Saturday, June 30, 2007
off to pullman soon
Monday, June 25, 2007
we did not fall off Taft Point
I am writing up a post [with pictures!] about a whirlwind trip to Yosemite that we took on Saturday.
Here's a description from the (really funny) folks at Yosemite Hikes, re: Taft Point: "Hazards: The dropoff at Taft Point is steep, and a fall would be not just fatal, but squish-you-like-a-bug fatal. The fall is so far that your friends, waving their teary goodbyes and hoping you didn't have the only set of car keys, would lose sight of you before you reached the ground. So be careful. "
To that, certain people say "pshaw"...because they're CRAZY.
Labels: outdoorsy
facebook note
Just an FYI, anyone who wants to "friend" me in Facebook, please feel free to do so. It'll be the easy (read: I don't have to do diddlysquat) way to get my new contact info.
If you're my mom/dad and you're thinking "face what? book what?" just email me if I haven't told you the info and I'll send it along.
Note: I'm assuming people actually know my name. It's not a secret. It's at the top of this web site.
If you're my mom/dad and you're thinking "face what? book what?" just email me if I haven't told you the info and I'll send it along.
Note: I'm assuming people actually know my name. It's not a secret. It's at the top of this web site.
Labels: misc life
Friday, June 22, 2007
update
Things have been busy here. But the highlights are:
* thesis turned in to grad studies office
* "requirements complete" form sent by my grad coordinator to the grad studies office
* went to Pullman last weekend and had a look around
* house is on market
I'll write a little thing on what I thought about Pullman (short answer: I like it and I made the right choice when I was picking between schools). If anyone wants to read my thesis (ha ha!), just ask. If anyone wants to see photos of my house, let me know and I'll send a link to the listing. For those of you who don't live in California (or New York), you might get a chuckle/shake your head in disbelief at the listing price for places like mine...I know I do.
Doing a whirlwind trip to Yosemite tomorrow with sauntering buddies. Will report back.
* thesis turned in to grad studies office
* "requirements complete" form sent by my grad coordinator to the grad studies office
* went to Pullman last weekend and had a look around
* house is on market
I'll write a little thing on what I thought about Pullman (short answer: I like it and I made the right choice when I was picking between schools). If anyone wants to read my thesis (ha ha!), just ask. If anyone wants to see photos of my house, let me know and I'll send a link to the listing. For those of you who don't live in California (or New York), you might get a chuckle/shake your head in disbelief at the listing price for places like mine...I know I do.
Doing a whirlwind trip to Yosemite tomorrow with sauntering buddies. Will report back.
Labels: misc life
Friday, June 15, 2007
duckies, home improvement, and moving
Since I'm in flux, I don't have many brain cells available for long and insightful posts. The way I figure it, the internets will be here when I have two brain cells to rub together.
In the meantime, let me give you a duckie update. This is mostly for Karen, wife of Trout. THEY'RE FINE. All seven of them have reached the duckling equivalent of teenager: they're gangly, have tufts in strange places, and they don't listen to their mom all that much. But all seven are still alive.
On the home improvement front, it's almost all done. Flooring guy is finishing his work today. Everything looks really nice. I get to live in a nice place for two whole weeks. When the house is on the market, I'll link to the MLS Listings page so you all (my parents) can see what it looked like in the end (and how crazy prices are in California).
Moving. It'll be soon. Have to get the cats to the vet sometime before then so I can get health certificates and tranquilizers. Right this moment they're sitting quietly in their carriers since the flooring guy is here and the door is wide open most of the time. While Max (old guy) would likely just sit on my desk and sleep all day, and Deuce (youngster) would stay under the bed, I prefer not to take the chance that one of them would get a wild hair and bolt. So in the carriers they went. Deuce went without much fuss at all. It was a sneak attack. She'll be pissed later, I'm sure.
In the meantime, let me give you a duckie update. This is mostly for Karen, wife of Trout. THEY'RE FINE. All seven of them have reached the duckling equivalent of teenager: they're gangly, have tufts in strange places, and they don't listen to their mom all that much. But all seven are still alive.
On the home improvement front, it's almost all done. Flooring guy is finishing his work today. Everything looks really nice. I get to live in a nice place for two whole weeks. When the house is on the market, I'll link to the MLS Listings page so you all (my parents) can see what it looked like in the end (and how crazy prices are in California).
Moving. It'll be soon. Have to get the cats to the vet sometime before then so I can get health certificates and tranquilizers. Right this moment they're sitting quietly in their carriers since the flooring guy is here and the door is wide open most of the time. While Max (old guy) would likely just sit on my desk and sleep all day, and Deuce (youngster) would stay under the bed, I prefer not to take the chance that one of them would get a wild hair and bolt. So in the carriers they went. Deuce went without much fuss at all. It was a sneak attack. She'll be pissed later, I'm sure.
