it was like... I dunno... like a fucking science class or something!
In other news, I checked the NaNo page, and it IS only a 1000 words a day. I don't know why I thought it was more. Not sure how well I'll be able to focus on writing for the next few days, what with the looming conference presentation and all. Oh, also... my daughter has pneumonia. How fucked up is that? She's had a fever on and off for 3 days, and my wife took her to the doctor today. They aren't too worried, they put her on high-dose Zithromax for 5 days. Hopefully she'll start to get better this weekend. We have all kinds of crap planned in Baltimore. Dragging a wheezing feverish child around with us will likely make us feel like bad parents.
Anyway... just pounded down a half a grande tea, dozed off for 20 min, then finished the other half. So... zing! Off to work on the presentation.
NaNonFicMo...
I don't even really know what the word-count goals are for the real NaNoWriMo. My guess is that it's pretty high. I'm going to commit myself to the entirely reachable goal of 1000 words a day. More would be good, but if I could have 60 pages or so worth of my "textbook" project in the bag over the next month or so, that would make me very happy. So far since yesterday I've written 1200.
I will say that the train ride goes insanely quickly when you write non-stop for the whole two hours. I also had to compose a quick letter to the provost about a mistake in my appointment review letter. This is the kind of administrative blah-di-blah that I really can't deal with. The very fact that I read the letter 3 or 4 times in September without noticing the mistake is testament to the fact that contracty-legalese and I just don't get along.
Anyway. Now it's time to work on Saturday's powerpoint for the conference. I'm not quite as ready for that as I probably should be!
I don't even really know what the word-count goals are for the real NaNoWriMo. My guess is that it's pretty high. I'm going to commit myself to the entirely reachable goal of 1000 words a day. More would be good, but if I could have 60 pages or so worth of my "textbook" project in the bag over the next month or so, that would make me very happy. So far since yesterday I've written 1200.
I will say that the train ride goes insanely quickly when you write non-stop for the whole two hours. I also had to compose a quick letter to the provost about a mistake in my appointment review letter. This is the kind of administrative blah-di-blah that I really can't deal with. The very fact that I read the letter 3 or 4 times in September without noticing the mistake is testament to the fact that contracty-legalese and I just don't get along.
Anyway. Now it's time to work on Saturday's powerpoint for the conference. I'm not quite as ready for that as I probably should be!
Wednesday, November 1
new feature... lecture snippets...
Not sure how often I'll do this, but I figure it's so rare that Dr. Dave goes for the laugh in class, I figured I'd post it just for fun.
(~4 Mb quicktime .wav)
Not sure how often I'll do this, but I figure it's so rare that Dr. Dave goes for the laugh in class, I figured I'd post it just for fun.
(~4 Mb quicktime .wav)
my life in 7 panels...
I'm usually not one of those link-posty bloggers, but this cartoon so captures my life that I have to share.
I'm usually not one of those link-posty bloggers, but this cartoon so captures my life that I have to share.
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