Friday, December 30, 2005

Back from Georgia!

Sorry for not updating for so long. Courtney, her brother Eric and I drove down to Saint Simon's Island in Georgia to spend Christmas with her family. Her grandparents live there. Christmas was excellent. I got a new tool set and an electric toothbrush. We also got a chance to see King Kong and The Family Stone. I thought the former was terrific. The latter...
I have a few more days before I head back to astronomy work, and a ton of stuff to do before then. Wish me luck.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Friends at the Fruit Stand

Funny thing happened at the fruit stand yesterday. I heard a voice and thought it was an Arkansas accent. I looked, and thought I knew the person asking another employee about the Pod. I took a closer look and asked "Are you from Arkansas?" The woman said yes, and I then said "Senator Lincoln?" And she said yes. My senator from Arkansas was at my fruit stand! I have met her before a couple of times when I was in Arkansas, and when I worked in Rep. Vic Snyder's office. We had a nice little chat and I answered all the questions she had about a Pod. She told me that I should give her office a call to talk about science fellowships that come through her office. I thought that was really cool.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Worried about our Wedding?

Are you worried that Courtney won't have the wedding of her dreams? Well, now you can do something to help! Just donate some money to us and we will put it towards our wedding on the 15 July next year! Donate enough and we might even invite you along, complete stranger!
Just click the button on the right of the page! Go ahead, everyone is doing it!

Friday, December 16, 2005

Is popularity so bad?

There is an article in the NYTimes today about a Pixar exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Though the writer generally praises the exhibit and Pixar, he seems to have a snobbishness that I find annoying:
Such transformations, enhanced by unexpected shifts in scale, are momentarily delightful, but they can also cloy because the drawings are so conventional.

or
The Pixar movies are not just popular art, they are people-pleasing popular art that recycles fairly familiar conventions...Their urge toward conformity stands out starkly if you put them beside such subversive television cartoons as "South Park" or the venerable "Simpsons."

Is it really so bad when so many people like something? Is that a reason to ridicule it or degrade its worth? I think the art world (and its bitchy sister the fashion world) probably does have a forced distaste for the popular. Maybe there is a reason more people watch Pixar movies than buy modern art.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Christmas gift?

Well, for Christmas I would like a 30 inch LCD television. I would like it to be high definition, though it doesn't have to be good. I wouldn't mind one from Wal-Mart, but you can get a nicer one for me if you want. Alternatively, you can just paypal me some money, and I can buy one myself.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I don't feel so bad

A couple of years ago I fell just a little short of 50,000 miles on American Airlines, so at the end of the year I flew to Kentucky through Dallas to meet a friend of mine just before New Years. That one trip of about $200 upgraded me to platinum status on American Airlines, which gave me extra frequent flyer miles and access to all their lounges when flying internationally, which I did often since I was living abroad. However, I was pretty embarrassed about it, because it seemed like I was just greedy or showy to fly when I didn't exactly need to. However, apparently this is a common thing to do, as reported in this NYTimes article. It even references a website, FlyerTalk, that has a forum just about end-of-year milage runs. The author of the article was considering a $703 run to Guam to rack up 21,000 miles in about three days. Wow. I thought that was pretty cool. However, he decided in the end that it wasn't worth it. How funny.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Cookie Party

Courtney and I just had our annual cookie party. Well, it will be annual from now on. It was terrific fun. A bunch of our friends from DC came, and they all brought delicious concoctions. Courtney really outdid herself. She made chocolate-dipped, homemade marshmallows. Wow. Who knew you could even make marshmallows from scratch? We also had chai, a hot chocolate bar and punch to complement the cookies. I ate a ginger bread cookie that was unfortunately covered with food coloring gel, which made me look like I had eaten a smurf. We listened to the O.C. Chrismakkah album and a good time was had by all.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

McCain. Wow.

I can't say enough good things about John McCain. I wish he were leading the country right now. He would make me consider being a republican. In this article in the NYTimes, it basically says that Bush is bending over backwards for McCain, since McCain's legislation to outlaw torture is going to become law, whether the White House likes it or not. You would think that Bush wouldn't defend torture. Oh well.

Monday, December 05, 2005

It's Snowing!

Right now it is snowing outside my window. Washington is being covered by a beautiful blanket of frostiness. I like snow. Hopefully I will like it just as much on my walk home today.

Cookie Party!

So, it was another long weekend at the fruit stand. I had some disagreements with some of my colleagues, but much fruit was still sold. However, next weekend shouldn't be nearly so stressful, because I have asked off on Saturday and Sunday for two parties. On Saturday Courtney's boss and a friend from work are each having parties, and I think we will stop by both of them. And on Sunday Courtney and I are having our annual cookie party. At least it will be annual from now on. It is at 3 pm and everyone will bring about 2 dozen of their own cookies, and we will eat some and then we will send some home with everyone. It should be great fun. Everyone in the area (or out of the area if you want to travel) is more than welcome to come. Just let Courtney and I know so that we can make more punch.

Couple of webpages

Mobile Phones getting connected.
Another helpful mobile phone site.
Dr. Bott VGA to DVI product.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Tired and Sick

Courtney and I went out last night with Mary Denyer, our Marshall scholarship administrator from London. It was terrific fun and excellent Thai food, but it meant that we had a later night than I had wanted, and then I woke up a little earlier than desired. Now I am taking some medicine, because I am not feeling very good. Thank goodness it is Friday. I can't take much more (though I am working fourteen hours at the fruit stand this weekend, but that is easy work.)

Thursday, December 01, 2005

More fruit sold and need some money

Last night at the fruit stand I sold two more pieces of fruit. It is really nice on weekdays, since not many people come in, and I can take about half an hour to talk to them about what they specifically need. It is very satisfying. In other news, Zach Steadman is looking at tickets to come up and visit us in DC (note to everyone else, there are good prices on US Airways from LIT to BWI) in January. Before he comes up, I need to come up with a winning idea to make us millionaires. Submit your ideas via the comments. It would be nice to be a millionaire before I am thirty, by the way.