www.flickr.com
|
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Conservatory of Flowers
They have a no tripod policy so most of the macro shots took several tries and various tricky flash angles. It's a beautiful place to visit and tickets are only five dollars. I was chased from room to room by the mist sprayers which would periodically turn on to keep the tropical humidity. Great for flowers, but not for my camera.
www.flickr.com
|
Hawk Hill Photos
The hike turned out to be very short. I was promised 2 miles but it was no more than a 5 minute stroll to the top. There was however an incomplete bunker started for World War II but never finished because it became clear that the bay was safe from invasion by the time they were ready to start arming it. Now all that is there are giant green cement ponds where 25 mile range naval guns would have been installed.
www.flickr.com
|
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
SF Protest for A Day Without an Immigrant
It was a slow day at school. There were only 10 students in each of my first 2 classes. Though I made it out to the San Francisco Protest a little after most of the crowd had left, the people that were left were still very energized. There were several great drum circles, tons of families with flags and a lot of positive energy in the air.
www.flickr.com
|
Friday, April 28, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Alternative Press Expo and Golden Gate Bridge Biking Pics
I finally accepted Keith's advice about the flickr pro account. It is totally worth the $2 a month. Here are the pics from our trip to APE and the Golden Gate. I love the meta-photos of tourists taking photos.
| www.flickr.com |
Monday, April 24, 2006
Somebody used my picture in his article
The horde of motorcycle cops and the girls arrest are my pics. I feel so journalistic.
http://www.steinbock.org/blog/2006/04/22/networks-of-protest-block-bush-at-stanford/
http://www.steinbock.org/blog/2006/04/22/networks-of-protest-block-bush-at-stanford/
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Wine Tasting
This week was spring break for Andrew, so I figured now was as good a time as any to take vacation. (Apparently it goes away if I don't take it.) We took Thursday and Friday to go to Napa. As it turned out, the weather was beautiful on Thursday - a nice change from the seven consecutive weeks of rain every day. (OK, fine, it didn't rain last Saturday; we took that opportunity to bike the Golden Gate bridge. But it has rained on all other days since February.)
We found a circa-2002 wine country map with highlighter marks for places we've already been, and resolved to visit new places this time.
Lunch on Friday was at the Rutherford Grill, which is owned by the guy who does Houston's. I can't resist the prime rib sandwich. Plus, no corkage fee.
Because it was all sunny outside, we wanted to get in some hiking. The Boethe National Park has some generally fun hiking trails. The creek was running several feet higher than I remembered from last time, and the ground was disgorging water out of every possible orifice. The parts of the trail that normally cross the creek (by using stepping stones) were unusable, so we only made it a few miles in. The trail was usually dry enough to walk on, but I did encounter some patches of mud too wide to hop over (hence the muddiness , when we arrived at BV). No evidence of humans anywhere - I guess no one else wants to wade through the mud.
We found a circa-2002 wine country map with highlighter marks for places we've already been, and resolved to visit new places this time.
- Van der Hayden (which has the only late-harvest cabernet in the valley; the proprietor claimed to have just found the final remaining pallet of the 1997 vintage). This place looks pretty old-school, where you have to ring the bell to get someone to come out of the house and serve you the wine. Plus there were yummy chocolates filled with wine.
- Reynolds. I don't actually remember the wine, but apparently we bought a bottle of cabernet there anyway. I do remember that they also claimed to have just discovered a pallet of some older wine which is now more expensive. Must be something going around with the stockboys' union.
- Hall. They're new, and make mostly Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. I suppose it's good, as far as those go. Bleh. Actually, there was some pretty cool metal artwork holding up the wine bottles, which looked sort of like stuff from the Calder exhibit at the moma.
- Beaulieu Vineyards. We've been there once before, when we encountered a really snobby clerk (who apparently thinks that (muddy t-shirt != serious wine drinker). This time wasn't much better. We went to the reserve tasting room, where the person at the counter headed us off as soon as we came in the door and informed us that the regular tasting room was next door. OK.. guess they don't want my money. No loss, their wine's not that good anyway.
- Saint Clement. Yummy Chardonay; requires a hike up the hill to get there, so you feel like you're working off some of the calories.
- V. Sattui. Everyone's favorite winery; on sunny weekends there's barbecue. If you have a cellar club membership, you can taste in the reserve room too. (All tasting is free.) They had a little bit of the 2002 Howell Mountain left, plus the Morissoli, so we ended up leaving with a case of wine (including picking up some more Madiera to replenish the stock). They're all sold out of the Suzanne's Vineyard zinfandels, though, which is a bummer because they're not going to replant that area with zinfandel for another 5+ years.
- Milat. My favorite for price / quality ratio. The Pine Station red is $18/bottle and is competitive with most $50 wines from the valley. Their 2003 Cabernet (just bottled) was fantastic. The folks there are also really friendly and will tell you stuff about the wine.
Lunch on Friday was at the Rutherford Grill, which is owned by the guy who does Houston's. I can't resist the prime rib sandwich. Plus, no corkage fee.
Because it was all sunny outside, we wanted to get in some hiking. The Boethe National Park has some generally fun hiking trails. The creek was running several feet higher than I remembered from last time, and the ground was disgorging water out of every possible orifice. The parts of the trail that normally cross the creek (by using stepping stones) were unusable, so we only made it a few miles in. The trail was usually dry enough to walk on, but I did encounter some patches of mud too wide to hop over (hence the muddiness , when we arrived at BV). No evidence of humans anywhere - I guess no one else wants to wade through the mud.
Scrabble Poetry
The riveter's caveat fades.
None meet at the Rune to get blazed
while people make jabs at their hairs.
None meet to groan and moan.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Culinary Adventures
I've had a number of new-to-me food experiences in the last month or so:
1) Grits.
While in Charleston for Rob's wedding, I discovered grits. My previous experiences with this foodstuff had been somewhat negative because they involved a Californian's interpretation of what grits were supposed to be made with. Actual authentic southern grits are goood. How can you go wrong with that much cheese?
2) Tartine.
I am sure that at some point during my Europe adventures, I blogged about pan au chocolat, consumed fresh from the bakery in Paris. Upon returning to the states, I found that while many bakeries claim to have a pastry involving chocolate, that they are sad imitations of the real thing. The American equivalent used milk chocolate which usually hardened into a lump in the middle of the pastry, and the pastry itself would be heavy, full of butter, and not the least bit flaky. Anyway, at Tartine (18th and Guerrero), I found one that's somewhat close to the Paris version (certainly leap-years ahead of the other American ones), whose primary flaw is that it's really breakfast for two. But it uses the right kind of chocolate (dark Schaffenberger) and the pastry is light and fluffy. Yummy.
3) Brunch at the Ritz
When Amy was here to visit, we had brunch at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown SF. This definitely counts as the most spectacular buffet ever: there were so many different kinds of food that I couldn't possibly try them all. An omelete station, carving station with multiple kinds of meat, sushi, dim sum, bread and cheese, tapas, and an enormous dessert cart. I was absolutely stuffed and couldn't eat anything else all day.
