Currently the tragedy of my life is that I have shrimps, no tomato, and that I am in dire need of a paper shredder. And possibly that I have to go into lab both days this weekend again and will thus have to sacrifice any plans to try to make spring-rolls. (Chinese New Year on the 3rd, guys.)
Darn it. Why do I have so much stuff and I really need a paper shredder. Stupid pre-filled forms.
20110128
I wonder where that spider went
Again, thanks to IRC, I managed to finish TESS D'URBERVILLES, which I started on New Year's morning this year, on the account of waking up far too early for everyone (with the exception of Christine, who never slept), and finding it on the bookshelf. I managed to finish the first part (literally, since the book is divided into parts) and a few more pages before others awoke.
If I started the book for the lack of something else better to do (didn't bring my laptop), then I mostly finished it out of perseverance and the knowledge that this is a work of classic so there must be something worthwhile in there. However, enough time and culture has passed since the days when this book was first published to have abolished any sense of empathy I may have had with the female protagonist. I skimmed most of the last parts, mostly with a pronounced feeling of "I don't understand this!" --I am acutely aware that I don't have enough knowledge of the historical and social-cultural background to place the work in a more illuminating context. I am also aware of how much a woman's standing in society has changed over the years, even if the details escape me. However, there's nothing quite so frustrating as seeing Tess showing signs of characteristics that I admire and then proceed to ruin them beyond redemption by caving in a crucial moment. (Naturally wishy-washy, is one thing, but seeing someone who could be so much more but isn't -- that sense of wasted potential -- always makes me want to flail in wild indignation.) The prose is very pretty, complete with many literary allusions, though the symbolism is a bit heavy-handed (think Nathaniel Hawthorn, with the sun coming out of the clouds type scenario). There's also the fact that Tess is more melodramatic than Mike in full throes of the Mood, and I spent a few entertaining moments imagining how they'd get on. (Answer: they wouldn't.)
It's possible that I'd like this book more if I had the right kind of life experience. Goodness knows that I didn't think much of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD the first time I read it, but now it's one of my favorite books. (Own a copy; bought a fairly new copy at a library sale -- best quarter I've ever spent.)
On the other front, I don't think I've talked about the BBC version of Sherlock yet. I'm glad there's going to be more, because in my very biased opinions it'd be a crying shame if there were ever only three episodes made, especially with the content of the third episode. It. Was. Brilliant. I didn't not expect that bit with the painting and the astronomy at all, and while I have liked a great many detective shows where I can predict things down to the murder's motive, any show that can genuinely surprise me will automatically get bumped up on my "favorites" list. So while Merlin suffered a gradual decline in interest that never recovered and Pushing Daisies went the full circle (bored, interested, bored) (but my God the set is pretty -- or at least has a distinct enough flair that I will never get tired of looking at it -- that much hasn't changed), Sherlock had me wanting to re-watch things. Although it is not currently at the same list as Avatar: the Last Airbender, Due South, and Doctor Who yet -- there has only been three episodes. What can I say? I'm looking forward to the next season.
I have a box of crackers (Milton's original multi-grain) that smells vaguely of mushrooms but are insanely addictive. Must be the sesame seeds.
I also have a fresh vial of fruit fly embryos, but I left that in lab.
Geez, is January over already?
If I started the book for the lack of something else better to do (didn't bring my laptop), then I mostly finished it out of perseverance and the knowledge that this is a work of classic so there must be something worthwhile in there. However, enough time and culture has passed since the days when this book was first published to have abolished any sense of empathy I may have had with the female protagonist. I skimmed most of the last parts, mostly with a pronounced feeling of "I don't understand this!" --I am acutely aware that I don't have enough knowledge of the historical and social-cultural background to place the work in a more illuminating context. I am also aware of how much a woman's standing in society has changed over the years, even if the details escape me. However, there's nothing quite so frustrating as seeing Tess showing signs of characteristics that I admire and then proceed to ruin them beyond redemption by caving in a crucial moment. (Naturally wishy-washy, is one thing, but seeing someone who could be so much more but isn't -- that sense of wasted potential -- always makes me want to flail in wild indignation.) The prose is very pretty, complete with many literary allusions, though the symbolism is a bit heavy-handed (think Nathaniel Hawthorn, with the sun coming out of the clouds type scenario). There's also the fact that Tess is more melodramatic than Mike in full throes of the Mood, and I spent a few entertaining moments imagining how they'd get on. (Answer: they wouldn't.)
It's possible that I'd like this book more if I had the right kind of life experience. Goodness knows that I didn't think much of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD the first time I read it, but now it's one of my favorite books. (Own a copy; bought a fairly new copy at a library sale -- best quarter I've ever spent.)
On the other front, I don't think I've talked about the BBC version of Sherlock yet. I'm glad there's going to be more, because in my very biased opinions it'd be a crying shame if there were ever only three episodes made, especially with the content of the third episode. It. Was. Brilliant. I didn't not expect that bit with the painting and the astronomy at all, and while I have liked a great many detective shows where I can predict things down to the murder's motive, any show that can genuinely surprise me will automatically get bumped up on my "favorites" list. So while Merlin suffered a gradual decline in interest that never recovered and Pushing Daisies went the full circle (bored, interested, bored) (but my God the set is pretty -- or at least has a distinct enough flair that I will never get tired of looking at it -- that much hasn't changed), Sherlock had me wanting to re-watch things. Although it is not currently at the same list as Avatar: the Last Airbender, Due South, and Doctor Who yet -- there has only been three episodes. What can I say? I'm looking forward to the next season.
