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January 6th, 2010
cjsmith
 | 05:15 pm - I win!
Every year or two I get assigned a new "financial advisor" by Ameriprise Financial, and each time it happens, the new guy pesters me for a while until he gets bored and goes away. I have very little money invested with them. Mostly I ignore it.
This time the academic quarter hadn't really started yet, so I called the guy back. He asked for an appointment for a phone call where we could review my financial goals, discuss proper asset allocation, and all that sort of thing. (He didn't say it half so nicely. He's new.)
I looked up the account information. It was even smaller than I thought. It's not worth their trouble to do much for me. It's probably not even worth a phone call to get permission to churn it. Seriously.
So I asked him to cut me a check. I'm going to throw it in with the rest of my nonqualified money (and probably spend it on school, but I didn't tell him that part). He did ask me a few questions, but in the end, I'm getting my check.
I win.
(Personally, I think he wins too. He should spend time on people who have money to invest.)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/accomplished.gif) accomplished
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530nm330hz
 | 03:06 pm - Useful words
Recently, I've found myself reaching for Talmudic terms in conversations with friends and co-workers, because there's no good English equivalent.
nafka meenah -- the practical consequence that turns an otherwise academic distinction into a question whose answer matters. (This came up in the discussion of the wording of a rule in a game, where there was an edge case where the interpretation of the rule affected the strategy of play.)
kal va-khomer -- if you think it's important in the case we've been discussing, it's even more important in this other case that I'm about to bring up! (This came up in a discussion of turning off write access to a source code branch.)
And of course there's the classic machatunnim, who are your child's parents-in-law.
Conversely, I had to explain retconning in shul a few weeks ago when it came up in a discussion of the narrative of Judah and Tamar.
So now I'm curious: What jargon have you used in a general context because it's the most precise or concise way of explaining something?
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warlord_mit
 | 09:53 am - Uprooting Myself
In late August of 1989 as a wide-eyed teenager I moved to Boston to attend one of the top-rated Engineering schools in the world. I spent six wonderful years there, made many friends, got two degrees, and fell in love with New England. I moved around a bit during school, and after I graduated I moved to California for a year before coming back to Boston to settle in Somerville, where I've lived ever since. But now, almost 14 years after moving into my house in Somerville, I've decided to uproot myself and move to Atlanta.
Moving is always scary. I hate change. But this is definitely a change for the better:
* Many of my friends have scattered out of Boston. While I've made new friends, and lately I've been reconnecting with some old friends, still most of my closer friends aren't there anymore.
* I haven't been spending much time in Boston anyways.. I've been spending time in California (for work), Florida (with my family), traveling for work, or visiting friends and family around the country.
* Atlanta is a single-hop in the plane to pretty much anywhere I'd want to go: Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St Louis, DC, Charleston, New Orleans, and South Florida.. Which makes it very easy to visit friends and family in all those locations. (Unfortunately Boston is just a *little* too far to be a single-hop).
* Since coming to Atlanta more frequently I've reconnected with some old High School friends and some college friends.
* Most importantly, my girlfriend lives in Atlanta, and moving there gives us the chance to build our relationship and hopefully take it to the next level.
Over the next couple months I'll be up to Boston periodically to work on moving my stuff down. I'll try to announce my trips as far in advance as possible so as to get the greatest number of people so I can say "until we meet again". It's not a goodbye, because I know I'll be coming to visit!
Here's hoping that everyone's 2010 is as exciting as mine is looking to be!
Current Location: Atlanta
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) calm
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January 5th, 2010
530nm330hz
| 09:14 pm - Theatre review: "Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps"
No, it isn't. Hitchcock's, I mean.
What it is is a silly romp through the Hitchcock oeuvre by four talented actors with a clever choreographer. It plays a lot like The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). One scene in particular is intensely evocative of Adam's "dry, vomitless" moment.
On the other hand, 39 Steps depends in places on the 1970's stereotypical portrayal of gays. (You know what I mean, right? I guess I'd describe it as "simpering effetes" but there must be a better term. Help?) There was so much else going on that was genuinely clever, witty, silly, or funny, and these points ruined the moment for me.
Anyway, it won two Tonys and is closing next weekend, so it's water under the Forth Bridge.
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530nm330hz
| 10:15 am - Book review: Ex-Libris
Over the last few weeks, on the recommendation of my rabbi, I read Ex-Libris by Ross King.
Overall, I enjoyed it. It's a mostly well-written book about books, after all. ( As hahathor might say, I'm a friend to your friends-list. Medium-length review behind the cut. )
In sum, this was an entertaining book to read despite its flaws, and I think it would appeal to many of my friends. There's a nice mix of books, codes, science, history, and action.
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January 3rd, 2010
cjsmith
 | 09:55 pm - Ready, set...
School starts in about nine and a half hours. Ohboy. What haven't I done that I need to do? I have my backpack loaded with notebook, pens, textbooks and the like; I've given my sick cat her evening pill and I have a note on the counter reminding me to give her the morning one (and pack my lunch, too); my car has gas in it; I even did laundry so I'd have clean socks to wear... what have I forgotten?
