We went!
Tonight Rachel and I took the first of a three-class series to get certified to sail at the MIT sailing pavilion. Once certified, we will be able to take people out in a Tech Dinghy - one of the many perks that comes with our new gym membership. With time, we may even be able to take larger groups of our friends out in the Rhodes 19 or even a blue water sailboat, which rests in the Boston Harbor. Usually, though we'll just be puttering around on the Charles River as part of the Boston skyline.
sailing.mit.edu
Last April, I purchased an annual membership to the gym. A few weeks later, I fell off the fitness horse after spraining my ankle while playing soccer and did not go to the gym at all for an entire year. Oops. Despite that experience, Rachel and I decided to sign up for a family membership. I will give her a tour tomorrow.
This gym is huge. Here are the facilities, off the top of my head:
Labels: fitness
Stephen is out again. We hope that the right combination of mechanical anti-inflammatories (a.k.a. ice) and chemical anti-inflammatories (a.k.a. ibuprofen) will soon start to work. Thanks to my new orthopedic doctor for that new vocabulary.
Tonight, though, Stephen has allowed me to post something of my own.
I need a job. Not "need" like I need sleep every night or food every day, but I need a job. I've been looking for about three months - networking, submitting applications, checking websites for job availability, and there's not a whole lot out there. Part of my problem is my current skill and interest set. I'm a licensed attorney, with a whole lot of experience researching and writing about international trade and investment agreements.
Sound boring? You should read the agreements.
But the policy implications and economic theories fascinate me. And those skills and interests probably would not be problematic, except for the second part of my job quandary: location. Unfortunately, to the extent that legal jobs in international relations are available, they are NOT available in Boston. And we're not moving.
So, in order to make this work, I've gone several different directions. I've looked into working for local non-profits doing work internationally (there are about three: ACCION, Oxfam, and RootCapital - and they're not hiring). I've tried to make connections in the world of immigration law (a BIG legal issue here in Massachusetts). And I've made a few attempts to contact government agencies in the area, such as the Massachusetts Office of International Trade & Investment. I've also got myself a short-term, part-time fellowship writing on (guess what!) the policy implications of international trade agreements for long-term development.
The big question is: now what? Now that I've networked until I met everyone in the entire city doing work in these areas, now that I get depressed pretty much every afternoon about my inability to acquire gainful employment, now what? I keep thinking I need to revamp my job search strategy - be willing to "sell out" and just get some experience (assuming a law firm would even hire me now) or be willing to work in a job that doesn't use my law degree or my interest in international relations just to have a paycheck. But broadening my search that much seems overwhelming. Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions.
~Rachel
Labels: job
I've been working some long hours the past few weeks, and my wrists and hands are having trouble. I get pain in several different spots, mostly along the back of my right wrist, from a repetitive strain injury. Rachel went to the doctor recently for this, too.
Here's what I do to help out:
I'm nearing the end of my month of blogging, and lately I've been looking for short and sweet topics so I can get to bed at a reasonable time. This short and sweet post is about what happens after April, when I don't promise to post every day. Here are a few ideas for the coming months:
My photo club at work is having an exposition. That's what it's called when we print up some photos and put them in a conference room for a few hours. The nice thing is that I end up with a print after it's all over.
Tomorrow, I will submit this photo of Guatemala's Lake Atitlan with volcanoes Atitlan, Toliman, and San Pedro (left to right). Today I enhanced the contrast of the volcanoes. For the first time today, I made the connection that the cloud at the top of Toliman might be a lenticular cloud, though it doesn't quite look smooth enough. Here it is, closer in.
Labels: photo
On April 11, I talked about my guitar lessons with Sam Davis. I mentioned that he has a giant cow. The other day I was in Porter Square, and Sam's cow was in the window of the Cambridge Music Center. The cow's name, Darla, was written on her side, along with instructions to search YouTube about Darla.
So here we go - Darla on YouTube.
I came home with a scratchy throat, a headache, and a general weak feeling, so I went right to bed. I feel a little better now.
So I'm posting something short and easy. I've been meaning to put up my old blog posts from before I used Blogger. Today, I put up my first-ever blog post.
I recently moved offices at work to a brand new building. It has some problems, like the AC running in my office in winter loud enough to keep me from hearing teleconferences and causing people to tape cardboard over their vents which increases the pressure in offices with no cardboard...
The bathroom has problems, too.
First, the faucet. It's one of those faucets that you press, and a mechanical timer shuts off the stream after a few seconds. Few means about four. This annoys people to no end, since they have to constantly press the handle, and it shuts off invariably just before they rinse the last bit of soap away.
Second, the soap dispenser. The soap dispensers work on a proximity sensor. They are hyperactive, squirting soap whenever you get anywhere near. I wonder if the sensors sense heat and whether washing with warm water sets them off even more.
Third, the sinks. Our shallow sinks measure a single foot across. It feels tight. Along with the hyperactive soap dispensers, this creates a perfect storm where soap squirts out every few seconds as you wash your hands. The sink is so small, you almost can't rinse your hands without receiving an unwelcome plop of liquid soap, quite possibly on your shirt sleeve.