I have a box of crackers (Milton's original multi-grain) that smells vaguely of mushrooms but are insanely addictive. Must be the sesame seeds.
I also have a fresh vial of fruit fly embryos, but I left that in lab.
Geez, is January over already?
20110127
I may need to rinse out my nose
Just got to school via a bus that had broken air circulation and a homeless person among the passengers who smelled so rank that the driver told her that the next time she's not allowed to come on the bus if she smelled like that. ("That" being a bit like a combination of the worst kind of those plastic stalls of temporary restroom and a tray dirty cat litter that has not been changed for a week -- I'm kind of fascinated-- in a horrified way -- by how that kind of intensity of smell can even be achieved.) (Also -- her voice -- what is wrong with it? It's like a combination of bad cold plus the cracking you get after you've screamed yourself hoarse. It speaks of extensive vocal cord damage. What happened?)
Now that I got that out of my system (my fellow passengers all looked fairly traumatized -- the bus driver kept telling us to open all the windows until we told her that all the windows are already open, and then she looked traumatized as well) -- I was originally going to blog about the other insanities of the week. Such as, for instance, how in the past week, I've helped a post-doc connect her computer to the school network, given advise to one of our undergrads about how to get rid of fleas that his roommate's cat has acquired, and hacked into the old Mac of the Mystery Password (formerly PI's computer, got donated to lab, no one, including the PI knew the password needed to update or install anything -- yes that one), setting up a new admin account, and updated / cleaned up the entire system (with due permission -- or at least with no objections from the rest of the lab) (guys, the security updates are about two years out of date). I'm the most proud of the last bit, given I've managed to cut down the start up time from 2 min and 15 sec to around 1 min and 5 sec when you restart (it's running os x 10.4.11 and the computer is old, with less than 1G of ram) and quartered (or more) the start up time for all apps I've tried except Firefox. (For some reason the updated version of firefox is sluggish. I have not been able to figure out why, only that it's not a network issue since Safari will open in five sec or less.) Onyx is a very good program for Mac system clean up, by the way. The PI has installed a new harddrive on the computer years and years ago and various people added various programs so essentially it's a mess, and running the app database reset option in Onyx, alone, has been enough to see a noticeable improvement in performance.
Before I forget: Stellarium (Ubuntu install) does not run on Daemon, on the account of the ATI card, which is a known bug that no one seemed to have found a solution for. There is, however, a Fedora install of Stellarium that does run on Ivy, and it's the shiniest new toy ever, since I discovered Gweled.
Also remember my question a while back about music organizers? I have tried out a few and decided that I quite like Mufin (for MS, and the icon is of a muffin wearing headphones, which I found to be utterly adorable) and Rhythmbox (for Linux). I have now discovered that I apparently have duplicate files of ten different songs in different folders and three other songs misnamed. I have also created what felt like far too many playlists and everything is all very organized, which is wonderful. Except at some point I'll have to deal with the music in the external but! Not today.
At some point I'll download and try out the Ubuntu install of Chrome on Daemon. About time, don't you think?
(Should I name my external hard drive?)
Right.
Now that I got that out of my system (my fellow passengers all looked fairly traumatized -- the bus driver kept telling us to open all the windows until we told her that all the windows are already open, and then she looked traumatized as well) -- I was originally going to blog about the other insanities of the week. Such as, for instance, how in the past week, I've helped a post-doc connect her computer to the school network, given advise to one of our undergrads about how to get rid of fleas that his roommate's cat has acquired, and hacked into the old Mac of the Mystery Password (formerly PI's computer, got donated to lab, no one, including the PI knew the password needed to update or install anything -- yes that one), setting up a new admin account, and updated / cleaned up the entire system (with due permission -- or at least with no objections from the rest of the lab) (guys, the security updates are about two years out of date). I'm the most proud of the last bit, given I've managed to cut down the start up time from 2 min and 15 sec to around 1 min and 5 sec when you restart (it's running os x 10.4.11 and the computer is old, with less than 1G of ram) and quartered (or more) the start up time for all apps I've tried except Firefox. (For some reason the updated version of firefox is sluggish. I have not been able to figure out why, only that it's not a network issue since Safari will open in five sec or less.) Onyx is a very good program for Mac system clean up, by the way. The PI has installed a new harddrive on the computer years and years ago and various people added various programs so essentially it's a mess, and running the app database reset option in Onyx, alone, has been enough to see a noticeable improvement in performance.
Before I forget: Stellarium (Ubuntu install) does not run on Daemon, on the account of the ATI card, which is a known bug that no one seemed to have found a solution for. There is, however, a Fedora install of Stellarium that does run on Ivy, and it's the shiniest new toy ever, since I discovered Gweled.
Also remember my question a while back about music organizers? I have tried out a few and decided that I quite like Mufin (for MS, and the icon is of a muffin wearing headphones, which I found to be utterly adorable) and Rhythmbox (for Linux). I have now discovered that I apparently have duplicate files of ten different songs in different folders and three other songs misnamed. I have also created what felt like far too many playlists and everything is all very organized, which is wonderful. Except at some point I'll have to deal with the music in the external but! Not today.
At some point I'll download and try out the Ubuntu install of Chrome on Daemon. About time, don't you think?
(Should I name my external hard drive?)
Right.
20110123
Mm food
Experimenting with western food this weekend. Broccoli seems okay with parmesan in soup. Still don't particularly liked cooked carrots. Found Reynold's cupcake cup inherently hilarious because of immediate mental image of Mike in a commercial for cupcakes. Are there even commercials for cupcakes? Are there food commercials? Not as in commercial for butter substitutes but, you know, an actual item of food that has been cooked and is ready for consumption?
