time pressure...
I kinda feel like writing, but I do NOT have the time. Seriously NOT. It’s just now hitting me that I leave for this conference TOMORROW, and I have to be ready to go straight from work after class. Which means I need to print out teacher handouts and crap. Which means I need to FINISH teacher handouts and crap.
Maybe tonight.
D.
Tuesday, March 30
completely demoralizing...
The wife is having a playdate, so I came to the library to grade my Astronomy midterms. How fucking depressing. I just graded one that was LESS THAN 50%. For fuck’s sake. My 5 year old daughter could probably get a 50% on this test. I know the class is early and the lectures are LONG, people, but... fuck. Wake the hell up.
d.
The wife is having a playdate, so I came to the library to grade my Astronomy midterms. How fucking depressing. I just graded one that was LESS THAN 50%. For fuck’s sake. My 5 year old daughter could probably get a 50% on this test. I know the class is early and the lectures are LONG, people, but... fuck. Wake the hell up.
d.
Monday, March 29
*ping*...
High point of my day today? I bought a tuning fork. Yup, you heard me – a tuning fork... of my very own. I was teaching about the physics of sound today, and the lab didn’t have any, so I walked down to the Guitar Center and bought one. It makes me very happy. “Ping”!!
I also bought a Kayser brand capo, because I can’t find my Shubb. This will mean nothing to you unless you are a guitarist, and maybe not even then. But I always wanted a Kayser capo, and never could justify the expense. I looked at them today and they were $15.99, and I thought - ”Were they ALWAYS $15.99? Or was there just a point in my life when$15.99 seemed like an extravagant expenditure?” I expect the latter. Anyway, I bought one.
*** ** *** ** ***
My wife and I are going “out” tonight, I think. I don’t know where. It doesn’t really matter, y’know? Her Mom is in town for the week – mainly to help her with the kids while I’m away in Atlanta for the weekend. We may go to dinner. At a restaurant. With just the two of us. With no coloring books. And no high chair. And nobody mooching Pepsi and french fries every 5 seconds. And nobody who needs to be hand-fed anything. Get the picture?
Or maybe a movie. You know... in a theatre. Not in the basement. On DVD. From Blockbuster. Getting interrupted every 25 minutes by somebody crying. An honest-to-goodness “first run” movie that we haven’t already read the ending of in some review somewhere. Imagine that!! And the babysitting is FREE, so the movie won’t cost us 60 fucking dollars.
*** ** *** ** ***
Even though she’s still breastfeeding. my wife recently got her period back. Yeah. It’s been a long time... figure, the kid is 15 months old, plus 9 months before that... that’s two years!! I had almost forgotten all about them and their accompanying... you know... “symptoms”, if you know what I mean. My wife was on some tirade about something a couple of days ago, and I finally just said – “Jesus, it’s been a while, will you please remind me how long these things LAST again??”
And then there is the impact on the whole sex thing. I mean... it was infrequent enough without crossing off 6 days out of every 28. The opportunity, plus the desire, plus the energy only come together for both of us once every 4-6 weeks or so. And now there is a 21% chance that they’ll line up during the wrong week? For fuck’s sake... by the time all those planets are in alignment again... who knows?? This latest box of a dozen condoms is gonna last us until Halley’s Comet comes back.
D.
High point of my day today? I bought a tuning fork. Yup, you heard me – a tuning fork... of my very own. I was teaching about the physics of sound today, and the lab didn’t have any, so I walked down to the Guitar Center and bought one. It makes me very happy. “Ping”!!
I also bought a Kayser brand capo, because I can’t find my Shubb. This will mean nothing to you unless you are a guitarist, and maybe not even then. But I always wanted a Kayser capo, and never could justify the expense. I looked at them today and they were $15.99, and I thought - ”Were they ALWAYS $15.99? Or was there just a point in my life when$15.99 seemed like an extravagant expenditure?” I expect the latter. Anyway, I bought one.
