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Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here
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| 2008 in review |
[Jan. 1st, 2009|11:01 am] |
This has been a very exciting and busy year for me, and because this is a particularly dull and boring day (I'm at work completing the "metadata" for a grant application and spending way too much time looking up college certification numbers, making sure my biosketch is up to date, and choosing the official name of my current and former universities from lists that are unnecessarily long), I figured I'd post the year in review.
( Behind cut )
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| Hurricane Ike #5 |
[Sep. 16th, 2008|11:06 am] |
A couple of details I forgot to put in yesterday's post:
-- Apparently windows broke in other apartments on our floor (and throughout our apartment building). When we first went downstairs, as the alarms were blaring, Karen went to open the door and thought I was pushing on it, because it wouldn't open. When we finally got it open, we realized that wind was blowing down the hallway, creating a big vacuum that was pulling our door closed.
-- The thunder sounded very strange, it was kind of muffled. It didn't sound like thunder far away, but sort of like thunder would sound with ear plugs, plus the tone was higher than the normal roll of thunder. I guess the wind was distorting the sound. Also, the lightning was occasionally bright colors - green and orange. Plus, I saw a few transformers blow up with big orange bursts. That was impressive.
-- Lyle spent much of the second half of the storm with his hands over his eyes yelling, "No lightning! No lightning!" (and then "No beep! No beep!" once the alarm started). It was very sad. I tried to keep him otherwise entertained, but once another bolt of lightning hit close by, he'd put his hands over his face again.
( Today's info behind cut )
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| Hurricane Ike #4 |
[Sep. 15th, 2008|09:54 am] |
So I'm at work and have internet access. The hurricane was pretty awful. Here is a brief description:
( Read more... )
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| Hurricane Ike #3 |
[Sep. 12th, 2008|11:27 pm] |
So it's started raining and the winds have gotten much harder. I guess we're officially at the edge of the hurricane now. Still about 5 hours from the eye.
Houston is amazingly dead. Nobody is on the highways.
Lightning has started, so I may unplug the computer soon.
The news is saying that the winds are category 4 at building heights, which makes me sort of regret deciding to ride it out on the 13th floor of this building.
The power is still on here and as far as I can see outside. I can also see the blinking lights on all the TV and radio towers, so I know they are still up. I'm going to bed since I suspect I'll be woken up by the noise in not too long. |
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| Hurricane Ike #2 |
[Sep. 12th, 2008|07:39 pm] |
So I drove over to the house again, to fill the bath tub because we heard that if the power goes out, we will also have no water and a full bath tub will provide water for flushing toilets. We also realized we left the salsa at the house, so I got that. I also did another search around the lawn for possible missiles and ended up finding some old lawnchairs behind the garage that I moved into the garage. Plus, I found a very, very old, and completely rusted charcoal grill. It looked heavy but wasn't too heavy so I moved it into the garage too. Then, I figured out how to take down the fake owl hanging from one of our trees.
( Harpers-like Index 7pm 9/12/08 )
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| In which I prepare to battle a hurricane |
[Sep. 12th, 2008|04:34 pm] |
As most of you know, we moved to Houston in early August. Now, it's been something like 5 weeks and 3 hurricane scares. So far, this is the worst city I've ever lived in. It's unbearably hot most of the time, and then all buildings are over-air-conditioned so I got from way too hot and humid to way to cold and dry many times a day. Then, every week and a half, everybody panics about a hurricane, they close work, you get 10 emails a day about it, gas pumps run dry and grocery shelves get emptied. The worst part is that hurricane season apparently lasts for 6 months. I can't see myself doing this long-term, though, for some reason, others don't seem to dislike it here.
( More storm talk and less whining )
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| I've now met the local wildlife |
[Aug. 31st, 2008|10:15 pm] |
So we now own a home in Houston and we were there tonight and I had my first two upclose encounters with the Houston fauna. The first one was not completely unexpected. We were in the new place and noticed a large cockroach in the entry way. It was over an inch long, and a little scary looking, and I'm not sure but I think it could have flown if it had wanted to, but I was able to get rid of it fairly easily.
The next encounter surprised me a little more. The previous residents left this nice gazebo on the back patio and I noticed it had some mosquito netting tied up at the edges. I mentioned that it might come in handy and make a good place to sit on mosquito-infested evenings. I started to pull the netting across the openings without looking too closely and ended up with my hand right on a bat. It was as surprised as me and I crouched down inside the gazebo as it flew in circles around my head a few times before flying off. I was completely not expecting that. |
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| House worries |
[Aug. 2nd, 2008|11:36 pm] |
So I'm now in Houston, trying to find a house to buy. I have a dilemma. We have found 2 houses that we like. One of them we like a little more, and it is $50k cheaper. However, it is zoned to an elementary school with a lower ranking and lower test scores than the other, and a high school that's much lower ranked and really sounds awful. I have a 2-year-old son who will probably be attending elementary school there but we're unlikely to still live in the same house when he's in high school.