Well, okay: I've forgotten most of first quarter Spanish. I took that a year ago. Second quarter Spanish is going to start out a bit rocky. I am arrogantly relying on my Learn Languages superpower to pull my butt out of the fire.
I guess I'm about as ready as I'm gonna get.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/hopeful.gif) hopeful
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530nm330hz
| 08:14 am - Followup on last night's post
Tani's question was about the double-slit experiment. The top two pictures are of an unobserved experiment, in which an interference pattern is formed; the bottom pictures have an observer watching each slit, and the resulting pattern is bimodal.
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January 2nd, 2010
cjsmith
| 08:31 pm - And the winner - my absolute favorite lost-luggage story
Well, OK, at least this story happens to be my favorite this evening.
Louisville again, of course.
When my parents visited Louisville to meet Rob's parents for the first time ever, what a surprise! Both their suitcases got lost in transit! They did have a tight connection, but don't let facts get in the way of a good story. My luggage never made it there either. I think the place is cursed.
There were many phone calls with the airlines and such, followed by a lovely afternoon and evening with all the parents, and then a weird thing happened. Some random guy was walking down his residential street and found a black suitcase. He called the phone number he found inside. Sure enough, this Louisville resident had come across my dad's suitcase sitting curbside on his street. We met him at a local mini-mart and thanked him profusely. My dad's suitcase had, in some bizarre way, been found. It was a little banged up but all contents were intact.
The airline's status listed both my dad's and my mom's as being located and on the road for delivery. When my mom's suitcase finally arrived at their hotel, near midnight, my dad put on his best poker face and asked after his own. The delivery guy looked like somebody was about to shoot him. My dad took pity on him and showed him the mysteriously recovered luggage. That's when we got the rest of the story.
Turns out the baggage identification stickers for "lost and to be delivered" luggage don't stick so well. At one delivery site where our intrepid deliveryman did much packing and unpacking of the trunk of his car, one bag wound up with two stickers. The inventory was correct -- every numbered bag was present -- and the delivery man didn't figure out the problem until much later, but one little black suitcase, now with no stickers, sat forlornly on a quiet Louisville sidewalk in the evening gloom. We're lucky the person who found it was an honest and kind man.
(EDIT: Rob reminds me that this story is even more surreal than my memory of it. The suitcase wasn't found on the sidewalk. Oh, no, nothing so nice. It was found in the street, where our honest and kind man nearly ran over it. As best we all figured out later, the delivery guy had set it ON HIS CAR ROOF and driven off. I do remember imagining very briefly that the reason it was all scuffed up was because it had actually fallen out of the airplane. Nope -- just got kicked aside by a car or two!)
Me, I haven't checked luggage on a domestic flight in probably fifteen years. I don't intend to start any time soon... especially considering that most of my domestic flights involve, at least at some point, Louisville. Cursed, I tell you. Cursed.
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cjsmith
| 08:23 pm - Some favorite lost-luggage stories
#3: Cairo. For a week. In late spring / early summer. With one set of clothing.
I, personally, have never been to Nairobi, Kenya. But my luggage has.
I believe this was the first flight on which I ever checked luggage in my life. I was eleven. I should have wised up right then. To my credit, it didn't take me all that much longer.
The great thing about being in a desert is you can hand-wash every stitch of clothing you have and it will all be dry by morning. Guaranteed. Every single day.
#2: Louisville, Kentucky. Before departure, I sat in Boston Logan Airport with my father, who was seeing me off just after Christmas to go visit Rob's parents. I scrambled to stuff a few pairs of underwear and extra socks into my purse and pockets. My dad laughed at my overcautious behavior. I told him grimly that I'd been to Louisville several times and they had a pretty good track record of losing my luggage. He gave me a nice lecture on the topic of random processes and how past performance is no guarantee of future results. I gave him a few short Anglo-Saxon monosyllables expressing my doubt that this was a truly random process.
Naturally, several hours later, I phoned him from Louisville with the news that my luggage hadn't made it. He bought me this T-shirt.
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chriscoxadobe
| 07:09 pm
Mom: "It's got to be heavy metal."
Me: "Of course, it always has to be Heavy Metal!"
Me: "Wait, you're talking about the new disposal, aren't you?"
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530nm330hz
| 06:06 pm - My kids understand physics!!!
Alissa, earlier today, was pretending to have a son. She then explained that her son is older than she is. I asked how that could possibly be, and she replied: "Every day we put him in a spaceship traveling near the speed of light for an hour until he became older than I am." I didn't bother pointing out that she had the twin paradox backwards, because I was so proud that she remembers the twin paradox.
Meanwhile, Tani had a question about... well, here are some photos I just took of the ad-hoc "visual aids" that I made. See if you can guess what his question was about. ( Cut to spare your friends page )
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January 1st, 2010
530nm330hz
| 09:14 am - Earliest fanfic?
Among other things on our Manhattan day, H and I spent an hour or so at the NYPL, taking in the portrait gallery on the third floor and the "Mapping NYC" and "Candide at 350" exhibits off the lobby. Well worth it, and one thing from the Candide exhibit that struck me was the placard that described some of the early Candide-inspired derivative works as "among the earliest fan fiction."
