More Weddings...

Our Junes are always ludicrously busy. We went to another wedding (our 3rd in two weekends).

Apparently, if you wait a few hours into the wedding reception (you know, at the height of guest drunkenness) and then drop a few hundred beach balls onto the dance floor, a spontaneous, crazy game of drunken dodgeball will ensue:


I still have to carefully select which pictures will get uploaded to Flickr. Most (if not all) of the pictures we took imply massive intoxication -- either on the part of the photographer or subject. And not always in a good way.

Take for example, the pictures of me dancing (see below). I've always worried that I look like an idiot out on the dance floor. And I have been horrified to find out that it's far worse than I could have ever imagined. Heaven forbid me ever seeing video of myself dancing...


What am I doing exactly? Pretending to be a surfer from the 80s?

Presidential Election Polls

Ugh! It is almost impossible to read the news these days without having to read these asinine articles about the latest poll on the US presidential election. Exhibit A: Obama leads McCain by 15 points [google.com].

I do not understand why these polls continue to get widespread media attention, when the Democratic nomination process showed time and time again how flawed these polls are. They continually predicted one candidate or another would win by a large margin, which were proven incorrect. Take this article about the New Hampshire primary [nytimes.com]:

"All the published polls, including those that surveyed through [the day before the primary], had Senator Barack Obama comfortably ahead with an average margin of more than 8 percent."

He would ultimately lose this one. The author of that article speculates on the reason:

"Poorer, less well-educated white people refuse surveys more often than affluent, better-educated whites. Polls generally adjust their samples for this tendency. But here’s the problem: these whites who do not respond to surveys tend to have more unfavorable views of blacks than respondents who do the interviews."

Regardless of the reason for the polls being wrong, the fact is that they are so unreliable that they hardly merit any attention. You might as well just publish articles about what various people speculate which candidate is in the lead. And yet, we continue to be inundated with these articles covering the poll results.

I still hold the opinion (and I hope that I am proven wrong) that there is such a large percentage of racist people in this country that a black man has no chance to win this election. The last few presidential elections have been decided by such narrow margins that it would not take many racist voters (who don't normally vote) to tip the election in McCain's favor.

Ugh, Gyms...

This article [timesonline.co.uk] about gym rage brought back all kinds of memories that I have about going to the gym. I used to be a gym nut -- I was in the gym all of the time, running on treadmills, lifting weights, going to spinning classes, you name it...

I particularly loved going to spinning classes. There was one class I used to go to where the workout was so intense that I needed 2 water bottles to get through it each week. I pitied the n3wbs who found their way to that class, because it there is no way that any normal person could have survived through it.

As a result, people found all kinds of creative ways to catch their breath without looking like they were slacking off. There was one guy who faked like he was receiving a call on his cell phone so that he could step outside of the room for a second and catch his breath (and avoid having a heart attack, probably) before rejoining.

Others would turn down their resistance and pretend like they were pedaling really hard. Although that particular instructor would walk around and read everyone's heart rate monitors (looking for slackers) and turn up the resistance on people whose heart rates were too low...

Google Maps Suggestion

I have a suggestion for an improvement to Google Maps. I frequently use Google Maps as a quick and dirty way to get directions to a location. You type in an address, and 9 times out of 10, you get the correct location pointed out to you on a map. Take the following map of the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, NY:


Most of the time, I don't need door to door directions. I can pretty much tell what highways I'm going to use to get into the area. I just want to know the quickest way to get from the highway to that location. What is the quickest way to get there from the highway in the above map (what exit/what turns)?

Problem #1 is that anytime there is a highway with a marginal, Google Maps doesn't make it easy enough to see where the exits are, and where you will be dumped off the highway. If they were easier to see, I could just plot the route myself.

Problem #2 is that you can't just click on the map, and ask for directions from the clicked point to the highlighted location. I really wish they would fix this problem. It would make using Google Maps to get directions so much faster.

Congrats John and Heather!

Congrats to John and Heather on their wedding!


We had a fun, wedding-filled weekend. But we had a blast with everyone, and wish them the best. And we got to catch up with a lot of really great friends that we don't get to see very often, like this couple:


Here's a picture of people lifting the groom the day after the wedding:


More pictures uploaded to my Flickr photostream [flickr.com].

Coasters for Car Nuts

Ok, here is another one of those kitschy gifts for car nuts:


Get it? They're drink coasters that look like brake rotors (buy them here [everythingcarz.com]). And they even have a holder that looks like a brake caliper!