Polling the audience: where do you go to get things framed?
[edit 13:03]
Guys, guys, you know what I discovered? Masala-chai cupcakes with cream cheese & honey frosting! It's a recipe I adopted from something (also was originally going to try lavender-earl-grey combination but forgot to take some lavender with me when I was home for the holidays--FAIL) and the cupcakes are decent, nothing too special, and the frosting is ...kind of weird, actually, but acceptable, but the two together is like magic.
Now I just need to figure out why all the stuff came out flat-topped instead of dome-topped.
Polling the audience: where do you go to get things framed?
[edit 13:03]
Guys, guys, you know what I discovered? Masala-chai cupcakes with cream cheese & honey frosting! It's a recipe I adopted from something (also was originally going to try lavender-earl-grey combination but forgot to take some lavender with me when I was home for the holidays--FAIL) and the cupcakes are decent, nothing too special, and the frosting is ...kind of weird, actually, but acceptable, but the two together is like magic.
Now I just need to figure out why all the stuff came out flat-topped instead of dome-topped.
20110118
A is A
First off, regarding ATLAS SHRUGGED: I have finished it. It gets even MORE preachy at the end (pages and pages of nothing but philosophy -- the character who spoke it said it took three hours on radio, and I believe him). As a sci-fi it's got the dystopia grittiness that I'm so fond of, but there isn't enough interesting sciency bits to hold my attention and the parts regarding agriculture can only lead me to believe that the author knew very little about plants & environmental sciences and didn't think it was important enough to do further research. As a mystery it sets up the premises for solving both mysteries -- the person and the conspiracy, very well. However, a bit like how the BBC Sherlock mini-series, in their first episode, beats you to death with all the clues Holmes used to figure out who was the killer, there was so much clue given about the solution to both mysteries that I spent most of the following hundreds of pages (oh yes it was hundreds of pages) thinking, "Com'on, com'on, how SLOW can you get?" Then there's also the fact that the climax of the mystery-solving part does not achieve the level of climax and drama that any decent mystery stories should, and that, where usual mystery stories wrap up fairly quickly after the mystery is solved, this particular books limps doggedly on, resolutely carrying on until all the philosophical lectures are dotted, filed, marked "done". As a work of propaganda -- because that's what this reads like, at times -- like an ode to capitalism...well, I've read propaganda novels before, and this isn't that great at it either. It lacks a certain something in terms of subtlety and sympathetic characters (both characters that I found vaguely sympathetic died -- well presumably the other one died as well, the story was a bit vague, preferring to cut to a paragraph about piano music instead).
Okay, and then I went online to look up this book, and I'll admit to being impressed by the fact that Rand managed to create a new branch of philosophy with a novel. There are certain aspects, such as reason and logic being one of the virtues of man, that I agree with. There are other aspects, on how any government regulations in trade is Evil and that there's no such thing as a "great good" outside of the realms of Machiavellian manipulations, that I disagree with. I am not a philosopher, I am a scientist by training and by choice. I don't profess to be familiar with any of the Aristotle-inspired schools of thought, but I do feel a bit put out by the insistence that contradiction does not exist in nature (wave-particle duality, hello?).
The verdict: ATLAS SHRUGGED crosses the genre of mystery, sci-fi, and social commentary (I am going to pretend the romance component doesn't exist, because b the end of the novel it frankly makes me want to gag), but does not excel in any of those categories. However, it does offer a different system of thinking. It challenges the way I perceive the world and makes me want to take apart the novel, idea by idea, to try to understand why I will agree with some but abhor others. It makes me think. For that alone it was worth reading at least once.
And now back to our scheduled presentation:
Quest for the Meaning of Life continues. I want to share the bit yesterday when, having thought about academia vs industry some more, I decided to ask my PI about what it's like being a PI. Specifically, I said something along the lines of "There is either something else about being a PI that's really enjoyable that the rest of us (the grad students) have missed, or that all PIs are extremely masochistic."
His answer? "It's not an 'or' question." With a huge grin. (It makes him look manic. I should not be as fond of it as I am.)
That's not all of it, but the entire rest of the conversation would take too long to describe.
There's a pinworm infestation discovered in my collaborator's vivarium, where I ship my mice to be tested at a specific age. Currently the place's under lock down and all important and export of animals are halted. If it's not lifted soon my animals will be past the age when they can be tested, I would lose an entire cohort, and have to figure out some way to make up for it without pushing back my experimental schedule too much. Don't ask me what my schedule for spring break is like. I no longer know. I'm still waiting for some sort of pathology report.
Okay, and then I went online to look up this book, and I'll admit to being impressed by the fact that Rand managed to create a new branch of philosophy with a novel. There are certain aspects, such as reason and logic being one of the virtues of man, that I agree with. There are other aspects, on how any government regulations in trade is Evil and that there's no such thing as a "great good" outside of the realms of Machiavellian manipulations, that I disagree with. I am not a philosopher, I am a scientist by training and by choice. I don't profess to be familiar with any of the Aristotle-inspired schools of thought, but I do feel a bit put out by the insistence that contradiction does not exist in nature (wave-particle duality, hello?).
The verdict: ATLAS SHRUGGED crosses the genre of mystery, sci-fi, and social commentary (I am going to pretend the romance component doesn't exist, because b the end of the novel it frankly makes me want to gag), but does not excel in any of those categories. However, it does offer a different system of thinking. It challenges the way I perceive the world and makes me want to take apart the novel, idea by idea, to try to understand why I will agree with some but abhor others. It makes me think. For that alone it was worth reading at least once.
