air.traffic

As I sit here enjoying my Sunday afternoon at pleasure bay I found a great spot right under the landing approach of Boston's Logan International Airport I snapped this picture of an arriving plane. At the same time, I pulled up the flight arrival tracker and tried to guess what flight was arriving each time. I doubt I was right and it is quite difficult to tell but I did get to see what I believe was JetBlue flight 466 from Ft. Meyers, FL land. So that was cool.

ministrations.of.moving

If you live somewhere long enough eventually you are called upon to help with a move. At first you just show up at the house to help unload and eat pizza but in no time at all you are practically scheduling the whole procedure.

At this point my roommate and I can tell how easy a move will be as soon as we pull up in front of the apartment. The signs are always there. The size of the moving truck, the number of boxes (in this case more is always better since that means people have already packed most of the stuff), whether the roommates are helping or just standing back, what time the move starts, what food has been procured for the helpers, the number of helpers present - that sort of thing.

So with my wealth of experience and knowledge I offer these tips for your own move:

When reserving a moving truck from U-haul (other truck facilities are exempt from this because they charge more and aren't always overbooked), especially if you are tempted by the online reservation system, go into the local office and get your name on the list (or at the very least call the local office). As it turns out, the online reservations are only printed out the night before and they have no time specified that the truck is to be available. So, if you want the truck in the morning go in and talk to the guy and get your name on the list and then go in to pick it up when the office opens. If all that seems like too much, just rent from budget or something.

Pack up everything you can the day and week before so that there are boxes to load immediately. A good comment to hear is something like, "You don't even need us..." that sort of thing. There is nothing worse than having people stand around while you try to find something for them to put in the truck. Remember they are helping you out and they probably have other things they need to get to eventually.

Big furniture first! Or not. This seems obvious but it is actually too formulaic. If you have people who can lift you probably also have people who can load a few boxes. Be flexible and you will accomplish more with fewer hiccups.

Feed the help! Donuts, bagels, coffee something like that. It gives your friends something to do and an excuse to not tire themselves out. It keeps people who don't have anything to do from being in the way and helps them feel like they aren't wasting time.

Those are a few tips which if followed will help you have a less stressful and more successful move.

confections.and.baking

I am the first to point out that despite my passion for food and cooking I just dabble in baking. My girlfriend, on the other hand, makes a mean lemon pound cake (among other delectible desserts). The irony, therefore, is hardly lost on me that the one request she has made of me for her birthday tomorrow is a chocolate marble cake. The pressure of preparing a cake for someone accomplished in the art of baking is obvious.

Fortunately I have Alton Brown of Good Eats on my side and of course the whole internet thing. At this point I am pleased with the result and all that remains is storage, transport, and service.

trapped.inside

A look out of my window as I lament my current task of job searching.

wagner.under.the.stars

If you've never listened to classical music performed by a professional orchestra conducted by one of the greats like James Levine, I reccomend a trip to Tanglewood. Not only were we able to sit out under the stars and listen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform two peices by Richard Wagner the German composer but we did so for less than I have paid to see some local bands in a cramped bar. To add to the experience the music lasted almost 4 hours as compared to the 45 minutes a good set in the bar might offer. Granted I'm comparing apples and oranges here but my point is: If you are in New England on a weekend this summer consider a trip to Tanglewood for the experience of a lifetime.

meet.the.president

So that's my sister meeting the president with her NCAA championship H2O polo team. Sweet! Nice work sister!

philosophy.of.posting

When sitting down to post the question must be asked, "What is better to post once in summary or many times in particular." I often fail even to post once so the question may seem strange. When I do post it seems that I post in bursts several times a day or even hour only to neglect posting for the next month or more. Is this acceptable to me (I ignore here anyone who reads the posts for obvious reasons) or is a daily or semi-daily post scheduled by discipline and duty more desirable than the sporadic postings brought on by a passionate desire to say something? A question for the ages? Perhaps not. Yet there it remains hanging over my head hinting at deeper symptoms or something else entirely.