I love it! What are they going to think of next? This is even better than the rings that look like tires [brianbergerondesigns.com].

BROOD XIV

Apparently, one of the 17-year cicada broods has emerged in Pennsylvania. We know this, because on our road trip this past weekend, every time the highway went through a wooded area, all you could hear were millions of cicadas screeching. Even with the windows closed.


According to this site, this is the second largest cicada emergence in Pennsylvania. That site also has a nice map showing the areas affected (read: the areas to stay the hell out of).

Picture of cicadas courtesy of photos_martha's Flickr photostream [flickr.com].

Purple Boxes in Ohio

This weekend, Heimlich and I took another road trip. One of the things we noticed along the way were all of these purple kite-like things hanging from the trees along the interstates.


Apparently, according to this article [hpj.com], they are part of a multi-state study to determine how far the emerald ash borer (a pest) population has spread across the country. Here's a quote from the article:

"The three-dimensional, triangle-shaped traps are 24 inches long and hang vertically in an ash tree or are secured to the tree trunk. They are coated with nontoxic glue, and they are baited with oil from the Manuka tree. The traps pose no risk to humans, pets or wildlife, but their glue can be messy if touched."

According to this page [emeraldashborer.info], the emerald ash borer has killed over 30 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan, and a similar number have been devestated in Ohio and Indiana.

Picture of emerald ash borer trap via psforsberg's Flickr photostream [flickr.com].

Fish Herding

Ok, you all know that I am one of those crazy fish people, right? We have actually adopted another 55-gallon aquarium temporarily for the summer. So, we have plenty of fish in our house right now.

Anyway, here is an interesting story [cleveland.com] about a student who won a scholarship and a laptop computer with her project of teaching a fish to swim through a maze. She was also able to show that the fish could show another fish how to get through the maze.

The link also contains a video of the aquarium.

This kind of makes me wonder what I could be teaching my fish. Imagine how great a YouTube video would be of my fish "begging", or slapping me high-five with one of their tiny fins.

Jesus Christ Superstar

John recently posted [citym.org] about seeing Momo [livedoor.biz] perform in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar this weekend in Brooklyn. Seeing that post reminded me that I totally forgot to post about it earlier.

I was also at the show last weekend. The production is being put on by the Brooklyn Association of the Performing Arts. For ticket and other information, you can go here [theatermania.com], or directly to the Brooklyn Theater Arts Project [btap.org].

Momo plays the lead female role -- Mary Magadalene -- and she was fantastic. She has an incredible voice, and I hope that we'll get a lot more chances to see her perform.

Anyway, as John does, I heartily recommend the production. Several members of the cast had such great stage presence, and it was very enjoyable. Momo has several pictures of herself and other cast members on her weblog [livedoor.biz].

The Good Guy

Another book that I have read recently was The Good Guy by Dean Koontz [amazon.com]. I have not read any other books by Koontz, but this one makes me want to.

Altogether, this was an exciting book to read, with a lot of suspense, a lot of action, and just the right amount of humor.

The majority of the novel deals with a pair of people who are trying to get away from a crazy, well-equipped, well-funded, well-trained, homicidal hit man. The parts of the book that I enjoyed most were finding out the clever ways that the heroes figured out how to trick the hit man and make their escape. The book actually made me want to get chased by a homicidal maniac, just to see whether I could similarly outwit them. You know you have just read a good book when that happens...

Lawn Care

I'm slowly becoming one of those crazy lawn people. I wish I were kidding. You know those people who spend an inordinate amount of time trying to keep their lawn looking like a golf course? Those people that go out and pick up individual leaves off their lawn in seasons other than fall? It's either that or complete insanity that I'm heading towards... Is this what homeowning does to a man?

The other day, I caught myself looking for lawn care weblogs to start reading. Lawn care weblogs!?!? As if most weblogs weren't boring enough to read (take this one for example) -- and now I'm looking for ones that just talk about this or that fertilizer to try...

Anyway, for any other crazy lawn people out there, I did find The Green View [greenviewblog.com], which is a weblog all about lawn care.

I also found a link to an EPA guide on eco-friendly lawn care [newdream.org].

If anyone sees me buying pink flamingos to put out on my lawn, please shoot me and put me out of my misery.

Alignment Equipment

I've been thinking lately about doing my own car alignments. I haven't made a decision either way, but I'm trying to sort through all of the issues. Here's a picture of someone's homemade alignment rig:


For instance, what kind of equipment would I need? Most of the work can be done with basic tools (wrenches, tape measure, string, etc).