And now back to our scheduled presentation:
Quest for the Meaning of Life continues. I want to share the bit yesterday when, having thought about academia vs industry some more, I decided to ask my PI about what it's like being a PI. Specifically, I said something along the lines of "There is either something else about being a PI that's really enjoyable that the rest of us (the grad students) have missed, or that all PIs are extremely masochistic."
His answer? "It's not an 'or' question." With a huge grin. (It makes him look manic. I should not be as fond of it as I am.)
That's not all of it, but the entire rest of the conversation would take too long to describe.
There's a pinworm infestation discovered in my collaborator's vivarium, where I ship my mice to be tested at a specific age. Currently the place's under lock down and all important and export of animals are halted. If it's not lifted soon my animals will be past the age when they can be tested, I would lose an entire cohort, and have to figure out some way to make up for it without pushing back my experimental schedule too much. Don't ask me what my schedule for spring break is like. I no longer know. I'm still waiting for some sort of pathology report.
20110114
Dear Diary,
Today I managed to shatter a jar of citric acid all over myself (and the bench, and a large part of the floor). Apparently that's what happens to a plastic chemical jar when it's been sitting around for too long.
Sincerely,
-S
P.S. Regarding ATLAS SHRUGGED: Wwwhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy? It would've been so much better if it just ended right after the planes thing but instead it kept on going and now it just kept on getting more and more intolerable. Without the element of mystery (which even when I figure things out ahead of the time, I like to keep on reading / watching to prove that I am right -- yes, I do like being right, most of the time) to distract me from the preachiness and increasing viscosity of what is starting to feel like propaganda, it can get Very Intolerable. But I am committed at this point and so shall finish reading, though I cannot help but feel as if I've been personally betrayed. And ye Gods -- the romance element felt extraneous and wrong from the start (think original Sherlock Holmes randomly starting to wax lyrical about some woman's eyes kind of wrong) but you know, a little bit is okay -- adds a bit of flavor -- but now it's just...urgh. Dagny went from being my favorite to my least favorite character, and not just for being disappointingly slow on the uptake for the second half of the book. This is me, metaphorically weeping into my blog.
Today I managed to shatter a jar of citric acid all over myself (and the bench, and a large part of the floor). Apparently that's what happens to a plastic chemical jar when it's been sitting around for too long.
Sincerely,
-S
P.S. Regarding ATLAS SHRUGGED: Wwwhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy? It would've been so much better if it just ended right after the planes thing but instead it kept on going and now it just kept on getting more and more intolerable. Without the element of mystery (which even when I figure things out ahead of the time, I like to keep on reading / watching to prove that I am right -- yes, I do like being right, most of the time) to distract me from the preachiness and increasing viscosity of what is starting to feel like propaganda, it can get Very Intolerable. But I am committed at this point and so shall finish reading, though I cannot help but feel as if I've been personally betrayed. And ye Gods -- the romance element felt extraneous and wrong from the start (think original Sherlock Holmes randomly starting to wax lyrical about some woman's eyes kind of wrong) but you know, a little bit is okay -- adds a bit of flavor -- but now it's just...urgh. Dagny went from being my favorite to my least favorite character, and not just for being disappointingly slow on the uptake for the second half of the book. This is me, metaphorically weeping into my blog.
20110111
My day, summarized:
1) trying to get heat block to get to exactly the right temperature is excruciating. As in boring. As in checking it every 30 seconds for half an hour kind of painful when you can't do anything because the metal thing was not yet at 80C.
2) being confused by PI: today's event included a discussion on the definition and types of juggling. According to him people do juggle chainsaws. Out side of cartoon. I don't know whether this was more or less strange than random quotations of Russian literature or even more randoms to teenage card games, but do know that I no longer cared.
3) Street and building (but thankfully not the indoor outlets for unit lighting) lights have all gone out at my end of the block. It makes this end of the street appear even more ghetto than usual. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find the keyhole in the dark. It was unexpectedly difficult.
4) I really, really despise the new e-bill layout from ATT, especially the pop-up windows. I wonder if it looks better for people using browsers other than Firefox.
5) ATLAS SHRUGGED is ...amazing. That courtroom scene made me realize that what a crowning moment of awesome really is, what with the 200+ pages of build up.
1) trying to get heat block to get to exactly the right temperature is excruciating. As in boring. As in checking it every 30 seconds for half an hour kind of painful when you can't do anything because the metal thing was not yet at 80C.
2) being confused by PI: today's event included a discussion on the definition and types of juggling. According to him people do juggle chainsaws. Out side of cartoon. I don't know whether this was more or less strange than random quotations of Russian literature or even more randoms to teenage card games, but do know that I no longer cared.
3) Street and building (but thankfully not the indoor outlets for unit lighting) lights have all gone out at my end of the block. It makes this end of the street appear even more ghetto than usual. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find the keyhole in the dark. It was unexpectedly difficult.
4) I really, really despise the new e-bill layout from ATT, especially the pop-up windows. I wonder if it looks better for people using browsers other than Firefox.
5) ATLAS SHRUGGED is ...amazing. That courtroom scene made me realize that what a crowning moment of awesome really is, what with the 200+ pages of build up.
20110110
Wendy and I giggled over an article in NATURE titled "Feeling the molecules" because it sounded indecent (yes, "indecent"; trying saying the title aloud was enough to set us off) and also? There are a LOT of molecules in us and by types alone there's enough geeky jokes to keep a science nerd hysterical for ages.
This is what my life is like, at the moment, apparently.
This is what my life is like, at the moment, apparently.
