(Hint - Click the picture to see the full airplane, and avoid the yellow and especially the red seats!)
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Flying high
Annette flies to Houston in three weeks. What seat should she request (if she has a choice)? Ask Seat Guru!
(Hint - Click the picture to see the full airplane, and avoid the yellow and especially the red seats!)
(Hint - Click the picture to see the full airplane, and avoid the yellow and especially the red seats!)
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Plugs
I liked Anklebiter's blog today so much I just wanna plug it.
Bite me!
And KP is up with a blog, too: perrykat.blogspot.com
-Jebbo
Bite me!
And KP is up with a blog, too: perrykat.blogspot.com
-Jebbo
Friday, March 17, 2006
Quantum Galaxies
Every time I wonder why we spend (read:borrow) so much money on astronomy, along comes something like this (link):
"Galaxies are nothing but quantum mechanics writ large across the sky" - Brian Greene, Columbia University physicist.
Now I don't pretend to be an expert on quantum mechanics, but I remember my parents buying me a copy of "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat" when I was a still a kid, so I think that this all means something like this:
At the quantum level, teeny particles pop into existense all the time. I think they pop in with their anti-particle, then soon enough anti-particles and regular particles annihilate each other. So it all comes out in the wash.
But that's not really the point (I'd be an awful professor...).
So imagine you are a tiny tiny particle that has just popped into existence. Maybe you are pulled towards another particle nearby, which is pulled towards you (that gravity thing). You clump together. Of course, you aren't the only new particle, so there are lots of tiny clumps all around.
Now for the fun part.
You just happen to be popping up and clumping in the same trillionth of a second when the universe is supersizing itself. So instead of a big uniform smooth empty chilly universe (a big pitcher of cool tea), it's a big varied freezing universe with scattered bits of fiery clumps (a bowl of Lucky Charms with pop rocks candy in it?). All because of you. And you're not the size of a pinhead anymore. You're a galaxy, shaped like a pinwheel or a twist of DNA.
And it all looks like this.
Crazy. I love it.
"Galaxies are nothing but quantum mechanics writ large across the sky" - Brian Greene, Columbia University physicist.
Now I don't pretend to be an expert on quantum mechanics, but I remember my parents buying me a copy of "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat" when I was a still a kid, so I think that this all means something like this:
At the quantum level, teeny particles pop into existense all the time. I think they pop in with their anti-particle, then soon enough anti-particles and regular particles annihilate each other. So it all comes out in the wash.
But that's not really the point (I'd be an awful professor...).
So imagine you are a tiny tiny particle that has just popped into existence. Maybe you are pulled towards another particle nearby, which is pulled towards you (that gravity thing). You clump together. Of course, you aren't the only new particle, so there are lots of tiny clumps all around.
Now for the fun part.
You just happen to be popping up and clumping in the same trillionth of a second when the universe is supersizing itself. So instead of a big uniform smooth empty chilly universe (a big pitcher of cool tea), it's a big varied freezing universe with scattered bits of fiery clumps (a bowl of Lucky Charms with pop rocks candy in it?). All because of you. And you're not the size of a pinhead anymore. You're a galaxy, shaped like a pinwheel or a twist of DNA.
And it all looks like this.
Crazy. I love it.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Reasons I love Vonage
It's not just that it's cheap. That's nice, but if it made life more complicated it wouldn't be worth it.
It's not just the free calls thing since I rarely call people.
It's not the caller ID thing, though that's actually kinda cool (I'd never pay for it but since it's free it seems okay to dig it.)
It's not that I can set up a UK phone number, though I'd have happily paid for that service on top of my old phone service.
It's not that I can have an Alabama number. That's been more hassle than it's worth. Gimmicky. I hope someone in Alabama calling me is saving money, since every time someone asks me for my home phone I say "713... wait, no... what was it?"
It's not that I can have all calls to my US and UK numbers also ring my office and cell phones simultaneously**. Well... yes it is that. That rocks the house. That single-handedly takes away half the stress in my life. I go where I want to go when I want to go and I don't have to worry about coordinating schedules. Beautiful.
But it's not just that.
Check this out:
I've received a voicemail? Really? So I log on to Vonage and ta-da:
I click Listen
and there I have the voicemail as an audio file on my computer playing in iTunes. Ever think "I love that voicemail, I'll hate to erase that"? Now you never have to erase! You can even make voicemail remixes!
Okay, I'm over it now. But for someone who's on the computer all the time, this really is so good.
Oh, and for anyone who gets my voicemail... sorry, I'm still trying to figure out how to use my work cellphone. I think if I hit the button on the side it either hangs up the call and redirects to voicemail, or it causes oil prices to go up $2. Not sure which.
**UPDATE
Well I think I found a chink in the armor of the Vonage auto-forward feature. If you call the home number, and it auto-rings two other numbers, and one of those is busy, then it seems to go automatically to voicemail. Grrr. May have to fiddle with that.
Update
Got the car back today. Results:
The white fuzzy bit next to the flash is the reflection of the next car's headlamp. Car looks great. JD Auto Collision, Houston... recommended. They even got me a rental car over the weekend since the repainting was delayed.
Oh, and as Annette pointed out, I never explicitly said I was okay. I was/am okay. Thanks for worrying, though.
It's not just the free calls thing since I rarely call people.
It's not the caller ID thing, though that's actually kinda cool (I'd never pay for it but since it's free it seems okay to dig it.)
It's not that I can set up a UK phone number, though I'd have happily paid for that service on top of my old phone service.
It's not that I can have an Alabama number. That's been more hassle than it's worth. Gimmicky. I hope someone in Alabama calling me is saving money, since every time someone asks me for my home phone I say "713... wait, no... what was it?"