4) Those yummy little meringue things
I don't know what they're called, but they had them at chocolate stores in Zurich: composed of two pieces of meringue that sandwich a layer of creme. They come in dozens of flavors. You could theoretically ship them from Switzerland, but it's complicated because they are fragile and respond badly to heat. When you buy a box, you basically have to eat it all right then and there. I think the name might sound vaguely like 'sprungli' but Google's results for this are not promising. Anyway, I figured for sure I would never find anything like this here, but the Noe Valley Bakery and Bread Co (24th at.. Noe) has something pretty close. They're heavier than their European counterparts (detecting a theme yet?) but are very tasty and come in chocolate and fruity flavors.
1) Grits.
While in Charleston for Rob's wedding, I discovered grits. My previous experiences with this foodstuff had been somewhat negative because they involved a Californian's interpretation of what grits were supposed to be made with. Actual authentic southern grits are goood. How can you go wrong with that much cheese?
2) Tartine.
I am sure that at some point during my Europe adventures, I blogged about pan au chocolat, consumed fresh from the bakery in Paris. Upon returning to the states, I found that while many bakeries claim to have a pastry involving chocolate, that they are sad imitations of the real thing. The American equivalent used milk chocolate which usually hardened into a lump in the middle of the pastry, and the pastry itself would be heavy, full of butter, and not the least bit flaky. Anyway, at Tartine (18th and Guerrero), I found one that's somewhat close to the Paris version (certainly leap-years ahead of the other American ones), whose primary flaw is that it's really breakfast for two. But it uses the right kind of chocolate (dark Schaffenberger) and the pastry is light and fluffy. Yummy.
3) Brunch at the Ritz
When Amy was here to visit, we had brunch at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown SF. This definitely counts as the most spectacular buffet ever: there were so many different kinds of food that I couldn't possibly try them all. An omelete station, carving station with multiple kinds of meat, sushi, dim sum, bread and cheese, tapas, and an enormous dessert cart. I was absolutely stuffed and couldn't eat anything else all day.
4) Those yummy little meringue things
I don't know what they're called, but they had them at chocolate stores in Zurich: composed of two pieces of meringue that sandwich a layer of creme. They come in dozens of flavors. You could theoretically ship them from Switzerland, but it's complicated because they are fragile and respond badly to heat. When you buy a box, you basically have to eat it all right then and there. I think the name might sound vaguely like 'sprungli' but Google's results for this are not promising. Anyway, I figured for sure I would never find anything like this here, but the Noe Valley Bakery and Bread Co (24th at.. Noe) has something pretty close. They're heavier than their European counterparts (detecting a theme yet?) but are very tasty and come in chocolate and fruity flavors.
Whiskies of the World expo
This bagpipe troop had the knack of showing up whenever I was trying to call someone.
This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures with your wireless phone visit
www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getpix.
To learn how you can record videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getflix.
To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime Player. Note: During the download
process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
first time back up twin peaks since braking my ankle
This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures with your wireless phone visit
www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getpix.
To learn how you can record videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getflix.
To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime Player. Note: During the download
process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Martin Gaitan
Yesterday, I was hanging out at Amelia's house, operating on the theory that a hearty bowl of chili and some beer might squash this budding sinus-headache-fever-scratchy-throat thing that had kept me home all day, holding some kind of can opener which the host assured me would be able to open the aforementioned bottle of beer (the kind of opener that has lots of little stubby bits hanging off of it, none quite large enough to pop a bottle cap), and feeling rather silly about not being able to figure out how to operate it (I have a degree in engineering, for crying out loud, and can usually think of a dozen McGuyver-esque ways of opening any given container of alcohol), when I suddenly realized how much I miss Martin, who knew how to do that trick with a lighter to open beer bottles (a useful skill, when lighters outnumber functional beer openers by orders of magnitude).
Martin died in a car accident last Sunday night, the kind of accident where no one knows exactly what happened because all that's left is a twisted heap of cars on the freeway. I hadn't seen much of Martin after he moved to Florida, but we were friends in college, where he would absolutely always open my beer for me whenever I needed it. (OK, so I'm the sort of engineer who tends towards soldering things together rather than taking things apart. Fine.) Neither of us much liked differential equations, but studied together sometimes because it's way more fun than studying with people who know everything (except for the obvious disadvantage that you don't have anyone to copy from). Martin was always the life of the party, too, and was always up for doing something unrelated to studying. He was a real standup guy. I guess I don't have much more to say than that.
Martin died in a car accident last Sunday night, the kind of accident where no one knows exactly what happened because all that's left is a twisted heap of cars on the freeway. I hadn't seen much of Martin after he moved to Florida, but we were friends in college, where he would absolutely always open my beer for me whenever I needed it. (OK, so I'm the sort of engineer who tends towards soldering things together rather than taking things apart. Fine.) Neither of us much liked differential equations, but studied together sometimes because it's way more fun than studying with people who know everything (except for the obvious disadvantage that you don't have anyone to copy from). Martin was always the life of the party, too, and was always up for doing something unrelated to studying. He was a real standup guy. I guess I don't have much more to say than that.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Agi is My Good Luck Charm
We went skiing last weekend with a bunch of friends. Actually, I guess it was more snowboarding than skiing - the rest of the group wanted to learn to snowboard, so I figured I'd join them rather than be the only one on skis. (Andrew spent most of the weekend at the card room.) We rented some snowboards and hit the bunny slopes at Kirkwood. I remembered a lot more about how to snowboard than I thought I would - the board mostly does what I tell it to, I can sort of link turns, and I can get down the easy slopes without falling. It was tons of fun to snowboard again, but I'd forgotton what it was like to fall so much and get snow stuck in my hat. Ben, Amelia, and Kelle had never snowboarded before, so they were too sore the next morning to go back. (I was a little sore too, but mostly in my shoulder from one bad fall.)
So Agi and I were on our own for skiing on Sunday, with everyone else wanting to stay back at the condo. We set out after a leisurely breakfast to get in a half day of skiing (me on my skis this time). At the junction of CA 88 and 89 we saw a hitchhiker. This intersection is maybe 14 miles from civilization in any direction, so it's a little unusual to see people hanging out there. If I were by myself, maybe I wouldn't pick him up, but with two of us in the car it seems pretty safe, and Agi says yeah, pick him up. So we pull over. His name is Justin, and he'd hitchhiked here from Stateline but the first ride he found needed to go the other way at the junction. Anyway, turns out that Justin and I work for the same company, but had never met before, presumably because it's a Big Company now, and he's in sales and I'm in engineering. Small world, I guess.
We got to Kirkwood, and Agi realized she'd forgotten her ticket back at the condo. They'd bought tickets in town in advance because it's only $50 if you buy in advance, but more than $60 if you buy there. But the ticket guy was nice and gave her a discount anyway - the ticket ended up costing less than the original one.
We skied a bunch of different parts of the mountain, although the back side was closed because of high winds. We stopped pretty late for lunch, and Agi convinced the grill guy to give us a beer and two hot dogs for less than ten bucks. Sweet!
All in all it was a fantastic weekend, and we made great time back in the car (just over 3 hours).