20110108
Ubuntu install
PI has been making noises about new laptop again. I think he's disappointed that Ivy got rescued (he really does not like netbooks). To rebel I've burned a live usb for the newest Ubuntu (10.10, and named after Meerkats, I think -- don't ask me why), and liked the live version enough to burn it onto Daemon (my poor experimental Daemon). Here's what the install screenshot looks like:
I think I may miss the design theme where everything is round and chocolate colored. It made my desktop look vaguely like a chocolatier, and I like chocolate. In the mean time, here are some of the things I noticed about this Ubuntu:
1) There were still more issues installing it than Fedora. First round gave me an ebios error because I didn't update the LiLi USB burner and so had to burn it with the 9.something parameter, which confused my computer. I had to double check between Daemon and Zen though, just to make sure it's not a computer issue.
2) Ubuntu share a lot of software with Fedora, such as GIMP (graphics), Firefox (internet), Rhythmbox (music), and OpenOffice (all office type software). This makes learning the OS a much flatter learning curve.
3) Despite of the lack of chocolate, the new design is really quite sleek and efficient. I like it.
4) Ubuntu installs with updates and ALL the third party software support you need, together. It's an option you can check during installation. So unlike Fedora, where I had to hunt down each plugin, Ubuntu comes with support for flash, mp3, chrome, etc. (so yeah I may install and try Chrome on Daemon). There's no command-line involved at all. On one hand, it's like switching to an 100 piece puzzle after playing with an 1000 piece one. On the other hand? Very very easy to transition from windows. Very...easy. This is an easy OS.
5) The graphics. Everything is so VERY GUI oriented and I suspect I may get away without ever needing the terminal, despite of this being a linux system. It gives you powerpoints during installation to teach you about the OS, for crying out loud.
6) It comes a notes system called "Tomboy" and the installation promised a 3D-planetarium thing called "Stellarium" that I'm dying to try out.
7) It also promises something called an "Ubuntu One" account which, from what I've read so far, sounds a bit like a Google account (as in cloud-based remove syncing of files, except also for bookmarks and such) -- could be very useful.
I'll let my computer finish installing it while I go run chores and give another feedback on the usability in a week!
P.S.
I am on Daemon right now, posting via live Ubuntu. The browser (Firefox) is insisting that I type "coloured" instead of "colored". What is this thing with Linux systems? (Then again, the spell-check also doesn't recognize "meerkats" or "chocolatier", so....)
I think I may miss the design theme where everything is round and chocolate colored. It made my desktop look vaguely like a chocolatier, and I like chocolate. In the mean time, here are some of the things I noticed about this Ubuntu:
1) There were still more issues installing it than Fedora. First round gave me an ebios error because I didn't update the LiLi USB burner and so had to burn it with the 9.something parameter, which confused my computer. I had to double check between Daemon and Zen though, just to make sure it's not a computer issue.
2) Ubuntu share a lot of software with Fedora, such as GIMP (graphics), Firefox (internet), Rhythmbox (music), and OpenOffice (all office type software). This makes learning the OS a much flatter learning curve.
3) Despite of the lack of chocolate, the new design is really quite sleek and efficient. I like it.
4) Ubuntu installs with updates and ALL the third party software support you need, together. It's an option you can check during installation. So unlike Fedora, where I had to hunt down each plugin, Ubuntu comes with support for flash, mp3, chrome, etc. (so yeah I may install and try Chrome on Daemon). There's no command-line involved at all. On one hand, it's like switching to an 100 piece puzzle after playing with an 1000 piece one. On the other hand? Very very easy to transition from windows. Very...easy. This is an easy OS.
5) The graphics. Everything is so VERY GUI oriented and I suspect I may get away without ever needing the terminal, despite of this being a linux system. It gives you powerpoints during installation to teach you about the OS, for crying out loud.
6) It comes a notes system called "Tomboy" and the installation promised a 3D-planetarium thing called "Stellarium" that I'm dying to try out.
7) It also promises something called an "Ubuntu One" account which, from what I've read so far, sounds a bit like a Google account (as in cloud-based remove syncing of files, except also for bookmarks and such) -- could be very useful.
I'll let my computer finish installing it while I go run chores and give another feedback on the usability in a week!
P.S.
I am on Daemon right now, posting via live Ubuntu. The browser (Firefox) is insisting that I type "coloured" instead of "colored". What is this thing with Linux systems? (Then again, the spell-check also doesn't recognize "meerkats" or "chocolatier", so....)
20110107
Fish thymus
I realized that I have a lot to do this weekend but couldn't quite figure out what I ought to get started on tonight. So I said, "Okay, I'll just go through and answer all the emails and PMs that I've been putting off" and now it's past eight already. Tempus fugit indeed.
These two weeks will involve dealing with three different collaborators in four different species. It is a bit insane at the moment. I have found out that somehow, despite of the distinct differences between the characteristics of the labs and PIs, messages from PIs seem to always require considerable efforts in deciphering, like it's an Oracle From God. Tamara's PI has informed her that he wasn't going to help her schedule her candidacy exam until she figured out what she was going to do with her life, which made me hugely grateful that my PI didn't choose to do the same. Sure, mine still does the mini-lecture about career choices every once in a while, but I was never thwacked with an ultimatum or refused help, ever. Also, this is extremely unfair since most post-docs still don't know what they're doing with their lives, so how are we, the students, who have less experience with both life and academia, supposed to know? (And then we had a mini existential crisis over lunch.)