It's not that I can have all calls to my US and UK numbers also ring my office and cell phones simultaneously**. Well... yes it is that. That rocks the house. That single-handedly takes away half the stress in my life. I go where I want to go when I want to go and I don't have to worry about coordinating schedules. Beautiful.
But it's not just that.
Check this out:
I've received a voicemail? Really? So I log on to Vonage and ta-da:
I click Listen
and there I have the voicemail as an audio file on my computer playing in iTunes. Ever think "I love that voicemail, I'll hate to erase that"? Now you never have to erase! You can even make voicemail remixes!
Okay, I'm over it now. But for someone who's on the computer all the time, this really is so good.
Oh, and for anyone who gets my voicemail... sorry, I'm still trying to figure out how to use my work cellphone. I think if I hit the button on the side it either hangs up the call and redirects to voicemail, or it causes oil prices to go up $2. Not sure which.
**UPDATE
Well I think I found a chink in the armor of the Vonage auto-forward feature. If you call the home number, and it auto-rings two other numbers, and one of those is busy, then it seems to go automatically to voicemail. Grrr. May have to fiddle with that.
Update
Got the car back today. Results:
The white fuzzy bit next to the flash is the reflection of the next car's headlamp. Car looks great. JD Auto Collision, Houston... recommended. They even got me a rental car over the weekend since the repainting was delayed.
Oh, and as Annette pointed out, I never explicitly said I was okay. I was/am okay. Thanks for worrying, though.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
If I'm lying, I'm dying.
Anklebiter's up with a blog, too... check it out: If I'm lying, I'm dying.
Annette's Wine Club is also going strong. We're trying to figure out why the comments aren't working on hers... hopefully that will be resolved soon.
Annette's Wine Club is also going strong. We're trying to figure out why the comments aren't working on hers... hopefully that will be resolved soon.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Databases
You gotta love the Arcade Fire... if you haven't seen the video (link) to "Power Out" you ought to check it out. Great great music if you are trying to get work done. (Not to mention the "Laika" video that I just watched, behind the same link... crazy stuff).
The work in question is database work. I'm trying to build a database. This isn't the first time, but I really dislike databases in the way you usually dislike something that kicks your butt every time you get near it. Turns out my new work assignment is very database-based. And I'm psyching myself up to master it inside and out. So something's gotta give, and after almost chucking it all in last night, I'm back with Girl Scout cookies (colleague: "false advertising... check the ingredients, no girl scouts in them"), a cold drink, a new Texas-style haircut and The Arcade Fire on the iPod. Salvation.
Speaking of salvation, check out the church sign generator (linked at top right). Good fun. And speaking of haircuts, have you seen the phone ad with the guy singing his Dukes of Hazard ring-tone theme? I always liked that ad... very natural acting (if he was acting), seemed to really enjoy his ringtone. Anyway, good thing I liked the ad since I just got his haircut.
Other things I've been feeding my head... a study in contrasts:
Watching the English
and
The Right Nation (British Edition)
The work in question is database work. I'm trying to build a database. This isn't the first time, but I really dislike databases in the way you usually dislike something that kicks your butt every time you get near it. Turns out my new work assignment is very database-based. And I'm psyching myself up to master it inside and out. So something's gotta give, and after almost chucking it all in last night, I'm back with Girl Scout cookies (colleague: "false advertising... check the ingredients, no girl scouts in them"), a cold drink, a new Texas-style haircut and The Arcade Fire on the iPod. Salvation.
Speaking of salvation, check out the church sign generator (linked at top right). Good fun. And speaking of haircuts, have you seen the phone ad with the guy singing his Dukes of Hazard ring-tone theme? I always liked that ad... very natural acting (if he was acting), seemed to really enjoy his ringtone. Anyway, good thing I liked the ad since I just got his haircut.
Other things I've been feeding my head... a study in contrasts:
Watching the English
and
The Right Nation (British Edition)
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Venice 2006
(Click pictures to see full sized... much better that way!)
The new addition to our "Masks of the World" collection... (41" tall)
Pictures from around Venice...
Costumes on parade in Piazza San Marco...
The new addition to our "Masks of the World" collection... (41" tall)
Pictures from around Venice...
Costumes on parade in Piazza San Marco...
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Small (?) price to pay
Sort of like the sound walnuts make when you use those silver chopstick nutcrackers on them... or stepping on an almost-empty cereal box to make it fit in the bin...
And I kept (and keep) asking myself, if I hadn't spent the extra half-second wondering what that odd sound was, had braked immediately, would it only have been the fender?
But I was a little distracted, as I have been for weeks now (longer?). At the moment in question, I was wondering if I should go out for drinks with a friend in town. Maybe a beer on a porch would slow things down, help me focus. But maybe that would just leave me more behind, maybe I should head home and unpack my new apartment (while it can still be considered new). Or exercise. Or make some progress on the books I'm reading. Or put the new license plates on the car. Need to get some stamps. And what is that odd sound?
The sound of my finally figuring out what to call that blog I keep saying I'll start.
Well at least that is done. Small price to pay really. Maybe.
Now... should I go out for that drink or not?
And I kept (and keep) asking myself, if I hadn't spent the extra half-second wondering what that odd sound was, had braked immediately, would it only have been the fender?
But I was a little distracted, as I have been for weeks now (longer?). At the moment in question, I was wondering if I should go out for drinks with a friend in town. Maybe a beer on a porch would slow things down, help me focus. But maybe that would just leave me more behind, maybe I should head home and unpack my new apartment (while it can still be considered new). Or exercise. Or make some progress on the books I'm reading. Or put the new license plates on the car. Need to get some stamps. And what is that odd sound?
The sound of my finally figuring out what to call that blog I keep saying I'll start.
Well at least that is done. Small price to pay really. Maybe.
Now... should I go out for that drink or not?
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