I think that the main problem with doing alignments is eliminating the friction between the tire and the ground. You need the full weight of the vehicle to be sitting on the tires. But when that occurs, it is very difficult to steer the tires left and right. Furthermore, that friction creates forces and moments that prevent the wheels from going to their natural positions (preventing you from being able to measure the toe correctly, for instance). I have seen that some people have solved this problem by parking the tires on top of a stack of two vinyl flooring tiles that have grease smeared in between them.

I see that Pegasus Racing has a full suite of alignment tools to choose from. I might start there.

Cross

One of the books that I have read recently is Cross by James Patterson [amazon.com].


It is one of a series of books about a detective trying to solve murders (I have not read any of the other books in this series). This in itself is interesting, because the detective featured in the series (Alex Cross) doesn't seem to have much in the way of personality in this book. I mean, he is merely an overly-idealistic workaholic, who is altogether too predictable. He's too generic in this book, and really has no qualities that set him apart from other characters in similar books.

In contrast, the descriptions of the antagoinst(s) were graphic and exciting. Although there was no way you could identify with the primary antagonist, he added a lot of personality to the book.

The plot was also fairly suspenseful. It was a good read because of the twists and turns of the plot line that keeps you on your toes. The way the book kept going back and forth between descriptions of what the protagonist and antagonist were doing made it feel like you were watching a tennis match (which in this case was a good thing).

Altogether an enjoyable read, for a novel clearly intended for the mass market.

Car Tail Light Styling

What is with those crazy automotive stylists these days? They just have one bad idea right after another.

Right now, one of the disturbing trends that I have seen is the migration towards "ricey" tail lights. For example, take the newly redesigned Subaru WRX:


Do these kinds of tail lights actually appeal to Subaru customers? My hunch is that there is a narrow (VERY narrow) segment of the population who actually like those tail lights, and the rest of the population is turned off by them. And the narrow segment of the population that likes them probably would be willing to change them out in the aftermarket, anyway.

I mean, what person sees a vehicle like that and actually thinks that they would want a car that looks like a 16-year-old wannabe street racer riced it out for them?

Picture of WRX courtesy of thatjonesboy's Flickr photostream [Flickr.com].

PhDs

I apologize in advance for rambling on in this post... A few of our friends are in that last tiny stretch towards finishing their PhDs, and it has reawakened some of the thoughts that I have had about the whole PhD process.

When I meet people for the first time (either in my personal life or professionally), I almost never bring up that I have a PhD. A good chunk of the reason why is because of this underlying feeling that I have that universities will give PhDs to anyone. This is kind of a half truth.

Looking back on the whole grad school thing, it is easy to say that the PhD qualifier was the hardest part of the process. Someone once told me that once you get past the PhD qualifier, the only thing required to get a PhD is perseverance. But now, looking back on things, I'm not so sure that this is true.

If it were really that easy, then we wouldn't know so many people who have gotten divorced during grad school. The truth is that getting your PhD requires a unique set of skills - the ability to motivate yourself, a ridiculously high tolerance to depression, and the arrogance to stick to your guns when everything and everyone is telling you that you are heading down the wrong path with your research.

When you get to that middle portion of the work -- it's been a few years since the qualifier, but you know that you are a few years away from defending, too -- it's almost impossible to continue. Any normal person would give up or get depressed about the mountain of work that lies ahead. And what's worse is that no one cares (except for you) if that work gets done or not. You're not curing cancer (well, I wasn't, anyway), you're not fighting for a promotion (unless you consider being head lackey in a university lab to be a step above being a regular, run-of-the-mill lackey).

And that's just if you want to get a PhD. It's ten times worse if you actually want to get a good PhD (one that will make you marketable). Just thinking about all of this is making me feel depressed again. It's a wonder that grad school doesn't produce more alcoholics...

Pet Videos

Heather Armstrong recently posted a hilarious movie [dooce.com] of her dogs. Basically, she put their food dishes in front of them, but had them wait for the ok signal to start eating. One dog patiently sits there and waits for the ok signal, while the other dog keep alternating between looking at the food and looking at the owner. You can almost hear the gears turning in the dog's head.

Heimlich and I keep noticing these hilarious things that our fish do. And I have thought about trying to record video of these kinds of events happening (a la one of our fish imprisoning another one of our fish), but I always assume that everyone will find it boring to watch.

But whenever I see videos of other people's pets doing interesting things, I'm always interested in seeing them, so I don't know why I would assume that people wouldn't want to see movies of our fish.