Collaborations has also allowed me to find out that there was a pretty virulent strain of bug going around these past few weeks, that laid a lot of people on their backs who normally wouldn't even get sick. (Wendy's baby ended up in the hospital and had to get fluid sucked out of his lungs on Christmas Day. I don't know how she deals with this on top of writing her dissertation -- which she will be defending in February -- and the experiments that the PI is still hinting she should continue.) Today, at a collaborator's lab, a post-doc staggered in, accused his colleagues of getting him sick, and announced that his goal coming in was to infect someone else. At that point the person I'm working with suggested that the post-doc go infect someone next door because that particular neighbor "hates French people" (the post-doc was French) (yeah Lucy, I thought of Mike & Nick and lol'ed). The amount of people staggering about and staying at home made the labs seem very empty. It also meant that it took me that much longer to figure out that one of the post-docs from my own lab is absent because he found another job over the break, and will only be coming in later to clean up his stuff (this is the guy who rescued me from the person at the bus stop the other time, I shall miss him). And Wendy is leaving. Which meant that by summer our lab will be down to five people and we'll be a very small lab indeed.
These two weeks will involve dealing with three different collaborators in four different species. It is a bit insane at the moment. I have found out that somehow, despite of the distinct differences between the characteristics of the labs and PIs, messages from PIs seem to always require considerable efforts in deciphering, like it's an Oracle From God. Tamara's PI has informed her that he wasn't going to help her schedule her candidacy exam until she figured out what she was going to do with her life, which made me hugely grateful that my PI didn't choose to do the same. Sure, mine still does the mini-lecture about career choices every once in a while, but I was never thwacked with an ultimatum or refused help, ever. Also, this is extremely unfair since most post-docs still don't know what they're doing with their lives, so how are we, the students, who have less experience with both life and academia, supposed to know? (And then we had a mini existential crisis over lunch.)
Collaborations has also allowed me to find out that there was a pretty virulent strain of bug going around these past few weeks, that laid a lot of people on their backs who normally wouldn't even get sick. (Wendy's baby ended up in the hospital and had to get fluid sucked out of his lungs on Christmas Day. I don't know how she deals with this on top of writing her dissertation -- which she will be defending in February -- and the experiments that the PI is still hinting she should continue.) Today, at a collaborator's lab, a post-doc staggered in, accused his colleagues of getting him sick, and announced that his goal coming in was to infect someone else. At that point the person I'm working with suggested that the post-doc go infect someone next door because that particular neighbor "hates French people" (the post-doc was French) (yeah Lucy, I thought of Mike & Nick and lol'ed). The amount of people staggering about and staying at home made the labs seem very empty. It also meant that it took me that much longer to figure out that one of the post-docs from my own lab is absent because he found another job over the break, and will only be coming in later to clean up his stuff (this is the guy who rescued me from the person at the bus stop the other time, I shall miss him). And Wendy is leaving. Which meant that by summer our lab will be down to five people and we'll be a very small lab indeed.
20110105
Alas
For the few people who haven't heard yet, I made the drive from bay area to San Diego this past Sunday. I started the trip at 7:45am and arrived at the Grapevine about an hour after they closed it. Talk about frustrating. Since the highway was closed off by two patrol cars physically blocking the highway, all the traffic from the four-lanes had to be funneled to the nearest stop -- so, major traffic jam. After we managed to pull off the highway into the rest area, we braved very strong wind and stinging snow to find that all the gas stations and such in that area were closed due to weather. This meant that when the highway patrol told us that the highway was closed "indefinitely" and we should take an "alternative route", we had no one to ask for an alternative route, or place to fuel up for it.
Given that the road was closed indefinitely and that I was in no way prepared to spend an indefinite amount of time in a place with no food, restroom, or even spare blankets, I turned the car around and headed north again, tuning in, as the posted signs suggested, to the radio for road conditions. The highway patrol radio advised detour to Bakersfield, and then coming down south via 58, then 14 (i.e. detour through Tehapachi via Mojave, Palmdale, approaching LA through Santa Clarita). The rest stops closest to the last pre-Grapevine off ramp, where we were blocked off, were closed as well. At Bakersfield off ramp I pulled off to let Lucy and my parents know of the development (the Grapevine area's network was so busy that I couldn't call anyway at all) and then again before leaving downtown Bakersfield, where I called Lucy (early afternoon at that point) to double check directions and filled up on gas again, because I was paranoid.
It was a good thing I was paranoid.
58-14 was in no way equipped to handle the traffic flow from I5. This was before it started snowing. Unlike I5, there was no 90mph winds (around 40mph by my estimate at the worst places), so the road stayed open. However, many of the drivers, like myself, were planning to head to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAS and so was not prepared to drive through snow. This meant no one had tire chains or snow tired. This meant far too many traffic accidents. This meant that from the 58-99 junction, all the way through Santa Clarita, the road was one long traffic jam with occasional areas where we can cautiously creep up to 40mph.
There were essentially no rest stops for me from that point forward. Which made sense, given that we were traveling at around 3mph in most places, and even if the stops were not closed because of the weather, highways don't usually have stops spaced every five miles. I was hoping to get through the area before dark, before the temperature dropped and the slush on the road froze -- no such luck. With the snow build up the only marker to distinguish between the lanes, we crawled on through the mountains, in the dark.
By the time I got through Santa Clarita, I was so close to Lucy's that there was really no point in taking a rest stop -- no to mention that navigating more highway ramps that I absolutely had to seemed awfully daunting. I ended up parking next to Lucy's building in an exhausted haze around...between ten to eleven pm, probably, called her and said something along the lines of, "Hi. I'm here. Can I come in and pass out now?" and she said something along the lines of "Ohmigod. Yes."