So Agi and I were on our own for skiing on Sunday, with everyone else wanting to stay back at the condo. We set out after a leisurely breakfast to get in a half day of skiing (me on my skis this time). At the junction of CA 88 and 89 we saw a hitchhiker. This intersection is maybe 14 miles from civilization in any direction, so it's a little unusual to see people hanging out there. If I were by myself, maybe I wouldn't pick him up, but with two of us in the car it seems pretty safe, and Agi says yeah, pick him up. So we pull over. His name is Justin, and he'd hitchhiked here from Stateline but the first ride he found needed to go the other way at the junction. Anyway, turns out that Justin and I work for the same company, but had never met before, presumably because it's a Big Company now, and he's in sales and I'm in engineering. Small world, I guess.
We got to Kirkwood, and Agi realized she'd forgotten her ticket back at the condo. They'd bought tickets in town in advance because it's only $50 if you buy in advance, but more than $60 if you buy there. But the ticket guy was nice and gave her a discount anyway - the ticket ended up costing less than the original one.
We skied a bunch of different parts of the mountain, although the back side was closed because of high winds. We stopped pretty late for lunch, and Agi convinced the grill guy to give us a beer and two hot dogs for less than ten bucks. Sweet!
All in all it was a fantastic weekend, and we made great time back in the car (just over 3 hours).
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Point-Counterpoint
That's When I Carried You
by the Gimp Chair
One night, Andrew, you had a dream. You dreamed you were pushing me through the house: to the room with the ying-yang table, to the office to do some grading, or to the table for the extra unexpected guest. For each scene, you noticed two sets of footprints on the floor; one belonging to you, and the other to me. When the last scene of your dream flashed before you, you looked back at the footprints on the floor. You noticed that many times along the floor of your house there was only one set of footprints. You also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in your life. This bothered you, and you questioned me about it. "Gimp Chair, you said that once I decided to buy you from office depot, you would walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." I replied, "My precious, precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
Screw You Gimp Chair
by Andrew
by Andrew
Screw you Gimp Chair! When I first bought you, you promised to be not only affordable but comfortable. Now that I've spent a month sitting on you...well atleast you were affordable. Your cheap imitation pleather is neither soft nor plush. Your arm rails left black scars on the walls of my house, which I bumped into only because your wheels always stick. Your recline is far from sufficient, leaving me cramped and uncomfortable. Your adjustable height is neither high enough to let me reach the counters in the kitchen with ease nor short enough to let me elevate my broken leg on any of the other furniture. Your wheels spread dirt and scratches all across my floor. I must be fair however. You did have your advantages. After all, I can't carry anything on crutches and my shoulders were getting sore from having to support myself. Today when the doctor told me I could start walking again, it was all I could do to choke back the tears of joy. Now that I've freed myself from you, I'm sending you back to the depths of the forgotten office. Oh does it seem like a cruel punishment for all your dutiful service. Just be glad we aren't still living in San Carlos because you'd be chopped to pieces and then burned with scrap wood in our backyard firepit. Screw You Gimp Chair. If I never sit in you again, it'll be too soon.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Transportation Options
I was standing in the pouring rain in the Mission on Thursday, contemplating the value of my time. The walk home from that bart station takes roughly 30 minutes, which is normally how I get home. It's mostly uphill, so it's good exercise. But it's a lot less fun in the rain, which got me thinking about alternate forms of transportation. I can take the bart to Glen Park, then get on a bus, and walk 1-2 blocks to get home; this route has almost no rain exposure, but takes significantly longer than 30 minutes and is not free ($1.40 bart fare as of this week, $1.25 bus fare, 5 minutes wait/ride time for the bart, expected value of 25 minutes wait/ride for the bus, 5 minutes walk from the bus stop). Finally, there's the cab: expected value $9 fare/tip, 10 minutes ride plus 5 minutes finding the cab. (The final option, asking Andrew to come pick me up in a car, works only when the car is not in the shop and when he is physically capable of driving, but it's the cheapest: expected value 15 minutes, negligible cost.)
So, the question is, how many dollars must my time be worth before the cab option is the most optimal? Assume that there is some factor X which converts minutes to dollars. The public transit and cab options are "equal" in total cost to me when this equation is satisfied:
which happens when X is 0.25 dollars-per-minute, or $15.24 per hour.
Similarly, comparing the cab vs. walking:
suggests that the cab is a better option if my time is worth at least $36 per hour.
The upshot is that I think I'll never take the bus again. :) The exercise (in non-rainy weather) has tangible benefits to me, but I'm pretty sure my time is worth more than $15/hour. Or would be, if I weren't salaried - this is sort of academic at this point.
Having figured this out while wandering down Valencia, I finally found a cab. He called in the pickup as Army Street - I wonder how long he's been driving a cab, if he still thinks of it as Army? - and in fact made better time than ten minutes. Sweet.
So, the question is, how many dollars must my time be worth before the cab option is the most optimal? Assume that there is some factor X which converts minutes to dollars. The public transit and cab options are "equal" in total cost to me when this equation is satisfied:
1.40 + 1.25 + (40 * X) = 9.00 + (15 * X)
which happens when X is 0.25 dollars-per-minute, or $15.24 per hour.
Similarly, comparing the cab vs. walking:
30 * X = 9.00 + (15 * X)
suggests that the cab is a better option if my time is worth at least $36 per hour.
The upshot is that I think I'll never take the bus again. :) The exercise (in non-rainy weather) has tangible benefits to me, but I'm pretty sure my time is worth more than $15/hour. Or would be, if I weren't salaried - this is sort of academic at this point.
Having figured this out while wandering down Valencia, I finally found a cab. He called in the pickup as Army Street - I wonder how long he's been driving a cab, if he still thinks of it as Army? - and in fact made better time than ten minutes. Sweet.
Friday, January 13, 2006
You might just have ADD
If you relax by blogging while you're painting, while you're playing 3 on-line tournaments, while you're watching the commentary tracks of your World Poker Tour Discs. God I'm Bored.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
The Continuing Adventures of Super Gimp
This past weekend, Lexi, Billy, Mandy, Kevin and I went to Tahoe. We must have soaked up all the bad Karma last time, because this trip was lots of fun. About the only thing that went wrong was that Billy's Truck's regular headlights died on the way up, so we had to blind everyone with the brights, but we made it to Tahoe without trouble nonetheless. Everyone went skiing while I spent Saturday playing cards. I only made 11 bucks, but I had a great time chatting with a few of the other players. The morning poker table crowd is a strange mix of old men drinking coffee and bleary eyed drunks still left over from the night before. Two characters of note were spicy corona man and the black russian flirt.
Spicy Corona man was from Monterey Mexico. He had been drinking coronas that he kept adding sweet and spicy mexican hot sauce to. Despite the fact that the hot sauce bottle was almost empty, his play was still respectably sane. His head would hang loosely off his neck as though it was ready to fall off until it was his turn, when someone would remind him he had cards. However as soon as he had to play he would carefully consider his cards and then fold or raise. The pots he raised, he usually won or atleast showed down a respectable holding. As soon as he had won or folded, his head would slump back down. He left the table after he finished the last of his hot sauce and the waitress refused to get him another corona.