So, I can't decide if a school that's probably perfectly good (has an active PTA, parents who review it online seem to like it) will really seem acceptable when my kid is there, or if higher test scores mean anything and would really be better. Some people have posted that they think the better elementary school is too high-pressure and just teaches to the state tests. (I never had state tests when I went to school, so I'm not really sure what that's like.) Anyway, the lower ranked school just now seems riskier and I'm wondering if I should instead pay more to live in a place that I like less (but would still be good) just to be near another school. I just don't know. I'm fine with the day-to-day decisions about raising a kid. I just hate the decisions that impact him years from now.
My wife says I worry way too much about every possible situation. |
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| In which I remember how tiring it is to move |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|12:41 pm] |
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I was up until 1:30 this morning with the movers. I'm still not sure what took them so long. They packed about as many boxes as they expected, and there was no surprise furniture or anything. The did start later than expected (4pm vs. 11am). Anyway, the annoying thing was that they missed a lot of stuff -- some of which I knew about and pointed out but they'd already packed the last box and couldn't really take more, and some of which I didn't discover until today. When they left, I quickly went through the apartment but didn't open cabinets and stuff since they were all tired and in a hurry, so I didn't notice that they hadn't packed 4 of the kitchen drawers. Plus, they put a big gouge in the front door, which I didnt' see until the morning. Anyway, I'm really happy about the movers because they all worked really hard and stayed late. I'm just annoyed at having to pay to ship stuff and maybe to fix the door, after paying so much for movers. Right now, I'm not sure having movers pack is worth it, but I'm sure looking back I'll realize that it was worth it. |
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| A meme because at heart I am a sheep |
[Jun. 18th, 2008|07:55 am] |
Here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions of a very personal nature.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.
The questions are from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) zvuv, behind the cut.
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| Dumb things I've been doing, but have now stopped |
[Jun. 3rd, 2008|07:11 am] |
I'd like to think I'm getting smarter. Anyway, here are three stupid things I've realized I've been doing for way too long:
1) In my lab, we grow cells in a high carbon dioxide atmosphere and for the past 2 years, I've been in charge of changing the CO2 tanks when they run out. For all of those years (and who knows how many years before that), we have been going through about 1 tank a week. I had no basis to compare this to and I never questioned or thought about it much. Three weeks ago, I got to looking at the regulator system and noticed that it had been losing pressure at a pretty good rate even when the incubators were closed, sealed and not injecting CO2. So, I pulled all the equipment out from the wall, followed the lines back there and found a leak in a connector. I fixed it and, in the past 3 weeks, the pressure on the CO2 tank hasn't budged. This tank could last us months.
2) For the last 2.5 years that I've been here (and probably long before that), lab technicians have been labeling and counting cells with a protocol that uses a blue dye and instructs them to count the live cells that take up that dye. Each technician has taught the next one and I've never paid much attention. A new assistant just started and he asked me how I see the blue dye through the green filter on the microscope, I found that I couldn't tell what was blue with that filter and I showed him how to remove it. That day, and in the couple following weeks, counts were very low and we'd been discussing reasons. Last week, he couldn't count cells, so I counted them for him and noticed that the healthy-looking cells were clear while the cells that appeared dead were blue. I looked up the dye and found that it instead stains dead cells, not live cells, and for years the only reason we had acceptable cell counts was because we were using a filter that did not allow us to see which cells were stained.
3) Every morning, I get a shirt from my closet, put it on and look at myself in the mirror. If it has a hole, I take it off and throw it in the laundry. Then, my wife washes it, I fold it and it ends up back in my closet. Who knows how many times clean shirts have been washed over and over just because they were unwearable. Well, my wife will be happy to know that, in anticipation of moving, I sorted through my clothes and threw out everything with a major hole.
I'm glad I solved all these things before moving on to m next job, so that the next guy here doesn't think I was a complete idiot. Well, except for the clothes thing, where my wife is stuck with me for life and (hopefully) isn't planning on a next guy. Plus, she already knows I'm a complete idiot. |
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| Scrabble and sleeping |
[May. 21st, 2008|09:02 pm] |
I just have to brag that this morning, in a Scrabulous game, I played an 8-letter bingo (NOTICERS) with no blanks that I used (I happened to hook to an S that was a blank already on the board) and, at the same time, made 4 other words. It was only 85 points, but I was impressed I could make 5 words at once.