First, how awesome is it that the concept of fanfic is mainstream enough that it can be referenced in this way?
Second, it got me wondering what earlier works could be considered fanfic. Was there contemporary fanfic on Shakespeare? Homer? Are midrashim fanfic on the Bible? "Hey, check out this Adam/Lilith slash I found!"
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December 31st, 2009
530nm330hz
| 08:49 pm - Theater review: Fela!
Yesterday, H and I saw the matinee of Fela! on Broadway. ( My review )
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wolftone
 | 12:00 pm - 2009 in the rearview mirror
Sometimes, I sit to compose my year-end letter and ask myself "that's it? that is all you have done?" Not in 2009.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sunflaregrrl and I celebrated our wedding in October. We were married in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Her uncle handled our less-than-traditional ceremony with good humor and Kaya served as a capable ringbearer. There were some mishaps with the broken greenhouse heaters, but the warmth we felt from our friends and family was real. The sugar rush from all of the individually-decorated cakes may have helped too.
We honeymooned in Peru, mostly so we could hike the Inca Trail to Maccu Picchu. It really does deserve to be called a wonder of the world. We also rafted for 3 days on the Apurimac River and braved danger mountain biking down the Sacred Valley. We lived this trip in much greater luxury than our usual filthy-backpacker vacation style, which seems appropriate given its singular nature.
I continued to travel throughout South America with stops to sample the parties of Buenos Aires, the beaches of Uruguay, the mountains of Patagonia, and the penguins of Tierra del Fuego. This is the longest and most steak-filled vacation I have ever taken and I loved having the time to really immerse myself in wandering. It's almost enough to overshadow the year's other trips to ski in Switzerland and bike on Prince Edward Island.
sunflaregrrl continues to push the boundaries of solar physics.
Early in the year my company released version 2.0 of our scanner software. It's something I'm proud to say I built. In January I will be returning to school full-time at MIT's System Design and Management program. It's an engineering-heavy business degree which should keep me fully-occupied for 16 months or so. If you don't see much of me for the next year, this is why.
2009 has been more momentous than most years. Let's see what 2010 has in store for all of us.
See also 2008.
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cjsmith
| 09:47 am - Money
I often grab the year-end issue of Money magazine to help prod me into paying attention to savings and budgets and investments as the year rolls over. (Sadly, I mostly don't pay attention to investments at any other time. At least this way I think about it a little.)
Traditionally, I rip out all the pages that are 100% advertisement on both sides of the paper. The remaining magazine is about 2/3 the thickness, and I would guess it is still approximately half advertisements. MOST of the sheets remaining in the magazine have full-page ads on one side. It is a bit surprising, now that I think of it, that this is a magazine people pay to read.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/lazy.gif) lazy
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December 30th, 2009
cjsmith
| 04:26 pm - My bathroom is the saddest of all
Little Girl doesn't know this yet, but she is going to (cue dramatic music) THE VET tomorrow. She's showing signs of a UTI. I am annoyed by the errand, she is almost certainly annoyed by the discomfort, I am sad about her discomfort, she is peeved that she has to stay in the linoleum-floored bathroom, I am grumpy that my bathroom will be unusable for a few days, and my bathroom, if it could talk, would probably be downright angry.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/annoyed.gif) annoyed
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cjsmith
| 09:42 am - Getting better
Table leg repaired. House aired out. Cough improved. Some errands done. Computer almost completely configured. Jackie has even forgiven me! (Her capacity for that is a blessing.)
Today:
( list )
...and just generally get ready for the next three months wherein I will do nothing that is not critical.
This quarter will be o-chem, physics, Spanish, a transfer student application, and GRE prep. Plus, y'know, working, and square dance calling, and hopefully getting some sleep occasionally.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/busy.gif) busy
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December 29th, 2009
cjsmith
| 09:21 am - Ah, home
The kitties were very glad to see me. I have already ticked off Jackie by clipping some of the mats out of her fur, so we're back to the normal state where she hates me.
The house smells like mold and earth. This happens every time we go away for more than a day or two. I think we're getting a biggish breeze up from the crawlspace.
My cough came back immediately upon arrival.
I've cleaned up all the spots of cat puke I have found so far (six) and learned that the coffee table is broken. I'm still typing on the coffee table, but it's just propped up on a non-attached leg. I found this out when moving the table to get at some cat puke. Apparently it broke during the Christmas party and I simply didn't hear about it.
Lots of errands to do. Better hop to it.
Current Mood: busy
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December 27th, 2009
cjsmith
| 07:44 pm - Kitties soon
Thirty-one hours until I can see my kitties again!
(why YES that's three in the morning, my time, even without any security problems or flight delays or weather trouble or waiting for a taxi, and no that will not be fun, but KITTIES!)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/blank.gif) homesick
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gmpe
| 07:39 pm
One of my favorite laughs of the holiday season, from a blog I enjoy reading:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/12/best-line-so-far-here-in-the-uk.html
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