Decided one place to register

We haven’t registered yet, but today we went out to the mall and wandered through several of the anchor stores. All of them have the small appliances and cookware that we want. However, Sears didn’t have much out on the shelves in the line of plates, silverware, or glasses. Macy’s was just a bit too much for us — the bedding wasn’t really what we wanted, and we didn’t see much in the line of kitchenware that we liked. JC Penney’s seemed to have everything — plates, flatware, glasses, appliances, bedding. So, it looks like we’ll register there…maybe next weekend or the on after.

We also need to choose a second place. Originally I had thought of Target, but I find that I don’t like their towels much, and if we’re already registering for appliances at Penney’s, there’s little else there that we need to register for. So, I think we’ll browse around the local Linens ‘N’ Things and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Rehearsal Dinner Set

We met with one of the managers at Anita’s New Mexican Restaurant this evening to talk about having the rehearsal dinner there. He showed us the upstairs (which we hadn’t seen before, since we come early enough for dinner that they’ve never been seating people upstairs). There was a smaller enclosed room that was set up for 20 people. It might get a tad bit cramped, but we can certainly squeeze 25-27 people in there.

There is also a larger room, but since we’re having the dinner on a Saturday night, we wouldn’t be able to have the room to ourselves.

He also showed us the reduced, large-group menu. My favorite dish was on there, and there were several vegetarian choices, so we were happy with it.

We had him sign us up for Sept 18. Yay!

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

by Louise Rennison

This book is written as snippets from Geogia Nicolson’s diary. Georgia is a 14-year-old in England struggling with a large nose, an insane cat (half domestic, half Scottish wild cat, by some estimates), and boys. It’s kind of like a Bridget Jone’s Diary for a younger crowd. I’ll bet Rennison is tired of hearing that, but I don’t mean it as a put down. I found this to be a fun read, and it brought back some of my high school memories…albeit, not all good memories, but it was still fun.

Eight Nouns

While looking at the new researchblogs.org page [which no longer exists 1/2014. -b], I saw an ice-breaker idea. The poster has used this for on-line courses, and thought that perhaps it would be good for a “real” classroom as well. I thought I’d see what I came up with.

1. Introduce yourself with 8 nouns

Astrophysicist, writer, friend, fiancé, daughter, reader, survivor, goofus

2. Explain why you picked each noun

Astrophysicist – this is what I do day-to-day. I love the sky, the stars, the magic there, even if I don’t always love the day-to-day part of being an astronomer. I’m also a bit reclusive, off-center, and eccentric, as seems stereotypical of scientists.

Writer – this is what I aspire to be. I’ve always loved writing, but never followed that dream. I do get to do some writing as a scientist and in my work administering web pages for a NASA mission. However, to me, being a writer is really about being a creative writer. That’s where I want to be. And I have started to take this back into my life after a necessary leave-of-absence during grad school.

Friend – friendships are very important to me, both what I get from having friends, and what I get from being a friend. I’m fiercely loyal to my friends, and will do anything once I let you in. But, no, it’s not always easy to get in.

Fiancé – soon-to-be wife. I’m not ashamed to identify myself as part of a couple, though I am (and was) complete as an individual. I’ve found that I am a stronger person since I started my relationship with Andrew.

Daughter – my family is also important to me. These are people I grew up surrounded by, and they can’t help but to have had a profound impact on who I am today — whether for better or worse.

Reader – More than TV and movies and the Internet, books have value to me. I may not always read the most profound novels, but the written word in almost any form is one thing I highly value (somewhat related to being a writer, huh?)

Survivor – no, not the TV show. While I may not have been through as much as some people, I have experienced my share of loss and sadness. And during those times I sometimes wondered how I would make it through to the next day, hour, minute. But somehow I’ve always pulled through. Whether I’m actually a stronger person, or just know more of my strengths from those experiences is hard to say.

Goofus – the other words didn’t really show that I have a silly side, so this seemed as good as any. I have a sense of humor, and can sometimes be found turning red while giggling about some inside joke (inside myself, that is — no one else need know what I’m giggling about).

Ares Helping

I was trying to update my book journal. (The paper version, where I write more than my on-line version. sometimes I even give away the ending in my paper journal. For shame!)

Ares decided to help.