Labels: home improvement, misc life
Monday, June 11, 2007
ferns for my mom
My mom fancies herself a gardener (and she is), and I vividly remember every single family drive contained an impromptu stop at the side of the road (or in a park...ahem...) so my mom could "reappropriate" the wild ferns to her domestic yard.
Every drive. "Oh, those are nice ferns!" or "Look at the ferns!" These exclamations were code for "John, stop the car and hand me a baggie so I can get some ferns."
Well, here are some big ferns. They're in a national park. YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM.
But they're purty!
Labels: outdoorsy
Friday, June 8, 2007
random thing I learned while out freezing my butt off
On Wednesday night I went with my buddy to an even at a winery up in the mountains. It was really freaking cold out, so much so that we left early because she was so very very cold (I am both fat and Italian, so I deal with the cold a lot better).
Anyway, while standing around a heat lamp talking to some other people we know but I really only see/talk to when these sorts of events happen, I learned that my new school makes some really spectacular cheese. It is so good that these friends of ours have it shipped to them in San Francisco.
Who knew?
I do have some real posts brewing. Since I finished the thesis, I should write the "things I learned when writing a thesis" post. I also want to write something on the topic of this sort of discussion.
Anyway, while standing around a heat lamp talking to some other people we know but I really only see/talk to when these sorts of events happen, I learned that my new school makes some really spectacular cheese. It is so good that these friends of ours have it shipped to them in San Francisco.
Who knew?
I do have some real posts brewing. Since I finished the thesis, I should write the "things I learned when writing a thesis" post. I also want to write something on the topic of this sort of discussion.
Labels: misc life
Sunday, June 3, 2007
San Andreas Fault Trail at Los Trancos Open Space Preserve
I stood on the fault to take the photo. When we walked along the trail, we randomly spoke to the fault. Mostly we said things like "stay quiet!" and "please don't rupture."
Another photo is of a fence with one chunk of it moved four feet in front of the other.
To quote from the information at the Los Trancos web site: "This is how a fence built across the fault might have looked immediately after the 1906 earthquake. The fence has been reconstructed from century-old materials found on the preserve. ... During the 1906 quake, faulting may have moved the far (right hand) segment as much as 3 feet in a northwesterly direction. In 1906, about 400 miles of the San Andreas Fault slipped, from San Juan Bautista to Cape Mendocino. Starting off the Golden Gate, the fault unzipped itself at over 5,000 miles per hour, taking 20 seconds to reach this point."
wow.
Labels: outdoorsy
gone hikin'
The penultimate thesis draft is due tomorrow and I am going on a short hike.
But it's ok because my thesis adviser told me to!
You see, my chapters are currently without decent titles ("all Muir all the time," "Emerson and Muir," and "Thoreau and Muir" are the scribbled draft titles and no I'm not keeping them). I told my adviser that perhaps they would come to me in a dream. He said, "or perhaps on a hike?"
What a splendid idea! So I'm off with my school chum Mary and her husband to Los Trancos to do a short hike that I wanted to make sure I did before I left California...it's a hike along the San Andreas Fault.
With my luck, The Big One will hit while I'm standing on it.
I'd settle for nature-inspired chapter titles...
But it's ok because my thesis adviser told me to!
You see, my chapters are currently without decent titles ("all Muir all the time," "Emerson and Muir," and "Thoreau and Muir" are the scribbled draft titles and no I'm not keeping them). I told my adviser that perhaps they would come to me in a dream. He said, "or perhaps on a hike?"
What a splendid idea! So I'm off with my school chum Mary and her husband to Los Trancos to do a short hike that I wanted to make sure I did before I left California...it's a hike along the San Andreas Fault.
With my luck, The Big One will hit while I'm standing on it.
I'd settle for nature-inspired chapter titles...
Labels: grad school, outdoorsy
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Google has acquired FeedBurner
I have avoided discussing technical things (for the most part) since I switched from the old blog to this lovely life/academic blog, but I would like to take a moment to note that....
Google has acquired FeedBurner
for a gajillion dollars. Ok, something like $100 million, not a gajillion, but still.
I have loved loved loved Feedburner since the moment they became a company. I have never had anything except stellar communications with them, and they all just seem like top-notch people. I couldn't be happier for them to now have millions of dollars and the power of the Google farm behind them.
Yay!
Google has acquired FeedBurner
for a gajillion dollars. Ok, something like $100 million, not a gajillion, but still.
I have loved loved loved Feedburner since the moment they became a company. I have never had anything except stellar communications with them, and they all just seem like top-notch people. I couldn't be happier for them to now have millions of dollars and the power of the Google farm behind them.
Yay!
Labels: technical interlude