My wife and I are going “out” tonight, I think. I don’t know where. It doesn’t really matter, y’know? Her Mom is in town for the week – mainly to help her with the kids while I’m away in Atlanta for the weekend. We may go to dinner. At a restaurant. With just the two of us. With no coloring books. And no high chair. And nobody mooching Pepsi and french fries every 5 seconds. And nobody who needs to be hand-fed anything. Get the picture?
Or maybe a movie. You know... in a theatre. Not in the basement. On DVD. From Blockbuster. Getting interrupted every 25 minutes by somebody crying. An honest-to-goodness “first run” movie that we haven’t already read the ending of in some review somewhere. Imagine that!! And the babysitting is FREE, so the movie won’t cost us 60 fucking dollars.
Even though she’s still breastfeeding. my wife recently got her period back. Yeah. It’s been a long time... figure, the kid is 15 months old, plus 9 months before that... that’s two years!! I had almost forgotten all about them and their accompanying... you know... “symptoms”, if you know what I mean. My wife was on some tirade about something a couple of days ago, and I finally just said – “Jesus, it’s been a while, will you please remind me how long these things LAST again??”
And then there is the impact on the whole sex thing. I mean... it was infrequent enough without crossing off 6 days out of every 28. The opportunity, plus the desire, plus the energy only come together for both of us once every 4-6 weeks or so. And now there is a 21% chance that they’ll line up during the wrong week? For fuck’s sake... by the time all those planets are in alignment again... who knows?? This latest box of a dozen condoms is gonna last us until Halley’s Comet comes back.
D.
infinite trombonists...
I have way too many Big Projects going on right now... the play, my conference presentation, a big PowerPoint for my class Monday... and they are all competing for space in my calendar and in my head. I just jump from one to another, with no regard to which is the most urgent. Finally on Sunday I turned my full attention to the Monday physics lecture. I’m in the unenviable position of having to teach a concept this week that I’ve never fully understood... Planck’s explanation of blackbody radiation and the resulting quantization scheme that led to the birth of Quantum Mechanics. I don’t know what it is. All the other early quantum stuff I have no problem with. Einstein’s photoelectric effect... Bohr’s atomic orbitals.... but Planck? I dunno. And I think it’s just because I’ve never actually TAUGHT this topic, so I haven’t been forced to either boil down the mathematics to something accessible, or the alternative... come up with an easily digestible analogy. Well, After checking out the math for the first time in probably a decade, I decided THAT wasn’t an option. So I started poring over websites and books, trying to understand this stuff on a level that would allow me to explain it to non-science students. I think I came up with an analogy. It’s called ”An Infinite Number of Trombonists”. Don’t even ask. This is going to be a horrible lecture!!
But I do need to get to work on it. It’s not finished. T-minus two hours, Monday morning.
D.
I have way too many Big Projects going on right now... the play, my conference presentation, a big PowerPoint for my class Monday... and they are all competing for space in my calendar and in my head. I just jump from one to another, with no regard to which is the most urgent. Finally on Sunday I turned my full attention to the Monday physics lecture. I’m in the unenviable position of having to teach a concept this week that I’ve never fully understood... Planck’s explanation of blackbody radiation and the resulting quantization scheme that led to the birth of Quantum Mechanics. I don’t know what it is. All the other early quantum stuff I have no problem with. Einstein’s photoelectric effect... Bohr’s atomic orbitals.... but Planck? I dunno. And I think it’s just because I’ve never actually TAUGHT this topic, so I haven’t been forced to either boil down the mathematics to something accessible, or the alternative... come up with an easily digestible analogy. Well, After checking out the math for the first time in probably a decade, I decided THAT wasn’t an option. So I started poring over websites and books, trying to understand this stuff on a level that would allow me to explain it to non-science students. I think I came up with an analogy. It’s called ”An Infinite Number of Trombonists”. Don’t even ask. This is going to be a horrible lecture!!
But I do need to get to work on it. It’s not finished. T-minus two hours, Monday morning.
D.
Sunday, March 28
smoke signals II...