Out of Time

by James P. Hogan

Time is disappearing in New York City. The losses seem worst at airports, TV stations, and telephone switchboards. When a scientist from the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the time is being stolen by aliens in a parallel universe, the case of larceny falls to Joe Kopeksky from the NY Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He assembles an unlikely team of himself, his assistant, an engineer, a scientist and a priest to solve the case.

Fun, short book (really a novella). I was caught up in the mystery from chapter 2 on, wondering what physics-oddity Hogan had thought up for this story. I probably noticed a few things that a non-physicist may have had to wait for the exposition to catch on, but was still intrigued, and didn’t find the exposition overly annoying.

Artemis Fowl

by Eoin Colfer

Since Artemis Fowl’s father, Artemis I, disappeared at sea, his mother has not been playing with a full deck. Twelve-year-old Artemis II has taken it upon himself to attempt to replenish the Fowl fortune. His plan? Acquire fairy gold. However, the fairy he kidnaps just happens to be a member of the Lower Elements Police force (a LEPrecon).

I found I didn’t know who to root for. Artemis, while sympathetic because of the loss of his father (and subsequent loss of his mother), is portrayed as evil. Holly, the LEPrecon Artemis kidnaps, is sympathetic, but a bit of a flake. The LEPrecon forces sent in to deal with the situation ranged from likeable (Foaly) to hate-able (Cudgeon).

This was a fun, fluffy book, but I doubt I’ll be running out to find the second in the series.

Alexandria, Again

Andrew and I took the Metro down to Alexandria to visit the Torpedo Factory. My hope was to pick up something that I’d seen last week, but didn’t buy. Unfortunately, the artist wasn’t in the studio today. Sigh.

We did play around a bit, though. Andrew quite liked the Torpedo Factory, and has seconded my motion to save up next year (after the wedding expenses have disappeared) for some original art for the house.

(Funny comment from a boy, probably 10-12 years old, as he was walking past the sculptures on the stairway railing from the second floor: “And here we have a city of ugly people. And here’s a naked girl.” I wish I could have followed him around a bit longer…)

We stopped at the Olsson’s near the Torpedo Factory, and I found an entertaining book from 1936 entitled Back to Newton. In the introduction, the author, George de Bothezat, writes:

The generalization advanced by Einstein, as rigorously shown in this Essay, is most extravagant, being based upon a set of misunderstandings. Einstein’s fantastic conceptions have only involved Science into disconcerting sophistry based upon ill-founded arguments. It is with the thorough discussion and clarification of these misconceptions of Einstein that this Essay is concerned….

….It is only on account of a few weaknesses in the fundamentals of science that the erection of such a fallacious theory as the Einstein theory of relativity was rendered possible….

The Author of this Essay after mediating for more than twenty-five years over the fundamentals of Newtonian dynamics — one of the greatest cognitive creations ever conceived by a human mind — was able to eliminate these weaknesses, one by one. This once achieved it becomes evident — as was always felt by sound minds — that the whole of Einstein’s theories of relativity have no ground to stand on and really are but a stupendous delusion.

Hmmm…ever heard of de Bothezat? Me neither.

From the Torpedo Factory, we walked down King Street back toward the Metro, stopping in a few shops on the way. Just a couple blocks from the Metro is a used bookstore that we often forget about, since it’s off on a side street. Today we remembered, and popped in. Turns out they were having a moving sale — they’ll be moving around the corner onto King Street. That will probably be very good for their business (and very dangerous for Andrew and me).

Posted some pics today

In the late summer of 2002 I dragged Andrew out to see the Party Animals around DC. For two weekends we walked and walked and walked and walked. I finally posted my pictures from those two weekends. Our favorite was the elephant with the periodic table of elements — perhaps someday I will post the detailed pictures of that one, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. (Ooo…ooo..ooo… DC is doing Pandas this year — PandaMania)

I also updated my “Stuff I’ve Made” photo pages with the newest blanket bears (made for Sandy at work who knows three couples having girls this spring!).

Lesson 04/07/2004

I was at least more on my game for this lesson. I played through Gavorette again — it’s a Russian folk song, very fun to play, though I still have trouble getting my fingers to cooperate. Then we site-read a few duets, and looked through the sheet music in the store for something new for me. I feel like I need something new, but I’m horrible at picking music for myself — I invariably pick something that’s either too easy or too cheesy. We didn’t get anything, but he’s asked the store to get a Bach book for tenor and alto sax.