And finally, with a twist, the urinal. There is nothing wrong with the urinal. In fact, I think it is wonderful. There's nothing great about the urinal itself, but let me take upon myself the task of explaining how a urinal can be wonderful.
I am an amateur photographer. As a photographer, I often notice the way light interacts with objects. I really like the way the fluorescent light interacts with the tile and the chrome plumbing. The light is directly above, and it reflects off the tile at a shallow angle so that you can see a bright reflection in the chrome. But the tile does not reflect light directly to your eyes, so the tile itself does not look bright, even though it acts as a secondary, reflecting source for the chrome. This creates what Light, Science and Magic calls invisible light. In addition, the light fades off and forms a gradient along the tile, which can be seen in the chrome very nicely. All in all, it looks very nice, a rich visual experience, a piece of "found art."
The sink experience is getting better. I found the manual for the faucets online and learned how to set the timer. Now they stay on for around twelve seconds. I'll try to find out if the soap dispensers are tunable. Maybe I can put something over the sensor to affect its range and/or direction.
My parents-in-law gave me this sweater (and this coffee) for my birthday.
Today I played four-square in my new sweater.
Rachel took this picture with her birthday camera.
I like stitching photos together. Last fall, I thought I'd try my hand at stitching macro photos together, and I worked the bugs out a little bit taking photos of a leaf. More recently, I tried my hand at a daisy.
This is 26 photos stitched together using Hugin and Enblend. I am unhappy about the background. It is yellow tissue paper, and I had a light behind the paper, and I hoped the texture would come through more. I plan to photograph just the paper and replace the background. With a slightly larger background, this photo will be 50 megapixels. Not bad for a 2.5" flower.
This should look good at 30"x30". I'm thinking of doing a series of these and have some plans in the works.
Labels: photo
I have weird, involved dreams.
Just the other day, I had a dream that involved getting on the MBTA Blue Line. Only the Blue Line had been upgraded to a clean, sleek bullet train that ran above ground through green valleys. Monumental stone staircases dotting the valley sides served as entrances. When I got on the train, the stainless steel interior had no windows. A robot offered to build hi-fi entertainment systems around passengers as they rode.
I took an imaginative fiction creative writing class my sophomore year of college. We had to record our dreams, and after a few tries, they became quite detailed. I continued to record them for a short while after the class ended. Here's a dream I recorded early morning June 29, 2000. I've included early morning sketches from my journal to enhance the story:
"In some sort of school. One of the assignments or tests is to run in a race. I'm out of shape because I haven't been running, and we are all starting the race late. The track is made of asphalt probably a street, and is very wide, and it is under about six inches of water. We start to run, and somebody shouts to go the other way. This happens several times, and we reverse each time. Then, as we're headed opposite our original direction, a tall, lanky, short-haired guy tears around the corner toward us with a number on his chest. We turn and go. I stop off at Munth [an undergrad campus house] and start washing things or something in the second floor bathroom.
"I'm in my grandparents' house, and it's much more rickety than their real house. You can see the coast in the distance out the window. As I look out, I see a column of smoke rapidly rising in the distance. I think of fires since I've been reading Report from Engine Co. 82 by Dennis Smith. But it shoots upward too fast, so I think it might be a bomb, though the column is too skinny.
Then a second one goes off real near. I yell at everybody to go to the cellar, thinking there might be some hope but nobody moves. I run around for a while and then ask to see what the news report says. Someone turns on the TV for a second and then turns it off again.
"Then Jimmy pulls me over to look at a laptop. He found a webpage for a guy who makes prank bombs. The second blast, as I see when I look out the window, has frozen like this:"
Labels: dream
Over Christmas break, I saw a blanket that I liked at my brother's house. My sis-in-law made it. I thought to myself, why don't I make one of these to pass the time when I have to listen to something but have enough attention for something else? So she had Jimmy send me the pattern.
So I order some yarn and get to work. Not long after, I find out that there's a Stitch Club at work, and that they're doing a blanket drive for Project Linus. Great! Now I have something warm and fuzzy to do with this warm and fuzzy blanket which doesn't quite match our curtains. I finished it, a full 50" x 50", in March. See the photos below.
I like the border, which is done with reverse single crochets, giving it a rope-like look. I also like how the pattern looks much more complicated than it is. The final step is to sew the Project Linus tag onto the corner. Then I can take it to the donation party, which won't be until June.
Labels: crochet
Rachel and I both have birthdays in April. We are between birthdays at the moment, and last night we had a party to celebrate. I made pizza, way too much pizza, and the leftover dough is exploding in the fridge at the moment.
Rachel gave me the DVD for "In the Shadow of the Moon," my favorite movie. It is a documentary of interviews of Apollo astronauts, and it is amazing. Also, I hear that a new movie about Neil Armstrong is in the works.
I gave Rachel a camera, and our community group gave her a camera pouch and a new purse. Our community group got me a very nice baseball glove, which will come in handy during the summer softball season.