My memory of that point was a little sketchy. I did remember all of Lucy's family crowding around the door to watch me stagger in. I was fed and given hot tea and asleep, I think, within an hour of crossing her threshold. (I know, I'm such a great guest.) I emailed my PI something about being stuck in the snow and called my parents, who told me to go to sleep already, and I think Lucy made sure that all my friends can stop freaking out. I remember talking to Kate. I don't remember what I said, exactly, but I think I mentioned snow. I was traumatized by it that day.
The next morning I made my way down to LA, where, despite of Google's prediction that there's nothing worse than flooded lanes and a few local malfunctioning traffic lights, I hit traffic both as the usual spots and also in some not so usual spots. It was raining buckets in place and we had to drive at around 50mph, so the trip also took far longer than expected. Then I got to SD around noon (total trip took nearly twenty hours at this point) and saw blue skies. My mind, guys -- it boggled.
By the time I ate something, unpacked, and showered, it was close to three pm and I was so tired I was having trouble pouring water. Given that public transit to lab is two hours and I was in no shape to work late that day, I opted instead to stay home and work on the comp bio portion of my project, specifically the sequence annotation part. (Apparently you don't need to be 100% awake for pattern recognition.) Then I microwaved something for dinner, did dishes, fell into bed and slept for about twelve hours. The next day (yesterday) I was able to do my normal full day work hours, and at some point the PI came by and said, "Welcome back! How was the Tehapachi?" To which I was able to reply, deadpan, "Snowy." And then the cricket that had moved in behind the chromatography fridge during my absence began to chirp and I reflected how this was the more exhausting misadventure that I've ever had the misfortune of not being able to avoid having. Then the PI made some sort of comment about publishing manuscript and how things are published in high impact journals not so much for accuracy or rigor but for sexiness.
...I...yeah. There's not a whole lot a grad student can say to a comment like that from her PI.
Given that the road was closed indefinitely and that I was in no way prepared to spend an indefinite amount of time in a place with no food, restroom, or even spare blankets, I turned the car around and headed north again, tuning in, as the posted signs suggested, to the radio for road conditions. The highway patrol radio advised detour to Bakersfield, and then coming down south via 58, then 14 (i.e. detour through Tehapachi via Mojave, Palmdale, approaching LA through Santa Clarita). The rest stops closest to the last pre-Grapevine off ramp, where we were blocked off, were closed as well. At Bakersfield off ramp I pulled off to let Lucy and my parents know of the development (the Grapevine area's network was so busy that I couldn't call anyway at all) and then again before leaving downtown Bakersfield, where I called Lucy (early afternoon at that point) to double check directions and filled up on gas again, because I was paranoid.
It was a good thing I was paranoid.
58-14 was in no way equipped to handle the traffic flow from I5. This was before it started snowing. Unlike I5, there was no 90mph winds (around 40mph by my estimate at the worst places), so the road stayed open. However, many of the drivers, like myself, were planning to head to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAS and so was not prepared to drive through snow. This meant no one had tire chains or snow tired. This meant far too many traffic accidents. This meant that from the 58-99 junction, all the way through Santa Clarita, the road was one long traffic jam with occasional areas where we can cautiously creep up to 40mph.
There were essentially no rest stops for me from that point forward. Which made sense, given that we were traveling at around 3mph in most places, and even if the stops were not closed because of the weather, highways don't usually have stops spaced every five miles. I was hoping to get through the area before dark, before the temperature dropped and the slush on the road froze -- no such luck. With the snow build up the only marker to distinguish between the lanes, we crawled on through the mountains, in the dark.
By the time I got through Santa Clarita, I was so close to Lucy's that there was really no point in taking a rest stop -- no to mention that navigating more highway ramps that I absolutely had to seemed awfully daunting. I ended up parking next to Lucy's building in an exhausted haze around...between ten to eleven pm, probably, called her and said something along the lines of, "Hi. I'm here. Can I come in and pass out now?" and she said something along the lines of "Ohmigod. Yes."
My memory of that point was a little sketchy. I did remember all of Lucy's family crowding around the door to watch me stagger in. I was fed and given hot tea and asleep, I think, within an hour of crossing her threshold. (I know, I'm such a great guest.) I emailed my PI something about being stuck in the snow and called my parents, who told me to go to sleep already, and I think Lucy made sure that all my friends can stop freaking out. I remember talking to Kate. I don't remember what I said, exactly, but I think I mentioned snow. I was traumatized by it that day.
The next morning I made my way down to LA, where, despite of Google's prediction that there's nothing worse than flooded lanes and a few local malfunctioning traffic lights, I hit traffic both as the usual spots and also in some not so usual spots. It was raining buckets in place and we had to drive at around 50mph, so the trip also took far longer than expected. Then I got to SD around noon (total trip took nearly twenty hours at this point) and saw blue skies. My mind, guys -- it boggled.
By the time I ate something, unpacked, and showered, it was close to three pm and I was so tired I was having trouble pouring water. Given that public transit to lab is two hours and I was in no shape to work late that day, I opted instead to stay home and work on the comp bio portion of my project, specifically the sequence annotation part. (Apparently you don't need to be 100% awake for pattern recognition.) Then I microwaved something for dinner, did dishes, fell into bed and slept for about twelve hours. The next day (yesterday) I was able to do my normal full day work hours, and at some point the PI came by and said, "Welcome back! How was the Tehapachi?" To which I was able to reply, deadpan, "Snowy." And then the cricket that had moved in behind the chromatography fridge during my absence began to chirp and I reflected how this was the more exhausting misadventure that I've ever had the misfortune of not being able to avoid having. Then the PI made some sort of comment about publishing manuscript and how things are published in high impact journals not so much for accuracy or rigor but for sexiness.
...I...yeah. There's not a whole lot a grad student can say to a comment like that from her PI.