The black russian flirt did not do so well at the table. When I first sat down, he was explaining to another player how he had a fight with his girlfriend earlier and he was waiting to go fix things once she had calmed down. He started off playing ok, but as soon as a cute waitress from Brazil started her shift. After that, he ordered about 6 black russians in the space of about a half hour just so he could ask the waitress her name each time. He kept thinking he could get her to go out with him to the improv that night. The more he drank, the more he was convinced this was the case. After about the 5th black russian, the quality of his play dropped of dramatically. He lost $200 in a span of about 30 minutes, chasing straight hands all the way to the river and showing down junk. After the last of his money was gone, he slowly rose from his chair. He swayed towards the exit, then turned towards the back of the poker room, then back out into the casino, where he passed out on a row of slot machines. A crowd of casino workers gathered and carried him to the elevator. I would have paid for tickets to the fight that must have ensued when they dragged him, dead drunk at 10am into the hotel room where his girlfriend was waiting.
The two most engaging players at the table were a programmer for golfballs.com and an English teacher from Santa Barbara. I had a great time just sitting and chatting with them.
After everyone finished skiing, we all went to Cecil's Steak and Brew. It's kind of a cross between a Morton's and a Cheesecake Factory (half big steaks and half big salads). The steaks were great and there was so much food it fed us for breakfast the next day.
Billy, Mandy and I left early on Sunday so that they could get back to LA in time to catch their flight to Hawaii. I wish they had more time to spend with us, but how often do you get the chance to get to go to Hawaii.
Almost forgot. Earlier last week I had won a $10 tournament where the prize was the $200 entry into a tournament on Saturday. I couldn't play as I was going to Tahoe so I gave the entry to my friend Yann with the deal that we split the winnings. He managed to win $400 so I made $190 on my initial investment. Not bad. I just won another satellite tournament to a $100,000 dollar tournament that starts on my birthday. I should be able to play that. My tournament play is improving. It's really a matter of being very patient, coming in with aggression, and continuing that aggression post flop in the right amount to drive out chasers or build a huge pot if you have flopped a monster.
Yesterday I took the GRE. I was upset that my scores from my last GRE had expired. When they say they last about 5 years, they don't mean a little over 5 years, they mean a little under 5 years. Doh. Anyhow, I signed up to take it again. Here are the results (out of 800)
No practice
Finished an hour early
690 Verbal
730 Math
? Writing
We'll see if they're good enough for Stanford. Though I'm not sure if I would prefer to go to Stanford or work at the Medicare Research center crunching data. I'm about ready for an office job. Punch in 9-5. No baggage to take home. I've got my mug and stapler all ready. And if they take my stapler I'm....I'm...I'm gonna burn down the building. Just Kidding. Damn it feels good to be a gangster.
Spicy Corona man was from Monterey Mexico. He had been drinking coronas that he kept adding sweet and spicy mexican hot sauce to. Despite the fact that the hot sauce bottle was almost empty, his play was still respectably sane. His head would hang loosely off his neck as though it was ready to fall off until it was his turn, when someone would remind him he had cards. However as soon as he had to play he would carefully consider his cards and then fold or raise. The pots he raised, he usually won or atleast showed down a respectable holding. As soon as he had won or folded, his head would slump back down. He left the table after he finished the last of his hot sauce and the waitress refused to get him another corona.
The black russian flirt did not do so well at the table. When I first sat down, he was explaining to another player how he had a fight with his girlfriend earlier and he was waiting to go fix things once she had calmed down. He started off playing ok, but as soon as a cute waitress from Brazil started her shift. After that, he ordered about 6 black russians in the space of about a half hour just so he could ask the waitress her name each time. He kept thinking he could get her to go out with him to the improv that night. The more he drank, the more he was convinced this was the case. After about the 5th black russian, the quality of his play dropped of dramatically. He lost $200 in a span of about 30 minutes, chasing straight hands all the way to the river and showing down junk. After the last of his money was gone, he slowly rose from his chair. He swayed towards the exit, then turned towards the back of the poker room, then back out into the casino, where he passed out on a row of slot machines. A crowd of casino workers gathered and carried him to the elevator. I would have paid for tickets to the fight that must have ensued when they dragged him, dead drunk at 10am into the hotel room where his girlfriend was waiting.
The two most engaging players at the table were a programmer for golfballs.com and an English teacher from Santa Barbara. I had a great time just sitting and chatting with them.
After everyone finished skiing, we all went to Cecil's Steak and Brew. It's kind of a cross between a Morton's and a Cheesecake Factory (half big steaks and half big salads). The steaks were great and there was so much food it fed us for breakfast the next day.
Billy, Mandy and I left early on Sunday so that they could get back to LA in time to catch their flight to Hawaii. I wish they had more time to spend with us, but how often do you get the chance to get to go to Hawaii.
Almost forgot. Earlier last week I had won a $10 tournament where the prize was the $200 entry into a tournament on Saturday. I couldn't play as I was going to Tahoe so I gave the entry to my friend Yann with the deal that we split the winnings. He managed to win $400 so I made $190 on my initial investment. Not bad. I just won another satellite tournament to a $100,000 dollar tournament that starts on my birthday. I should be able to play that. My tournament play is improving. It's really a matter of being very patient, coming in with aggression, and continuing that aggression post flop in the right amount to drive out chasers or build a huge pot if you have flopped a monster.
Yesterday I took the GRE. I was upset that my scores from my last GRE had expired. When they say they last about 5 years, they don't mean a little over 5 years, they mean a little under 5 years. Doh. Anyhow, I signed up to take it again. Here are the results (out of 800)
No practice
Finished an hour early
690 Verbal
730 Math
? Writing
We'll see if they're good enough for Stanford. Though I'm not sure if I would prefer to go to Stanford or work at the Medicare Research center crunching data. I'm about ready for an office job. Punch in 9-5. No baggage to take home. I've got my mug and stapler all ready. And if they take my stapler I'm....I'm...I'm gonna burn down the building. Just Kidding. Damn it feels good to be a gangster.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
A nice little rant about educational data systems...
...which makes up my statement of purpose for Stanford's Policy Analysis program
Attention Deficit Disorder is the biggest problem afflicting the Education system in America. I'm not talking about the students either. The system itself can't keep track of all the interventions it tries. New programs start, run for a few years, realize they have no way of telling whether they have made any impact, and then are discarded for the next new idea. The answer to this problem is better data management, which I hope to develop during my studies at Stanford.
Plenty of data is gathered by educational institutions across the country. In my district's SASI database, there are hundreds of modules worth of test scores, intervention outcomes, and biographical information for our students. The issues are with ease of access, meaningful representation and interoperability.
The disjoint and antiquated database systems in use in most school districts make student data difficult to access. Though there are a few integrated systems for handling testing data, attendance, and grades, there are many schools that still use separate programs for each of those sets of data. My school district, for example, has one program for teachers to keep their grades in, another program for testing data and attendance, and a proprietary web hosting program that takes data in from the other two programs and publishes it to the web. The result is a system where only some teachers are technologically savvy enough to post their grades to the web. Those grades are then only available to parents and students and not to the counselors, who could use them to help make better informed decisions about their students' schedules. Testing data is only available through a query driven database program. As a teacher with a background in computer science, I was able to quickly learn the complex query system needed to access the data, but not many other teachers have similar experience with query languages and therefore can not take full advantage of all the data collected by the district.