I am a rocket scientist. Though this term applies to all aerospace engineers whether or not they work on rockets, I do work on a space vehicle that maneuvers using rocket engines. If you can find it, check out Advice to Rocket Scientists from your local library. The first chapter is, "Who is a Rocket Scientist?" The author mentions several things that qualify a person as a rocket scientist. I meet these:
Labels: job
I took lessons from guitar teacher Sam Davis for several months before deciding that I didn't practice enough to benefit from them. Sam gave me enough material that I could go through it for a year without reaching the point of diminishing returns.
His teaching style was interesting. It was very theoretical, with a sort of drill or two for each concept. He spent quite a bit of time writing down the concepts of the day onto loose-leaf paper while I tried them out. That was probably good for me, because I rarely tried them out any other time.
Sam's personal style was also ... interesting. His basement apartment has a kitchen covered with cow spots. Covered. As in floor, ceiling, counters, cabinets, etc. Even his tea kettle is cow-themed. If that wasn't enough, he has an animatronic cow with its own stall in his entryway that comes out mooing to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" while half a dozen plush monkeys bang cymbals together and colorful lights flash all over the place. Sam's cow (Dalia?) has been featured on HGTV's show, "Look What I Did."
Sam is also a member of the Funky White Honkies. The Honkies are a 15-or-so piece dance band, complete with two percussionists and a horn section. Rachel and I saw them twice at Johnny D's in Davis Square. The second time, Sam played guitar and sang while hanging upside-down and getting his shoulder-length hair cut off.
If you have a minute, take a look at one or two of his flyers.
Labels: music
The Third Pond print came from mpix.com yesterday morning. It was flat, not rolled up, just like I hoped. I was thinking of mounting it with no matting, but it's so dark that I think it needs a dark mat to bring it out better on our white wall. Without a mat, I would mount it on Gator Board and bring it a little out from the wall. I wish my monitor were color-calibrated.
I poked around yesterday for other places that sell big prints, and I hit the jackpot. El-Co Color has a panorama special, 30"x60" for $30 (!), though you have to buy at least one other order, say 20"x30" for $10 (!). They print on Fuji Metallic, too. El-Co Color will be my go-to from now on. I might print my daisy on Fuji Metallic at 30"x30" (cropped from 30"x40") for $25.90 (!).
This reminds me of an idea I had for wall decor: NASA images. NASA pictures are all in the public domain, so you can freely print them. How about one of these:
Full earth from Apollo 17
Buzz Aldrin on the moon
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Maybe I'll get a 30"x40" print of Buzz Aldrin for my office for $20 (!).
The old:
The new:
The first image is of the 2007 model I owned for 6 months in Houston. Kawasaki hadn't updated the styling much since before 1990, but it still turned a few heads and was a lot of fun. The second image is of the 2008 model from the Kawasaki web-site. The new bike still has a low MSRP of $3500. I have to admit it looks tempting, and I still own my old helmet!
Last night Rachel and I were out for Rachel's birthday dinner (happy birthday!) to a Korean restaurant when I saw the new 250R. It's hard to tell that it's a little bike.
A few days ago I received word that my paper submission to the 2008 AIAA GNC conference was accepted. It was a goal of mine to present my thesis research at a conference this year. Just before the draft deadline, I condensed the content of my 102 page thesis down to 25 pages in one weekend. I am glad it paid off.
My thesis is now online here. I am most proud of the graphics. All graphics in my thesis are vector graphics.
The conference is in Honolulu in August. I will have to see my grandparents while I'm there.
Just now I ordered a print of this picture I took on our honeymoon:
This is Third Pond near Blue Hill, Maine in August. The 24-inch print will go on our living room wall. It is a panorama stitched together from 7 images, with the brightness evened out using enfuse. Apparently there is another program that does the same thing called TuFuse, which is written by the same guy who wrote PTAssembler, the panorama stitcher I used to use. I might have to take another look at his program and see what improvements he's made.
Labels: photo
Our landlords locked themselves out of their apartment half an hour before I arrived home from work. Rachel helped them out with phone numbers and such. When I came home, a police officer was here. He apparently called the fire department. From what I can tell, the fire department cut the knob off their apartment door. For the little assistance we gave, our landlord gave us a bottle of [yellow tail] chardonnay (I think the brackets are part of the brand name). Fire truck!
Sell my motorcycle.
Move back to Massachusetts.
Start taking guitar lessons.
Sprain my ankle.
Stop working out.
Plan a wedding.
Start playing the djembe drum for church.
Move to a new apartment.
Get married.
Go on honeymoon to coastal Maine.
Change church community groups.
Go on business trips to Houston.
Change offices at work.
Read another 500 pages of Les Miserables.
Display a photo at church coffeehouse.
Stop taking guitar lessons.
Sing in the opera chorus for Don Giovanni.
Join the photo and stitch clubs at work.
Try my hand at macro panoramas.
Crochet a blanket for Project Linus.
Start listening to Podcasts.