And the thing is... having spent $5 on these Camels, I feel obliged to smoke them all, which is gonna take forever. Cuz pretty much the only place I can smoke them is in my car, and even then I have to worry about my wife smelling them on me. (She’s a smeller... big time.) Jeez, I had to sneak around less when I was 13. At least then, both my parents smoked... I could smoke up a storm right there in the house and nobody would have noticed. Now, as an “adult” I have to be all sneaky. I can’t even smoke them in public, for fear that I may start coughing and look like a big dork.
It’s all very silly.
D.
And the thing is... having spent $5 on these Camels, I feel obliged to smoke them all, which is gonna take forever. Cuz pretty much the only place I can smoke them is in my car, and even then I have to worry about my wife smelling them on me. (She’s a smeller... big time.) Jeez, I had to sneak around less when I was 13. At least then, both my parents smoked... I could smoke up a storm right there in the house and nobody would have noticed. Now, as an “adult” I have to be all sneaky. I can’t even smoke them in public, for fear that I may start coughing and look like a big dork.
It’s all very silly.
D.
Saturday, March 27
smoke signals...
I fell prey to Evil Tobacco Conglomerate advertising the other day and stopped by the nearby Indian Reservation (**) to buy a pack or two of the new Camel “Exotic Blends” flavored cigarettes. And no... for those of you keeping score, I do NOT actually smoke. I mean I havesmoked... but not... you know... “professionally”. But for some strange reason I find myself wanting to from time to time, and the idea of a Mandarin Orange flavored cigarette was just too tempting to pass up.
It was kind of a waste of money.
Actually, they taste really good if you just breathe through them without lighting them... kinda orangey and minty and the same time. But then once you light it, it just tastes like – surprise - cigarette smoke! Bleah. And then in between drags sometimes you taste the flavor in the background, but it doesn’t contribute nearly enough to the experience. All in all... a big disappointment.
D.
(**)PS: I had never set foot on this reservation, even though it is less than 2 miles from my house. The whole thing is maybe a square mile, and yet the second you set foot on it... you IMMEDIATELY know you are on a Res... smoke shops and run-down trailers... it’s so freaking depressing.
I fell prey to Evil Tobacco Conglomerate advertising the other day and stopped by the nearby Indian Reservation (**) to buy a pack or two of the new Camel “Exotic Blends” flavored cigarettes. And no... for those of you keeping score, I do NOT actually smoke. I mean I havesmoked... but not... you know... “professionally”. But for some strange reason I find myself wanting to from time to time, and the idea of a Mandarin Orange flavored cigarette was just too tempting to pass up.
It was kind of a waste of money.
Actually, they taste really good if you just breathe through them without lighting them... kinda orangey and minty and the same time. But then once you light it, it just tastes like – surprise - cigarette smoke! Bleah. And then in between drags sometimes you taste the flavor in the background, but it doesn’t contribute nearly enough to the experience. All in all... a big disappointment.
D.
(**)PS: I had never set foot on this reservation, even though it is less than 2 miles from my house. The whole thing is maybe a square mile, and yet the second you set foot on it... you IMMEDIATELY know you are on a Res... smoke shops and run-down trailers... it’s so freaking depressing.
Friday, March 26
no such thing as too many books...
Today, tomorrow, and Sunday are “Educator Appreciation Days” at Borders – which means free tea and coffee, 40% off stale pastries, and 25% off all books. Very... very... very dangerous. My wife and I went this morning and spent $250 on books. That’s AFTER the 25% off! Granted, $100 of it was for the three-volume , hardcover “Feynman Lectures on Physics”, which I’ve wanted FOREVER... but still... thems a lotta books. Worse still... I stopped by again in the afternoon when I went to pick up my daughter and bought two more!
Bibliophilia is a terrible disease.
Nothing else is going on in my life. I swear.
D.
Today, tomorrow, and Sunday are “Educator Appreciation Days” at Borders – which means free tea and coffee, 40% off stale pastries, and 25% off all books. Very... very... very dangerous. My wife and I went this morning and spent $250 on books. That’s AFTER the 25% off! Granted, $100 of it was for the three-volume , hardcover “Feynman Lectures on Physics”, which I’ve wanted FOREVER... but still... thems a lotta books. Worse still... I stopped by again in the afternoon when I went to pick up my daughter and bought two more!