As I stated before, there are software solutions available that integrate all these functions together, but many of these programs still do not give meaningful representations of the data tailored to the needs of each user. For example, the district collects test results for a multitude of required state and federal assessments for each student. However most of these results give the teacher little more than a broad classification of a students skill in a given subject area. For test results to be of any use in education, they must be broken down by individual subject area standards. There are already new assessments that are designed to provide this level of detail, such as the benchmark exams in English and Math required by No Child Left Behind. Each question on these exams is associated with one or more subject area standards. The teacher can then take the results of these exams and check the performance on each standard by class or by individual student. Thus a math teacher can quickly check the results of their students benchmark exam and see which standards the class is struggling with and adapt their instruction to ensure their students get more support for that standard. This is much more useful than many other test results, which would only tell that teacher how many students were proficient or not with no indication of where their gaps of knowledge may be.
Even if more school districts started to use systems that integrated their data and represented it in useful ways to each level of user, there is still the issue of new students entering from other districts. I'm an essentialist educator. I believe that there is a core set of reading, writing and mathematics skills that all schools should be responsible for imparting to their students. Despite my many misgivings about the No Child Left Behind legislation, it does draw the focus of education back to those subject areas. I believe that the next step is to standardize the data systems and subject area standards across the nation. Though individual districts should have the freedom to develop auxiliary standards that meet local interests and needs, the basic standards for English and Math should be uniform across the whole country. With uniform standards and data systems in schools, students who moved between districts would not be lost in a new system that has none of the information it needs to place those students in an appropriate academic program.
I have taught for almost 5 years now. Before I was a teacher, I got my degree in economics with a focus on econometrics. While I was in college, I supported myself with summer jobs in programming. All these experiences have lead me to believe that the educational system has much to gain from the coordinated application of preexisting data management techniques. I would like to work to see this happen someday. It must if we hope to remain competitive in the global economy.
Attention Deficit Disorder is the biggest problem afflicting the Education system in America. I'm not talking about the students either. The system itself can't keep track of all the interventions it tries. New programs start, run for a few years, realize they have no way of telling whether they have made any impact, and then are discarded for the next new idea. The answer to this problem is better data management, which I hope to develop during my studies at Stanford.
Plenty of data is gathered by educational institutions across the country. In my district's SASI database, there are hundreds of modules worth of test scores, intervention outcomes, and biographical information for our students. The issues are with ease of access, meaningful representation and interoperability.
The disjoint and antiquated database systems in use in most school districts make student data difficult to access. Though there are a few integrated systems for handling testing data, attendance, and grades, there are many schools that still use separate programs for each of those sets of data. My school district, for example, has one program for teachers to keep their grades in, another program for testing data and attendance, and a proprietary web hosting program that takes data in from the other two programs and publishes it to the web. The result is a system where only some teachers are technologically savvy enough to post their grades to the web. Those grades are then only available to parents and students and not to the counselors, who could use them to help make better informed decisions about their students' schedules. Testing data is only available through a query driven database program. As a teacher with a background in computer science, I was able to quickly learn the complex query system needed to access the data, but not many other teachers have similar experience with query languages and therefore can not take full advantage of all the data collected by the district.
As I stated before, there are software solutions available that integrate all these functions together, but many of these programs still do not give meaningful representations of the data tailored to the needs of each user. For example, the district collects test results for a multitude of required state and federal assessments for each student. However most of these results give the teacher little more than a broad classification of a students skill in a given subject area. For test results to be of any use in education, they must be broken down by individual subject area standards. There are already new assessments that are designed to provide this level of detail, such as the benchmark exams in English and Math required by No Child Left Behind. Each question on these exams is associated with one or more subject area standards. The teacher can then take the results of these exams and check the performance on each standard by class or by individual student. Thus a math teacher can quickly check the results of their students benchmark exam and see which standards the class is struggling with and adapt their instruction to ensure their students get more support for that standard. This is much more useful than many other test results, which would only tell that teacher how many students were proficient or not with no indication of where their gaps of knowledge may be.
Even if more school districts started to use systems that integrated their data and represented it in useful ways to each level of user, there is still the issue of new students entering from other districts. I'm an essentialist educator. I believe that there is a core set of reading, writing and mathematics skills that all schools should be responsible for imparting to their students. Despite my many misgivings about the No Child Left Behind legislation, it does draw the focus of education back to those subject areas. I believe that the next step is to standardize the data systems and subject area standards across the nation. Though individual districts should have the freedom to develop auxiliary standards that meet local interests and needs, the basic standards for English and Math should be uniform across the whole country. With uniform standards and data systems in schools, students who moved between districts would not be lost in a new system that has none of the information it needs to place those students in an appropriate academic program.
I have taught for almost 5 years now. Before I was a teacher, I got my degree in economics with a focus on econometrics. While I was in college, I supported myself with summer jobs in programming. All these experiences have lead me to believe that the educational system has much to gain from the coordinated application of preexisting data management techniques. I would like to work to see this happen someday. It must if we hope to remain competitive in the global economy.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Screwed
This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures with your wireless phone visit
www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getpix.
To learn how you can record videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getflix.
To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime Player. Note: During the download
process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Winter Breaks
It's been a trying holiday season.
We lost two of our ferrets to a freak accident involving the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of a zoo.
I couldn't catch a flush in Tahoe without someone drawing to a full house from two pair. I made second best hand more times than I could count. Played the odds appropriately, but the calling stations kept catching their inside straight draws and back door flushes.
When we arrived in Tahoe, there was hardly any snow on the ground. The only thing falling from the sky was rain. Kirkwood still had some snow, even if it was a man made thin pack. I started slowly, regaining my balance. On our second day out, I was practicing my turns, when I realized that though I had been picking up the inside ski when I turn I hadn't been pushing off with the outside ski. After making this realization, I was suddenly able to go down the black diamonds much faster as I was sure that I would be able to slow myself down if the texture of the snow stayed the same. Coming off of a run from the Reut, I moved left to avoid someone sitting in the middle of the run. I hit a patch of Ice, lost my balance and keeled over, with the back of my right ski catching the ground and pulling my boot out with a quick jerk. I knew immediately that something had happened to my right foot, but I hoped it was just a sprain as I wasn't in screaming pain (thank you adrenaline). However, the x-rays confirmed it was a break, just in time for me to watch the first flakes of snow start falling outside. Talk about crummy timing.
Finally, we were on our way out of Tahoe. I had my broken ankle on the dashboard and I was calling Kelle to see how the pets were doing. Then right after Lexi starts a left turn after our light turned green, we're hit in the side by an Audi, whose drivers must have been looking at the wrong light as they had started forward as well. Nobody in either car accrued any new injuries thankfully. However our driver side door won't open anymore so our car will be in the shop for a while.
Despite everything that happened, we still had a lot of fun. We went out to the Edgewood restaurant, which is right along the lake. I had Elk chops in a dried cherry gravy which was delicious and Lexi had a steak in a port reduction that was also very good. Even on the day I broke my ankle, I still made it to our massage appointments and dinner reservations at the Summit, which continues to impress me with it's displays of culinary skill. What little of the season I got to ski, I enjoyed completely. My only regret is that I will not be able to ski again until spring. And last but not least, the elevator is no longer an over the top frill, but a
necessary tool. So Silver linings do abound.