20110101
In which nothing was set on fire, despite of many misgivings
Due to circumstances that don't need to be explored at this juncture, I picked up Anna and Victoria yesterday and we went over to Kate's place, arrived, and was "babysat" by Lusine, who was very blue and prone to freezing, leaving us with impressions of facial spasms and weird robotic intonations where half of every third word appeared to be missing, swallowed by the wasteland of non-space in the internets. Our theory was to blame the internet connection, which may or may not be related to the trouble Victoria had with cellphone reception and the fact that Foster City appears to be built on a marsh (where the two castles that sank prior to this one didn't put anyone off at all) (kidding, but all the oceanic names in the region is pretty funny). Then Kate fed us and introduced us to the wonder that is Xbox Kinect, which is very creepy because only not does it have avatars that mimic your every motion (so long as you stand in the right area), but the sensors capture random photos of you mid-play, as well. Kinect sports was pretty fun, but it's Kinect Adventures that (surprisingly) required the most amount of exercise -- one of them essentially had us doing sort-of jumping-jacks from squatting positions while flailing around wildly with our arms. It's astonishing that no one got injured when we did side-by-side playing with two-people teams, given the amount of flailing. The most important thing about this gaming system, however, is that it is hilarious to watch others play.
(Kate also introduced us -- by which I mean Christine, Anna and I, since Victoria already has this -- to the wonders of vacuum-sealed stuff animals. Seeing all that fuzziness deflated and squished together like a giant bag of vacuum-sealed grocery was a bit disturbing, but oddly enthralling.)
We watched the movie 2012, pausing around midnight for the Times Square thing (that bit was fun, there were party poppers and champagne and everything), and the movie was really awful. We were waxing sarcastic over the atrocious science, because the movie started with the premise that increase in neutrinos (yes, that neutrino, as in same root word as neutrons, as in very small thing with no charge that we get bombarded with every single day with no effect of whatsoever) (why did they not use positrons? They are charged, they'll explode--well, sort of--if you put them together with electrons and so make more sense for exciting apocalyptic scenarios, and positrons deserve more love in the realm of pop culture) from solar flares will cause the earth's core to melt from the inside out. And the science gets worse from there. The sub-plots -- emotional family bonding type thing -- complete with boyfriend, girfriend, ex's, jealousies, and vindication--made us groan. The protagonists all displayed a shocking lack of common sense and self-preservation. Any character that remotely caught my interest all died.
Christine, who arrived via her parents, suggested that we watch 2012 for our 2012 get-together. I'm still debating whether the ironic humor is worth putting myself through it again. It caused me pain. And it's long.
The wind-chime from Kate's neighbors, when heard through the walls, sounded like the alarm going off in the lab down the corridor. Despite of this I managed to sleep, woke up way too early (think 7:30am), went to bug Christine (who didn't sleep at all), and ended up finishing part I of a copy of TESS D'URBERVILLES that I found, over tea. (It was a much faster read then ATLAS SHRUGGED.) Then Kate fed us again (she did so love to order us about; it was funny) and everyone trooped out.
The weather seems to be getting steadily less promising since then. The weather here for tomorrow has changed from shower to rain but at least the weather in San Diego has changed from shower to partly cloudy, so there is hope yet.
I have returned the books to the library and am now packing.
My parents are periodically shoving food at me. Such is the nature of parental affections.
I will head out first thing tomorrow morning and endeavor to make the full length trip between bay area and San Diego in one day. Cheers.
(Kate also introduced us -- by which I mean Christine, Anna and I, since Victoria already has this -- to the wonders of vacuum-sealed stuff animals. Seeing all that fuzziness deflated and squished together like a giant bag of vacuum-sealed grocery was a bit disturbing, but oddly enthralling.)
We watched the movie 2012, pausing around midnight for the Times Square thing (that bit was fun, there were party poppers and champagne and everything), and the movie was really awful. We were waxing sarcastic over the atrocious science, because the movie started with the premise that increase in neutrinos (yes, that neutrino, as in same root word as neutrons, as in very small thing with no charge that we get bombarded with every single day with no effect of whatsoever) (why did they not use positrons? They are charged, they'll explode--well, sort of--if you put them together with electrons and so make more sense for exciting apocalyptic scenarios, and positrons deserve more love in the realm of pop culture) from solar flares will cause the earth's core to melt from the inside out. And the science gets worse from there. The sub-plots -- emotional family bonding type thing -- complete with boyfriend, girfriend, ex's, jealousies, and vindication--made us groan. The protagonists all displayed a shocking lack of common sense and self-preservation. Any character that remotely caught my interest all died.
Christine, who arrived via her parents, suggested that we watch 2012 for our 2012 get-together. I'm still debating whether the ironic humor is worth putting myself through it again. It caused me pain. And it's long.
The wind-chime from Kate's neighbors, when heard through the walls, sounded like the alarm going off in the lab down the corridor. Despite of this I managed to sleep, woke up way too early (think 7:30am), went to bug Christine (who didn't sleep at all), and ended up finishing part I of a copy of TESS D'URBERVILLES that I found, over tea. (It was a much faster read then ATLAS SHRUGGED.) Then Kate fed us again (she did so love to order us about; it was funny) and everyone trooped out.
The weather seems to be getting steadily less promising since then. The weather here for tomorrow has changed from shower to rain but at least the weather in San Diego has changed from shower to partly cloudy, so there is hope yet.
I have returned the books to the library and am now packing.
My parents are periodically shoving food at me. Such is the nature of parental affections.
I will head out first thing tomorrow morning and endeavor to make the full length trip between bay area and San Diego in one day. Cheers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)