Bibliophilia is a terrible disease.
Nothing else is going on in my life. I swear.
D.
photos...
Just because I don’t really have time to properly write this morning, I posted four new pix on my photoblog site. Nothing terribly exciting.... NYC street snapshots taken a month or so ago.
d.
Just because I don’t really have time to properly write this morning, I posted four new pix on my photoblog site. Nothing terribly exciting.... NYC street snapshots taken a month or so ago.
d.
Thursday, March 25
day and nite in the city...
The play was quite good. The acting was quite, quite good. Too good to be stuck in some 80 seat theatre on the Upper East Side. That was weird. The theatre was the size of my living room... the stage the size of my kitchen. I couldn’t help but think – God, how weird must it be to stand up there and act in front of only 50, 60 people?? It’s just too weirdly... close. But then I realized... well... how many gigs have I played in bars and coffee houses in front of HALF as many people? Was it weird? No... it was terribly fun and exciting and I gave the performance everything I had, just like these 4 guys did. It’s just a different mode of expression that I’m not used to, I guess.
Anyway, it was really the first time I’d seen any of this guy’s plays. You’d think I’d have checked that out before I asked him to collaborate with me, wouldn’t you? Imagine if it had sucked! Luckily it didn’t. Even though the subject matter couldn’t be more different than OUR play, it kind of helped me get a sense of what ours might “sound” like when it is finished. His dialogue is very... what Aaron Sorkin would call “crackling”. I’m not gonna claim that he’s in anywhere near the same league as Aaron Sorkin, but... it’s in that vein.
The earlier part of the day was 50% productive, 50% relaxing. I worked on the train... got into the city... headed to my office... printed some stuff out... made some copies... grabbed my Copernicus book... went to lunch... ate curry chicken and took notes... went back to my office... grabbed my computer... walked down to the SoHo Apple store... shopped for iPOd accessories... played with the Macs... walked down Mercer Street... felt very unhip in the way that only SoHo can make one feel... stopped by “Toys in Babeland” for some early anniversary shopping... played with the vibrators... marveled at the one with the LCD screen, not to mention the “twisty” ones... got a call on the cell from the wife... our daughter has taught herself multiplication... walked aaaaaallll the way up to 14th St. to catch the subway.... took the #6 up to Lexington and 86th... walked down to 80th and waaaaaaaay the fuck east to the theatre. And then... well, I already told you about the play. After the play I chatted with my collaborator and met a bunch of weird theatre people, including the “producer” who was about what I expected. It was a long way to go for a 3 minute chat, but...eh... whatever. Maybe some day MY play will be performed in a living room sized theatre in front of 60 people!
The only other interesting thing that happened was that I took a cab from the Upper East Side down to Penn Station and got a Japanese cab driver with Tourette’s Syndrome. Yeah. Lucky me. Riding in a NYC cab is bad enough normally without a cabbie who periodically goes... hoo-WAH! a-HYOOK! (**) for no apparent reason. Freaky! But I got to the station in time to make the 10:29, which is good. I expected to have to catch the next train, which would have mean getting home at 2:30 AM. As it is, I’ll get in at 12:30. Big difference!
So... that was my day. Now I’m gonna try to have another productive hour on the train before I crash.
d.
(**) Try to imagine that with a Japanese accent. It doesn’t really do it justice. I seriously considered pulling out my iPod and plugging in the voice recorder that I use to tape my lectures, recording the Tourette’s Cabbie, and then uploading the audio file here. But those are the kinds of clever things I never actually follow through on.
The play was quite good. The acting was quite, quite good. Too good to be stuck in some 80 seat theatre on the Upper East Side. That was weird. The theatre was the size of my living room... the stage the size of my kitchen. I couldn’t help but think – God, how weird must it be to stand up there and act in front of only 50, 60 people?? It’s just too weirdly... close. But then I realized... well... how many gigs have I played in bars and coffee houses in front of HALF as many people? Was it weird? No... it was terribly fun and exciting and I gave the performance everything I had, just like these 4 guys did. It’s just a different mode of expression that I’m not used to, I guess.