For what it's worth I will probably post again today.

new.look.time

It is more that time to get a new look for this crazy thing. After all the old look was designed with my previous life path in mind(You know, the whole grad school physics thing leading to a PhD). I suppose the dark look also fits well into my current position of unemployed job seeker wondering what exactly is next. I think the next long-term look will have to coincide with my next job. "And what will that be?" You ask. I don't know, stop asking, I will tell you when I figure it out OK!

Right so all that to say I am hoping to work in some field relating to physics. Possibly: teaching high school, working in a lab, working as a tech for a university. Something like that. In fact I am avoiding working on my resume and cover letters to write this post and some of you (ok, only 2 people ever read this) don't care because now you don't have to remove me from your links section (you know who you are).

spring.has.sprung

I suppose once a month isn't the worst update frequency I have had for my blog.

Regardless I am inspired to post due to the weather we have been having. I love spring in New England! It is such a drastic change from the winter. Things that have been dead finally come alive and the sun that was mostly hidden for months (and even if visible gave almost no warmth) is back with a vengance. The budding trees and the beautiful lilies and dafodylls are up and reaching for the sky. The best way I can describe the last week weather wise is San Diego summer and that is a good thing (to borrow from Martha).

On the other hand spring in New England, while the best time to be outside enjoying the weather, is finals and quals time for us grad students. So this entry will be the last until May when all of that is over and I have something to report.

winter.and.other.irritations

It snowed last yesterday. Now that in and of itself is not really strange, in fact that is quite normal for Boston. Of course it is tough to deal with when you get calls every so often from friends and family who complain about the 65 degree weather and clouds as very cold. So I have accepted that even here in the second week of march winter is still very much in full swing and dumping frozen water from the sky from time to time. Braving the weather and going out to eat dinner with some friends I stop at Panera to pick up a couple of loaves of bread.

Fast forward to ice covered windshield and slippery driving conditions and I finally arrive at my destination sans my phone. I search the car with the light on and while calling the phone to see if it disappeared into one of those cracks you don't realize your car has until you lose something. So it is gone. I guess this would have merely been comical or irritating had this occurred at the end of January when I was about to get a new phone but now it means I signed a 2 year contract and have no shiny new toy to show for it. A pain, yes, but certainly not something to get overly upset about.

About 10 minutes after arriving we get a call asking for a pickup from the T stop and I go out in what is now borderline blizzard conditions (I would include a picture but you see my camera phone is probably somewhere in a drift of snow in Boston) pick up my friends. In the hop offering their thanks and appreciation. As we head back to the apartment, brake lights, panic stop and bang! So I rear end some guy driving his daughter home, excellent!

So that was my evening yesterday. It's amazing because the previous conversations about my day had included such words as good, even great and that I had accomplished a good amount. Hmm... Certainly I was being watched over as both vehicles were barely scratched and no injuries were reported.

Well, back to Soft Condensed Matter...

the.genius.of.ray.charles

After watching "Ray" I commented that I hoped there would be a legitimate soundtrack released with all of the music that was included in the movie. I also almost spent about $100 on iTunes to buy some significant Ray Charles music but I resisted. This afternoon my flat mate comes home and says, "Here, I got you a present." He tosses me a Trader Joe's bag surrounding something and closed with a rubber band in my lap. I open it to find not one but two CDs and they are none other than Ray- The official motion picture soundtrack and More Music from Ray. Indeed, two compilations of Ray Charles music and a couple of non-Ray selections that were in the movie. An interesting addition on the second CD are a couple of tracks that were recorded by Ray specifically for the movie in 2003 before he died. Very cool to say the least. There is also a "bonus" DVD in the "more songs from" package with a couple of old TV appearances which were fun to watch.

Anyway here is the list of songs now neatly tucked in iTunes and parked on the iPod with a 1 in the play count field.