We lost two of our ferrets to a freak accident involving the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of a zoo.
I couldn't catch a flush in Tahoe without someone drawing to a full house from two pair. I made second best hand more times than I could count. Played the odds appropriately, but the calling stations kept catching their inside straight draws and back door flushes.
When we arrived in Tahoe, there was hardly any snow on the ground. The only thing falling from the sky was rain. Kirkwood still had some snow, even if it was a man made thin pack. I started slowly, regaining my balance. On our second day out, I was practicing my turns, when I realized that though I had been picking up the inside ski when I turn I hadn't been pushing off with the outside ski. After making this realization, I was suddenly able to go down the black diamonds much faster as I was sure that I would be able to slow myself down if the texture of the snow stayed the same. Coming off of a run from the Reut, I moved left to avoid someone sitting in the middle of the run. I hit a patch of Ice, lost my balance and keeled over, with the back of my right ski catching the ground and pulling my boot out with a quick jerk. I knew immediately that something had happened to my right foot, but I hoped it was just a sprain as I wasn't in screaming pain (thank you adrenaline). However, the x-rays confirmed it was a break, just in time for me to watch the first flakes of snow start falling outside. Talk about crummy timing.
Finally, we were on our way out of Tahoe. I had my broken ankle on the dashboard and I was calling Kelle to see how the pets were doing. Then right after Lexi starts a left turn after our light turned green, we're hit in the side by an Audi, whose drivers must have been looking at the wrong light as they had started forward as well. Nobody in either car accrued any new injuries thankfully. However our driver side door won't open anymore so our car will be in the shop for a while.
Despite everything that happened, we still had a lot of fun. We went out to the Edgewood restaurant, which is right along the lake. I had Elk chops in a dried cherry gravy which was delicious and Lexi had a steak in a port reduction that was also very good. Even on the day I broke my ankle, I still made it to our massage appointments and dinner reservations at the Summit, which continues to impress me with it's displays of culinary skill. What little of the season I got to ski, I enjoyed completely. My only regret is that I will not be able to ski again until spring. And last but not least, the elevator is no longer an over the top frill, but a
necessary tool. So Silver linings do abound.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Andrew gets a cast for xmas
On the first day of christmas I broke my ankle skiing, and got a bottle of vicodin.
On the second day of christmas my doctor gave to me, two titanium pins in a speedy half hour surgery.
Not more than half a day after I learned how to make my turns a lot tighter and faster, I hit a patch of ice at the bottom of the Reut at Kirkwood and brake my ankle. I like to think of it as my little christmas present to myself. I'll be off my leg and out of work for about 6-8 weeks. Normally such a break would be a lot of fun, but I can't stand being sedentary for too long. Until I'm all healed up and back to work, I would appreciate any visits from any kind souls here in SF looking to watch movies, play games or just hang out.
Snow Bunnies
This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures with your wireless phone visit
www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getpix.
To learn how you can record videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getflix.
To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime Player. Note: During the download
process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.
Friday, December 23, 2005
I'm Dreaming of a...
This message was sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures with your wireless phone visit
www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getpix.
To learn how you can record videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow/getflix.
To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime Player. Note: During the download
process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Goodbye Yoda and Lando
Last night, we were showing Kelle and Amelia around as they had kindly offered to take care of the cat and the ferrets while we are away in Tahoe. When we got to the garage, there was this giant brown spider, about an inch and a half from leg to leg. When we looked in on the ferrets, we found Yoda and Lando dead. We weren't sure what had happened because none of the ferrets had seemed sick the night before. We decided to move Gkar and Clyde up to the livingroom in their cage just in case there was something in the room that made Yoda and Lando sick. When we moved the cage we found another huge spider. I guess the spider had snuck into the garage and gone to the closet for a warm dark place to hide. Then Yoda and Lando, who have always been very curious, went to check out the spider and got bitten. The fact that we found them far away from their sleeping areas in strange positions, seems to support this. I'm going to try to find a vet to check out Clyde and Gkar just to make sure they aren't sick, but they seem as active as ever, so I'm not too worried about them.
Yoda was always a sweet, shy schnookum. She and Bonnie were always the smartest. They would play hide the treat with each other, each one stealing the other's favorite chew toy and hiding it in a new corner. Even though she was our smallest schnook, she was an agile climber and could get into most anything. She will be missed.
Lando was a big, bouncy schnook. He and Gkar would do laps around the table, pouncing each other or any other schnook, toy, foot, blanket, etc. that was in their way. He was so sad, when he thought his brother Gkar had gone missing, but as soon as they were reunited after Gkar was found under our neighbors porch, they were right back to horseplaying. He will be missed.
Yoda was always a sweet, shy schnookum. She and Bonnie were always the smartest. They would play hide the treat with each other, each one stealing the other's favorite chew toy and hiding it in a new corner. Even though she was our smallest schnook, she was an agile climber and could get into most anything. She will be missed.
Lando was a big, bouncy schnook. He and Gkar would do laps around the table, pouncing each other or any other schnook, toy, foot, blanket, etc. that was in their way. He was so sad, when he thought his brother Gkar had gone missing, but as soon as they were reunited after Gkar was found under our neighbors porch, they were right back to horseplaying. He will be missed.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Happy Holidays
This has been the busiest holiday season ever for us. I knew that moving to the city would make us more active, but I didn't expect our social calendars to fill up so fast. There's been something to do nearly every weekend and even Tuesday and Thursday nights are starting to fill up. Here are some highlights.
Mike Patton Movie Night - Agi got to stalk her man. Then Jesse was kind enough to take us all to her house on treasure island which has a great view of downtown San Francisco.
Kanye West - After a much needed fashion intervention by Amelia (I'm all Rocaweared out now), we hopped in the limo. Lexi and I had never rode in a limo before. The ride was almost as good as the concert. Kanye was incredible. He interrupted the intro to Golddigger to demand that everyone in the VIP booths turn off their TVs. "I'm not gonna have you up there going, oh it's Kanye live, but what's the score for the game." There was hardly a song I didn't know the words to and dancing up in the stands with everybody was a blast.
Holiday Party Extravaganza Weekend - Lexi and I booked it down the peninsula for her friend's party. They have a great house. Craftsman style with a sunken livingroom. They served these great Ahi Teriyaki hors devours. Then we headed back to the city where we went to Christophe and Tessas party and discussed the future of media distribution until the wee hours of the night.
Moving Mattpaul - Matty P is finally in the city. He's got a great place with a view of the bay bridge. The livingroom at his new place is a minefield of musical instruments, as it should be. After moving him in, everyone who helped move him in came to sunday night dinner, our best turnout ever, around 20 people. I made two lasagnas and both disappeared quickly.
Sunday Dinners - We're trying to keep the Sunday dinner tradition we had with Keith alive in the city. We typically get around 6-8 people and occasionally more. Our new kitchen has motivated us to cook a lot more often. I've discovered that I cook like a mother of 2 from the flyover. I've been very caserrole-centric. But the enchiladas and lasagnas have turned out well. And Lexi's roast this last weekend was delicious, though we do need a new temperature probe. We haven't actually eaten out as much as we expected. With such a great supermarket nearby and a huge kitchen to play in, we end up staying at home more often. It's good for the pocketbook anyhow.
