AAArrrrrrrrrr

Our power went out again yesterday evening. It was off all day today (I’m writing this entry on Saturday, when our power was restored). In all the commotion I forgot about Talk Like a Pirate Day ! <whine>

It was one of those non-days in my estimation. We went down to Arlington for lunch (our stove top is gas, so we could have cooked something, but we also wanted to waste time). We also went to Orpheus where I picked up Train’s Drops of Jupiter and Vertical Horizon’s Everything You Want. I couldn’t actually remember what Vertical Horizon played, but did remember hearing them on the radio and thinking I might like to get a CD. I’m listening to it right now, and am quite enjoying it. I also bought a copy of Starry Night at the Mac store (yay!).

When we got back to the house, we hung around for a while, trying to read by the waning daylight (it’s difficult to read by flickering candlelight). Then we realized that Andrew’s work had power, so there also had to be some restaurants open in that area. We drove up to Herndon, where we both checked our e-mail and a few web pages, finding out that the WABA bike ride on Saturday was cancelled <frown>. We went to a lazy dinner, and finally back home. I called my parents (Andrew still had his pre-cordless phone, so we could use the phone without power) to let them know that we were fine. Then off to bed.

Isabel Hits DC

I didn’t even attempt to go in to work today. Goddard was open (despite the federal government, the surrounding school districts, the surrounding county governments, and even DC’s Metro transit system all being closed, Goddard had to stay open for the morning). About 11:30 this morning an e-mail was sent around that the center was closing, though, and will remain closed tomorrow.

So, we’ve had a quiet day at home. We cleaned a bit, since Mushi is planning on coming up this weekend. And then settled in front of the TV. At about 4:30 the power flicked off. Then flickered a couple more times before staying off for a couple hours. Andrew made dinner by candle light (we have a gas stove, but electric oven), and then we played a game of Scrabble (I won! Yay! Only my second win against Andrew). During Scrabble the power came back up, but it flickered a couple times before staying on. We aren’t bothering to reset our bedside clocks just yet…

Action Figures!

I followed a link from Salon’s news feeds on a frumpy librarian action figure. The librarians were complaining that the action figure puts librarians back 20 years. The of frumpy clothes and “amazing shushing action” are what seems to have put them over the edge.

A quick web search turned up Archie McPhee’s page featuring the librarian action figure. I think it’s hilarious!

What’s even cooler, though, are some of McPhee’s other action figures. I want Einstein and Shakespeare!

Thesis Meeting

I met with Kim and Chris today for the first time since my proposal defense. Since then, I’ve completed a good, working version of my data pipeline. I’ve been quite pleased with my pipeline, but I really wanted to discuss my method for determining how to extract spectra with Kim and Chris. I had just kind of made it up over a few days, and wasn’t sure if it was a good method.

I illustrated how the pipeline choses the break points for spectra by defining count-rate bins based on 25% increments around the average overall XTE count rate. Both Kim and Chris thought that it looked like a good method! (Chris’ words, I believe, were “Actually, that’s quite clever.”) One of the good things about this method is that while it does smooth out some small variations to get a bigger signal, it retains large variations. It has the potential to probe time-scales of a few days. If we wanted to probe smaller time scales, I’d need to use a different method, but this is sufficient for the goals of my research.

Things I need to do:

• figure out how to make smart_fit do 1-sigma errors instead of 3-sigma (actually, I need both)
• choose a few representative sources, and play around with the minimum time for the spectra
• plot figures using 1-sigma errors, and do some fits to constants to see what we come up with
• work on plotting a “stack” plot automatically with ppgplot

Home Again

Dad took me to the airport this morning. About the time my plane should have started boarding, the gate attendant announced that a part needed to be replaced in the cockpit, and they would have a status report at about 10:30 AM (10 minutes after we were to be taking off). Around 10:30 AM, she came on again and announced that the replacement part didn’t help, and that we would be changing planes. Fortunately, there was one available at an adjacent gate, and they would start boarding after the crew was onboard. Shortly after that we boarded, but then waited, strapped into our seats, for what seemed an eternity. After about 15-20 minutes, the flight attendant announced that the catering had just arrived, and we would be free to take off just as soon as the catering stuff was stowed. Ugh. I want my 20 minutes back. I could have done without my pop…

Oh well. This certainly wasn’t my worst experience with lateness and delays at the airport.

The Mother Load

Mom and Dad ended up taking Grandma (Dad’s mom) out for dinner, since she hasn’t been dealing well with Denny’s illness. (Denny is Dad’s brother, and has been fighting cancer for over a year now. He took a turn for the worse this week.) So that left Sweetie and me to figure out something.

I suggested Chevy’s, which is located conveniently across the street from the Mall of America. Sweetie wanted to look for a few things at the Mall so we went after dinner. Our trek took us past the Lego store. I was going to resist the urge to drag Sweetie into the store, but I saw from the hallway a fully constructed Star Destroyer! I thought these were only available on the web, so I had to go look!