Anyway, it was really the first time I’d seen any of this guy’s plays. You’d think I’d have checked that out before I asked him to collaborate with me, wouldn’t you? Imagine if it had sucked! Luckily it didn’t. Even though the subject matter couldn’t be more different than OUR play, it kind of helped me get a sense of what ours might “sound” like when it is finished. His dialogue is very... what Aaron Sorkin would call “crackling”. I’m not gonna claim that he’s in anywhere near the same league as Aaron Sorkin, but... it’s in that vein.
The earlier part of the day was 50% productive, 50% relaxing. I worked on the train... got into the city... headed to my office... printed some stuff out... made some copies... grabbed my Copernicus book... went to lunch... ate curry chicken and took notes... went back to my office... grabbed my computer... walked down to the SoHo Apple store... shopped for iPOd accessories... played with the Macs... walked down Mercer Street... felt very unhip in the way that only SoHo can make one feel... stopped by “Toys in Babeland” for some early anniversary shopping... played with the vibrators... marveled at the one with the LCD screen, not to mention the “twisty” ones... got a call on the cell from the wife... our daughter has taught herself multiplication... walked aaaaaallll the way up to 14th St. to catch the subway.... took the #6 up to Lexington and 86th... walked down to 80th and waaaaaaaay the fuck east to the theatre. And then... well, I already told you about the play. After the play I chatted with my collaborator and met a bunch of weird theatre people, including the “producer” who was about what I expected. It was a long way to go for a 3 minute chat, but...eh... whatever. Maybe some day MY play will be performed in a living room sized theatre in front of 60 people!
The only other interesting thing that happened was that I took a cab from the Upper East Side down to Penn Station and got a Japanese cab driver with Tourette’s Syndrome. Yeah. Lucky me. Riding in a NYC cab is bad enough normally without a cabbie who periodically goes... hoo-WAH! a-HYOOK! (**) for no apparent reason. Freaky! But I got to the station in time to make the 10:29, which is good. I expected to have to catch the next train, which would have mean getting home at 2:30 AM. As it is, I’ll get in at 12:30. Big difference!
So... that was my day. Now I’m gonna try to have another productive hour on the train before I crash.
d.
(**) Try to imagine that with a Japanese accent. It doesn’t really do it justice. I seriously considered pulling out my iPod and plugging in the voice recorder that I use to tape my lectures, recording the Tourette’s Cabbie, and then uploading the audio file here. But those are the kinds of clever things I never actually follow through on.
Wednesday, March 24
membuka disk....
I did something the other day that I’ve been meaning to do for three years, and have never put any serious effort into, which is to wade through the on-screen setup menus of our DVD player to get the language of the menus changed to ENGLISH. Because for three years, every time you put a DVD into the machine it will say on the screen - membuka disk! And then there are two choices that say ”bata” and ”tajuk”. What the hell? Is that Klingon or what? Vulcan, maybe. Bata! Tajuk! T’Pau! Ponn Farr!
Anyway, turns out it was Malaysian, but one can only discover that by wading through dozens of on screen menus that are in... you guessed it Malaysian. But I did , and it’s fixed. And now... wouldn’t you know... I kinda miss the Malaysian.
“Reading Disk” just doesn’t quite have the same flair as “Membuka Disk”!
D.
I did something the other day that I’ve been meaning to do for three years, and have never put any serious effort into, which is to wade through the on-screen setup menus of our DVD player to get the language of the menus changed to ENGLISH. Because for three years, every time you put a DVD into the machine it will say on the screen - membuka disk! And then there are two choices that say ”bata” and ”tajuk”. What the hell? Is that Klingon or what? Vulcan, maybe. Bata! Tajuk! T’Pau! Ponn Farr!
Anyway, turns out it was Malaysian, but one can only discover that by wading through dozens of on screen menus that are in... you guessed it Malaysian. But I did , and it’s fixed. And now... wouldn’t you know... I kinda miss the Malaysian.
“Reading Disk” just doesn’t quite have the same flair as “Membuka Disk”!
D.
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