Hiking - I have spent most Wednesdays and Fridays out hiking. I've hit Buena Vista Park, Mt. Davidson, Twin Peaks, and the northern edge of Golden Gate. I'm starting to fill up my iMac hard drive with pics. I've been taking about 1.2 gigs of pictures each trip. Good thing I invested in a ton of DVDs. I haven't even started to run out of places to go. It's been great exercise and as long as it's not raining, I'm going again tomorrow. Probably to the shopping district to pick up some last minute gifts. And to catch some candid, slice of life holiday shots.
Portluck - We went down the peninsula again for portluck (a port wine potluck). It was a great chance to see all the techers in the area that we don't regularly see. There was an incredible 25 year old port. It had mellowed to the point that the caramel and chocolate flavors were not overpowered by the tannins and sharp fruits.
The Nut House - Jeanette was in town so we all went down to hang out with Sam and the Palo Alto crowd at the nut house. It was nice to catch up with everyone. It seems the grad student life tends to lend people an air of stoicism. The rigid meritocracy of academia seems a lot like the military when you watch people run themselves ragged under the yoke of their privileged professors all in the hopes of replacing them someday and putting a whole new batch of grad students through the same trials.
Emperor Norton - The legendary, visionary nutcase who predicted the bay bridge long before it's time has a musical now. It was hilarious. There was everything you want from a play on the mission, including , slapstick, slapping, and singing dogs. We all had a blast watching the play, after stopping for some Emperor Norton beer at the San Francisco Brewing Company. My favorite line from the play is when Emperor Norton Reprises his opening speech at the end, "People come to San Francisco to become a new person, or atleast a different version of the old person they are. Not many people succeed, but We did."
I think that covers almost all of it. I realize that I'm a binge blogger now as this is almost a month's backlog of posts. But it's a good sign when you're too busy living life to blog it right away.
Mike Patton Movie Night - Agi got to stalk her man. Then Jesse was kind enough to take us all to her house on treasure island which has a great view of downtown San Francisco.
Kanye West - After a much needed fashion intervention by Amelia (I'm all Rocaweared out now), we hopped in the limo. Lexi and I had never rode in a limo before. The ride was almost as good as the concert. Kanye was incredible. He interrupted the intro to Golddigger to demand that everyone in the VIP booths turn off their TVs. "I'm not gonna have you up there going, oh it's Kanye live, but what's the score for the game." There was hardly a song I didn't know the words to and dancing up in the stands with everybody was a blast.
Holiday Party Extravaganza Weekend - Lexi and I booked it down the peninsula for her friend's party. They have a great house. Craftsman style with a sunken livingroom. They served these great Ahi Teriyaki hors devours. Then we headed back to the city where we went to Christophe and Tessas party and discussed the future of media distribution until the wee hours of the night.
Moving Mattpaul - Matty P is finally in the city. He's got a great place with a view of the bay bridge. The livingroom at his new place is a minefield of musical instruments, as it should be. After moving him in, everyone who helped move him in came to sunday night dinner, our best turnout ever, around 20 people. I made two lasagnas and both disappeared quickly.
Sunday Dinners - We're trying to keep the Sunday dinner tradition we had with Keith alive in the city. We typically get around 6-8 people and occasionally more. Our new kitchen has motivated us to cook a lot more often. I've discovered that I cook like a mother of 2 from the flyover. I've been very caserrole-centric. But the enchiladas and lasagnas have turned out well. And Lexi's roast this last weekend was delicious, though we do need a new temperature probe. We haven't actually eaten out as much as we expected. With such a great supermarket nearby and a huge kitchen to play in, we end up staying at home more often. It's good for the pocketbook anyhow.
Hiking - I have spent most Wednesdays and Fridays out hiking. I've hit Buena Vista Park, Mt. Davidson, Twin Peaks, and the northern edge of Golden Gate. I'm starting to fill up my iMac hard drive with pics. I've been taking about 1.2 gigs of pictures each trip. Good thing I invested in a ton of DVDs. I haven't even started to run out of places to go. It's been great exercise and as long as it's not raining, I'm going again tomorrow. Probably to the shopping district to pick up some last minute gifts. And to catch some candid, slice of life holiday shots.
Portluck - We went down the peninsula again for portluck (a port wine potluck). It was a great chance to see all the techers in the area that we don't regularly see. There was an incredible 25 year old port. It had mellowed to the point that the caramel and chocolate flavors were not overpowered by the tannins and sharp fruits.
The Nut House - Jeanette was in town so we all went down to hang out with Sam and the Palo Alto crowd at the nut house. It was nice to catch up with everyone. It seems the grad student life tends to lend people an air of stoicism. The rigid meritocracy of academia seems a lot like the military when you watch people run themselves ragged under the yoke of their privileged professors all in the hopes of replacing them someday and putting a whole new batch of grad students through the same trials.
Emperor Norton - The legendary, visionary nutcase who predicted the bay bridge long before it's time has a musical now. It was hilarious. There was everything you want from a play on the mission, including , slapstick, slapping, and singing dogs. We all had a blast watching the play, after stopping for some Emperor Norton beer at the San Francisco Brewing Company. My favorite line from the play is when Emperor Norton Reprises his opening speech at the end, "People come to San Francisco to become a new person, or atleast a different version of the old person they are. Not many people succeed, but We did."
I think that covers almost all of it. I realize that I'm a binge blogger now as this is almost a month's backlog of posts. But it's a good sign when you're too busy living life to blog it right away.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Friday, December 02, 2005
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Baugher-Casteel Thanksgiving 2005
Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. Both of our families made it out to our house. Lexi and I planned a dinner that was almost entirely Good Eats recipes. I love how our new kitchen is the center of the great room. The whole time we were cooking, everyone could hang out with us and around us. We could take turns making dishes and playing board games together with everyone. We even watched Full Metal Jacket while we baked the pumpkin cheesecakes. There was supposed to be just one cheesecake, but we apparently have tiny pie tins. Amy made a great cinnamon graham cracker crust for them. Mandy cooked a delicious granny smith dutch aplle pie from scratch. Lexi made the potatoes and stuffed mushrooms. And I made the yams, cranderry sauce, and bird. The meal had to come in waves, so the bird and the desserts had their turn the next day.
We all went to Cirque du Soleil's Corteo show together. It was so much fun to see it with all of our parents and siblings. Like most of their shows, it can't be conveyed in words. Needless to say their was plenty of unbelievable acrobats and jugglers.
We all went to Golden Gate park several times. We saw the Japanese Tea Garden with Lexi's Parents. And then we went to the botanical gardens with everyone but mom and dad, who weren't quite up to it. I took a bunch of great macro shots with my new camera, which is my new favorite toy. I had forgotten how much fun an SLR is. I'll post some of the pics I took soon.
We all went to Cirque du Soleil's Corteo show together. It was so much fun to see it with all of our parents and siblings. Like most of their shows, it can't be conveyed in words. Needless to say their was plenty of unbelievable acrobats and jugglers.