Monday, I was teaching a class and one of the students fell asleep. This may not seem strange, but it's a 10-person class so he was right in the front row and it was very obvious. Then, today, a student was running an experiment in my lab and fell asleep in the middle, sitting in a chair with his head back and his mouth wide open. I finished it for him, but when he woke up, he wasn't even embarrassed and didn't even apologize. He just thanked me and left, which was annoying because he left me to clean everything up.
Remember a couple of months ago when I wrote about three coworkers sleeping at their desks? What is up with that? Why is everybody falling asleep all of a sudden? Am I the only person who sleeps at home and works at work? |
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| FOX sucks |
[Apr. 12th, 2008|06:00 pm] |
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I am generally against capital punishment, but I think that whoever decided that lap 2 of 312 of some cars driving around in circles is more important than the bottom of the ninth of a 4-3 Red Sox-Yankees game should be shot. |
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| In which I think I dislike realtors |
[Apr. 11th, 2008|04:57 pm] |
There are certain professions that really annoy me, generally because they are trying really really hard to sell me something. Next week, we are meeting with realtors in the two cities where we are considering moving. Both of the realtors are really annoying me.
First, the realtor from Syracuse types most of her messages in ALL CAPS. I already picture her as somebody who's very high pressure and I imagine that she'll be very loud and very chipper and that I'll dread the time I spend with her. Today, though was the funniest email from her. She wrote, "I HAVE TO APPEAR IN COURT THE EVENING OF THE 16TH FOR A TRAFFIC TICKET. I WILL TRY TO GET A CONTINUANCE." The funny thing is that we don't meet with her until the 17th or 18th, so her being busy the night of the 16th shouldn't matter. This makes me wonder if there's a possibility of her license being suspended, which would make it matter.
The message from the State College realtor is that she "will be notifying you on the types of homes that you will be looking for." I assume she meant to say "looking at" though even that seems a little bossy. Why isn't she calling to ask us what we want to see?
In both these cases, I am not looking forward to spending time with these people driving around and listing to their sales pitches and how great every house is. |
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| In which everybody is tired |
[Mar. 22nd, 2008|01:37 pm] |
So last week, I was sitting in my shared office area talking with my boss. A visiting professor walked in, went over to his desk, set his head down and took a nap. Later last week, my other office mate, a postdoc, was sleeping with her head down on her desk. Then, near the end of the week, I was looking for the lab manager and found her at a desk with her head down asleep. What is wrong with people? I think the lab manager might be hourly, so she might not have been able to go home, but the professor and postdoc could both have gone home and slept if they were really that tired.
Is this common in any other workplaces? |
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| Bathroom etiquette |
[Mar. 19th, 2008|10:36 am] |
Has anybody noticed how much I'm posting again? Yeah, it's full of typos, but it's a post. Don't whine. :)
So, I'll put this question to the peanut gallery. Let's say you're brushing your teeth in a public restroom at your place of work and you're standing in front of the one sink. A person walks in and uses the urinal, finishes, and walks over behind you to use the sink. You can clearly see him in the mirror, plus it's a small restroom so you know when somebody else is there. Do you move over or back and let him use the sink to quickly wash his hands while you continue to brush your teeth? Or, do you stay hunched over the one sink for another couple of minutes while you brush your teeth, rinse your mouth 3 times and wash your hands and face before letting your coworker wash his hands?
And while we're at it, what's the thing about towels on the door handle. I have no idea if it's people or one person who uses the restroom a lot, but somebody will wash his hands (I'm assuming), dry them, take another paper towel from the dispenser, walk to the door and open it using the paper towel so he doesn't have to touch the handle, and then leave the paper towel on the door handle. Are our door handles that dirty? And is it that much effort to keep holding the towel and then throw it away?
But the big annoyance is the guy (I think it is one guy) who will take 3 or 4 paper towels, wet them, and then go into the stall with them. I'm assuming he uses them to clean the toilet seat, though I can't really be sure. When he's done, he leaves the wet paper towels on the floor in the bathroom stall and leaves.
There. That's all my complaints about the bathroom here. |
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| In which the lack of sports in Winter has me cheering basketball predictions |
[Mar. 18th, 2008|07:01 am] |
So yesterday, like pretty much every other American, I filled out a bracket for an NCAA pool with some friends. Then this morning, I'm driving to work listening to yesterday morning's Tony Kornheiser Show and, like all this week will be, most of the show was well-known sports people coming on and giving their picks. I found myself not really listening to their logic or analysis, but just rooting for them to pick the same teams that I picked. I have no ties to these teams, none of the colleges I ever attended or will attend in the foreseeable future are in the tournament, and I make several picks just based on having heard on one school and not the other, or knowing somebody who attended one school and not the other. However, when one guy picked the exact same final game as me, I found myself yelling and cheering out loud while driving down the 5, just as if the Sox had hit a homerun or something.
Is this odd or is this standard March Madness behavior? |
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