Drool.

Sweetie engaged the sales guys in conversation while I drooled and snapped my picture. I vaguely remember her complaining that she doesn’t have the type of job that could have a Lego set made from it. Hmmm…”I’d like the health insurance and benefits specialist Lego set, please.” Yeah, I can see her point.

Somehow it came up that she is my “dumb friend”, and I turned to the sales guys and said, “Well, I’m an astrophysicist, so all of my friends are my ‘dumb’ friend, really.” I instantly realized that that comment made me sound somewhat…um…bitchy? elitist? stuck-up? So before they could say anything else, I piped up, “Gosh, that makes me sound really mean, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you guys are funny, too.”

Sigh. I should really learn when to keep my mouth shut.

Oh, and I did not buy that Lego set, but I’m debating whether or not I should beg Andrew for it for Christmas.

Andrew drove to work!!!

I left much earlier than Andrew did this morning, because I couldn’t sleep, and ended up getting out of bed at about 5AM. I was ready to head to work by 5:30 AM. Before I left, Andrew said that he wouldn’t drive because 1) he wanted to practice the drive to work another time, and 2) it was Friday, so the traffic may be heavier than our Monday-morning experiment last week.

When I got home, he was already there, which was a surprise. After a while, he mentioned that he had put gas in the Echo (his car). Huh? When did he do that, I wondered, perhaps he drove to the Metro, and made a side-trip on the way. But, before I could ask, he said that he’d driven to work, but he didn’t want to tell me because I’d told him that I would worry. Oh, that’s nice. He said that he weren’t going to drive today. He said that he was going to Metro to work. Needless to say, I was a little pissy about that — if something had happened, and I came home and his car was gone, I would have had no idea where to start looking for him. Fortunately, everything went fine.

More on yesterday’s outburst

Okay, I did not mean to imply, by yesterday’s outburst, that I got into science for the money. There is no money in science. If I’d wanted to do something for money, I would have gone into engineering or computers or business. I went into science because I’m curious, and this is one of the few fields that fully rewards curiosity.

I went into astrophysics because I love the stars — even after eight years of concentrated astronomy study, I still find the stars and the night sky magical. I cry when I’m alone in a large field at midnight away from city lights. The vastness makes me feel so small, and yet so important at the same time. I’m just a speck on a speck in the whole wide Universe (and that’s only the parts we can see), but I am. And even though I don’t actually look at the sources I’m studying (since X-rays can’t be seen), I still feel the magic in my work — the things I study are millions of light years away, and yet we can deduce what cool phenomena are producing the light we see.

It just seems that after two bachelor’s degrees (astrophysics and math) and a master’s degree (astrophysics), I should be able to 1) afford housing, 2) afford a new car, 3) pay off my student debt (both loans and credit cards). Currently I’m only able to pay off my student debt at a decent rate because I’m not paying for housing. Even at that, I can’t dream of buying a new car.

Icky evening

I was reminded yet again tonight that 1) life is not fair, and 2) I’m nowhere near where I thought I would be at 31.

I’ve been a student for the better part of 31 years. Yup. Started pre-school at 6 years-old, elementary at 7, junior high at 13, high school at 16, community college at 18, 4-year college (transferred) at 24, graduate school at 27. I got my master’s degree at 30. Took a year and a half off. And here I am again at 31, half time, working toward a PhD.

I’ve discovered that with my Master’s degree in Astrophysics, I’m at the peak of my earning potential right now. Even if I get a PhD, I’ll only increase my earning potential if I choose to (and can find) a full-time research position. I don’t think I could do that — I’ve seen what it does to people. They become maniac workaholics who work 10 hours a day Monday through Friday, and then several hours on weekends. I enjoy discovering the secrets of the universe, but not at the expense of my entire personal life.

I can’t help but think that I’ve made a serious tactical error in my career choice. What the hell was I thinking? Who goes into astrophysics anymore? I want to be able to afford a new car. I want to pay off my credit cards. I want to pay off my student loans without accruing any new ones. Apparently that’s just too much to ask for a 31-year-old with a master’s degree. Apparently it’s not enough.

DMV

I love any day spent at the DMV. It makes me feel like such a vital person in this world.

7:00 AM

We arrive at the DMV an hour before they open. The line is already a third of the way around the building.

8:00 AM

The doors open, but we don’t move very far.

8:22 AM

Andrew has gotten his number, and we sit down while he fills out the form and wait for his number to be called.

8:45 AM

Andrew’s number is called. His paperwork is taken, but I need to run out to get the car’s registration, which they need for the driving test (why they need this is far beyond me). Then we sit back down to wait for his test.

10:05 AM

Andrew is finally called for his driving test. I cross my fingers.

10:20 AM

Andrew comes back, but has not been told whether he passed or not. His comment was, “Nothing disasterous happened.”

10:30 AM

Andrew is called up to have his picture taken. Apparently he passed. Yay!

10:40 AM

We finally get to leave. Andrew has his crisp new driver’s license in hand.