We all went to Golden Gate park several times. We saw the Japanese Tea Garden with Lexi's Parents. And then we went to the botanical gardens with everyone but mom and dad, who weren't quite up to it. I took a bunch of great macro shots with my new camera, which is my new favorite toy. I had forgotten how much fun an SLR is. I'll post some of the pics I took soon.
SF reservoir
On our way down from twin peaks, Agi and I came across this reservoir with this fence that was practically crumbling. It was such a bizarre San Francisco landmark, nestled among the trees and briar of Twin Peaks and surrounded by a barbed wire fence full of gaping holes. It was like being on the front line of the battle between natural beauty and urban blight.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Where to Begin
I haven't blogged since Europe.
New School Year
It's been a strange year. I only teach Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays and then I take care of my administrative responsibilities on my own schedule. I managed to carve out a meeting schedule that keeps me from having to come in on Wednesdays or Fridays at the cost of working lunches and long days for the rest of the week. I feel a little more distant from my department as my schedule is full of so many other things. My Animated Art class is more fun than last year. There are fewer total students but more students that are talented and interested in the field. It gives me the chance to do the kind of teaching I that I was after when I joined the profession. I get interesting questions from students who are willing to put effort into answering them. Most of my time in my other classes seems to go towards trying to motivate students who are capable but unwilling to put in the effort. More motivation than education.
New Digs
It must have seemed very sudden to everyone we know, but we have been thinking about it for a while. Ever since we moved to Manhattan, we knew that we were big city people. Europe further convinced me of this as my favorite times were spent in London and Paris. We started looking around mid September. We met our real estate agents on Wednesday, saw 6 houses and put in a bid on our favorite on Sunday, and accepted the counter offer on Monday. It all happened so fast and I was so excited about it I couldn't sleep on Monday night. A month of paper signing followed as we signed our name so many times my hand's still cramping. The house is magnificent. I couldn't have imagined a better use of space. There is so much light in the house that it is slowly changing me into a morning person. It's in Noe Valley with a great view of the city and the bay. I had forgotten how nice it is to have a view. I haven't had one since my family moved out of our place in Highland Park. Watching the sun rise every morning turning the bay golden orange is inspiring to say the least. We moved in on October 27th and we've been buying furniture ever since. The funniest moment in the move was when two different sets of movers each commented that we need a better TV. It cracked me up. What would I do with a better TV except end up spending more time in the darkest room in my house watching TV. I think not. Now that I'm in the city, I want to enjoy my time up here. I could've stayed in the peninsula and watched TV. In fact, I did watch too much TV in the peninsula, though less than at other points in my life. It probably helped contribute to the fact that we made more friends in my neighborhood in San Francisco in the past month than we did living in the Peninsula for 4 years.
Arrivals and Departures
Now that we live in San Francisco, I have a 40 minute commute to and from work. I didn't think it would matter much, but it combined with other things going on at work have me looking for other options for next year. Now that Taja is handling the mentor program and doing a good job of it, I feel like I don't have to worry about keeping that going. Chuck is making connections with new Steering Committee members and I think he'll do a great job of running the meetings next year. And the straw that broke the camel's back was when an administrator asked me to see if Lexi could get some funding from Google for an event the district wanted to hold. This was the first time this administrator talked to me all year. It made me realize that they haven't recognized the hard work I've put into the various programs I work with and they see me only as a lever with which to pry favors from my wife's company. It's no wonder that educational bureaucracies become so stagnate that the profession is failing. I've tried for 5 years to learn all I could from my mentors in the field and most of them refused to take the time to train me or include me in administrative discussions so I could learn how the process works. I'm determined to find something else to do next year. I'm applying to Stanford's Education Administration and Policy Analysis Program and I'm planning to minor in Learning Sciences and Technology Design. This should give me the background to work on the school data software that I have been thinking about since I started this job. If I'm not accepted to Stanford, there were some interesting job opportunities in San Francisco, including a non-profit that works with data for public programs. Whatever I end up doing, it will be somewhere closer or atleast more interesting.
New School Year
It's been a strange year. I only teach Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays and then I take care of my administrative responsibilities on my own schedule. I managed to carve out a meeting schedule that keeps me from having to come in on Wednesdays or Fridays at the cost of working lunches and long days for the rest of the week. I feel a little more distant from my department as my schedule is full of so many other things. My Animated Art class is more fun than last year. There are fewer total students but more students that are talented and interested in the field. It gives me the chance to do the kind of teaching I that I was after when I joined the profession. I get interesting questions from students who are willing to put effort into answering them. Most of my time in my other classes seems to go towards trying to motivate students who are capable but unwilling to put in the effort. More motivation than education.
New Digs
It must have seemed very sudden to everyone we know, but we have been thinking about it for a while. Ever since we moved to Manhattan, we knew that we were big city people. Europe further convinced me of this as my favorite times were spent in London and Paris. We started looking around mid September. We met our real estate agents on Wednesday, saw 6 houses and put in a bid on our favorite on Sunday, and accepted the counter offer on Monday. It all happened so fast and I was so excited about it I couldn't sleep on Monday night. A month of paper signing followed as we signed our name so many times my hand's still cramping. The house is magnificent. I couldn't have imagined a better use of space. There is so much light in the house that it is slowly changing me into a morning person. It's in Noe Valley with a great view of the city and the bay. I had forgotten how nice it is to have a view. I haven't had one since my family moved out of our place in Highland Park. Watching the sun rise every morning turning the bay golden orange is inspiring to say the least. We moved in on October 27th and we've been buying furniture ever since. The funniest moment in the move was when two different sets of movers each commented that we need a better TV. It cracked me up. What would I do with a better TV except end up spending more time in the darkest room in my house watching TV. I think not. Now that I'm in the city, I want to enjoy my time up here. I could've stayed in the peninsula and watched TV. In fact, I did watch too much TV in the peninsula, though less than at other points in my life. It probably helped contribute to the fact that we made more friends in my neighborhood in San Francisco in the past month than we did living in the Peninsula for 4 years.
Arrivals and Departures
Now that we live in San Francisco, I have a 40 minute commute to and from work. I didn't think it would matter much, but it combined with other things going on at work have me looking for other options for next year. Now that Taja is handling the mentor program and doing a good job of it, I feel like I don't have to worry about keeping that going. Chuck is making connections with new Steering Committee members and I think he'll do a great job of running the meetings next year. And the straw that broke the camel's back was when an administrator asked me to see if Lexi could get some funding from Google for an event the district wanted to hold. This was the first time this administrator talked to me all year. It made me realize that they haven't recognized the hard work I've put into the various programs I work with and they see me only as a lever with which to pry favors from my wife's company. It's no wonder that educational bureaucracies become so stagnate that the profession is failing. I've tried for 5 years to learn all I could from my mentors in the field and most of them refused to take the time to train me or include me in administrative discussions so I could learn how the process works. I'm determined to find something else to do next year. I'm applying to Stanford's Education Administration and Policy Analysis Program and I'm planning to minor in Learning Sciences and Technology Design. This should give me the background to work on the school data software that I have been thinking about since I started this job. If I'm not accepted to Stanford, there were some interesting job opportunities in San Francisco, including a non-profit that works with data for public programs. Whatever I end up doing, it will be somewhere closer or atleast more interesting.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)