Leave My Woman Alone

Lonely Avenue

Rockhouse Parts 1 & 2

I Believe To My Soul

Losing Hand

I'm Movin' On

But On The Other Hand Baby

Baby, It's Cold Outside - With Betty Carter

The Danger Zone

Busted

Makin' Whoopee

Let's Go Get Stoned

Drifting Blues

Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand (2003 Version)

Drown In My Own Tears/You Don't Know Me (2003 Version)

Every Day I Have The Blues (New Recording) - Chris Thomas King

America The Beautiful

Mess Around

I've Got A Woman

Hallelujah I Love Her So

Drown In My Own Tears

(Night Tiime Is) The Right Time

Mary Ann

Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)

What'd I Say

Georgia On My Mind

Hit The Road Jack

Unchain My Heart

I Can't Stop Loving You

Born To Lose

Bye Bye, Love

You Don't Know Me

Let The Good Times Roll

Georgia On My Mind

Nice!

someone.told.me

... that straight white men don't watch the oscars. I am assuming that there needs to be a qualifier added to that statement like, "on their own" or, "all the way through", or "including the pre-show". Anyway I just saw Ray and I must say Jamie Foxx really earned that oscar. Talk about a great performance and a great movie.

skiing.and.back.to.work

I had the pleasure of being off of school last week for what Brandeis so affectionately calls, "February Recess". I enjoyed the time to regroup and get some much needed perspective on the whole grad school thing before heading into the home stretch of the semester and for that matter my first year. The weekend in New Hampshire skiing and the like was a great way to cap it off. Of course the reality hit last night that there are homework assignments and tests looming that won't be letting up until spring begins to give way to summer. So on that note I dive back into the quantum mechanics books hoping that I may make it through.

lying.in.bed

Nobody likes to be sick. I, of course, am no exception to that rule & would much rather be working on Quantum Mechanics than lying here with a headache hoping to sleep through the night.

On a lighter note, I am enjoying posting this wirelessly on my new palm. Well best to at least attempt & sleep.

sick.and.tired

Yesterday I returned from a delightful weekend in upstate NY with some of the Boston University students I meet with. Snow on the ground, clear skies, and sunny afternoons typified the weekend. That was a decided relief from the recent dreary but warmer and clear but bitterly cold days of the last few weeks. What? You say I have completely avoided tying this post into the title in any significant way? Well I'll have you know I was just getting to that...

I returned home to order pizza and lay on the couch as the events of the superbowl unfolded (Go Pats!). A few friends dropped by including someone in particular who made the evening quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, as we settled in for commercial critique and some dynasty making football, I began to notice a scratchiness in my throat and some heat and pressure from my head. Orange Juice and water flowed into me and sleep followed shortly after the goodbyes were said. Still I awoke with a dried out and raw throat, sore muscles and that same head condition. So here I am, sick and tired.

I trust that satisfies the title as well as a glimpse into my day. Until next time...

peace.and.quiet

The neighborhood certainly looks peaceful in the snow and as long as everyone is staying at home it is really nice.

new.england.blizzard

Snow covered cars after what they call a genuine blizzard! (38" of snow)

beginning.again

So I have once agin been chastized for my sporadic blog updates. Regardless I decided that now that picasa and hello link with blogger I should put up some of the pictures from the now storm we had a couple of weeks ago. This first one is from my window on that sunday afternoon. The only reason one of the cars isn't covered is that my flatmate had to be at work durring the storm and came back after most of the snow had fallen.


Enjoy!

game.one.red.sox

They won!

the.first.month

As you can tell from this post title and date, I was supposed to write something about my first month in grad school and how my perspective of what was required changed from just an, if you can excuse the expression, academic one. I guess the failure to write is just a symptom of the true nature of the whole grad school situation. Talk about late nights and long days of wavefunctions and electrostatics. I guess the real issue is one of time. It takes time to understand exactly what it is you need to do and what that means to really understand the material. So I have finally, one more month removed, figured out and come to terms with the studying and the homework and the cutting of my free time more than in half. Am I completely on top of it all? No. Is it all easy? No.