5 secrets....

1) I never shave on days that I travel.

2) I am a pack rat.

3) I am an obsessive AIM away-message-checker.... Can't help it.

4) While I pretend to be a beer snob, I can't really tell you what I enjoy in a beer. I think an interesting (i.e. complex) taste is key.

5) My idea of a perfect weekend is fly-fishing in a river in Texas drinking Shiner. Haven't had one of those yet, but perhaps this fall will be the year....

ACL Part 2

well shit.... I retract my previous statment that I'm glad I'm not going tomorrow... It looks like all the weather from Rita went east of us. We've got blue skies and a little respite from the heat.

Speaking of Rita, I hope everyone made it through alright, and that the damages are not too terrible. I've already seen a picture of a collapsed wall in Galveston. The lampost made it through alright though...

ACL

No, I did not throw my knee out on the basketball court, I went to Austin City Limits Music festival!!! It kicked ass!

I got there for the last song of REK's set. Of course, it was The Road Goes On Forever. Too bad I didn't make it for the earlier part.

I finished up the night watching the Black Crowes behind a dirty old man who kept taking pictures with his digital camera of the rather hot girls dancing together in front of us. The Crowes were awesome, as usual. I enjoyed this set much more than when I saw them at Jazzfest. It was a bit longer than their set at Jazzfest (1 1/2 hours) so they got to a few more good songs. I especially liked Remedy, Hard to Handle, Jealous Again, and She Talks To Angels. One or two of the jam sessions got a little tedious, but all in all, they were very good.

When they came on stage, Chris said something to the effect of the following:

"We're glad to be in Austin, where the hippies and the rednecks seem to get along just fine. It's also probably the only place in the world where you can say "Hippies" and "Rednecks" and no one takes offense."

I agree. As someone who could pass for both a redneck and a hippie, I really like Austin.

I always get a kick out of seeing Chris Robinson dance around on stage. He likes to coordinate his moves with his chorus girls. He seems like a bit of a diva. With the frilly white shirt, the beard, and the long brown hair, I can't help thinking of the baptist portrayal of Jesus.

Other bands that I saw:

Blues Traveler - You gotta love the harmonica
John Prine - Love his scratchy out of tune voice. Just perfect for the type of songs he sings. I wish I had been a bit closer so I could have understood some of the words.
The Allman Brothers - Quality Texas rock set. It sucks that I only could catch the first half before heading back to hear John Prine.

I'm glad that I will not be going tomorrow. Not because I don't want to hear any of the acts, but because gales and rain have been forcasted. I'm glad that the weather ended up working out like it has.

I hope everything is working out for the best on the Gulf Coast. I'm glad it's not hitting Galveston, but I feel bad for the part of Texas/LA that it is hitting. Hopefully everyone is out.

As if I had forgotten I work in an astronomy department....

I swear. This is real. I got this email TODAY!

----
To: graduate@astro.as.utexas.edu
Re: LunchTrek

Greetings fellow students,

I'm resurrecting LunchTrek for the semester. For those of you new to this, once a week at noon we bring our lunches and watch Star Trek episodes in the 15th floor lecture room. Original Series, Next Gen, or both.

Those of you on my notification list from last semester will stay on my list unless you'd like to be removed. Anyone who would like to start receiving the weekly episode summaries (or can't remember if you're on my notify list), please respond to this email. The rest of you, I promise this is the only time you'll hear from me!

Also let me know if you have a preference for Monday or Friday, and if you would like to see only Original, Next Gen, or alternating episodes.

Live long and prosper,
xxxxxxxxxx

--------------

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good space opera as much as anyone, but come on people, don't perpetuate the stereotypes any more than absolutely necessary!!

apologies

So I wrote the xgf an apology email today. I know, I know, it has only been a week, but you can do a lot of thinking in a week. While I'm not completely over her, I am over her enough to realize that I'm no longer mad at her for breaking up with me, but more just angry at the situation.

Sarah is coming to visit this weekend. It should be fun. I think we'll go kayaking at Town lake and go see the bats, and then maybe 6th street. Woo hoo!

I went kayaking today with Miranda, another grad student. She's from Massachussets, and bought a brand new kayak for $900. Quite pricey, if you ask me. I guess I can't complain, since I'm going to drop ~$500 on a road bike once I get my paycheck in October.

Speaking of which, I will have to be very frugal this next month. I have not recieved a paycheck since the beginning of August, and I will not recieve my first paycheck until October 1st. Probably a good thing that happy hour this friday is paid for by the astronomy department...

Alright... Classes start tomorrow. I should probably drink some water. Going to class with a hangover is probably not the best way to start off 5+ years of grad school.

Surprised myself today

(23:57:18) xgf: and good luck with the first semester of grad school
(23:58:00) xgf: bye
(23:58:22) me: one more thing I want to say
(23:58:30) me: nm
(23:58:31) me: bye
(23:58:34) xgf: shoot
(23:58:39) xgf: you can say it if you want
(23:59:15) me: I've been wanting to say it for a long time... who knows, maybe it will make me feel better
(23:59:19) me: fuck you
(00:00:56) me: it's going to take a while before I can apologize for that
(00:01:00) xgf: don't
(00:01:01) me: but when I can, I will


Always nice to find out that you can still surprise yourself. (I know, I know, I stole it from Lester Burnham)

Dating is bullshit

Dating is bullshit.

There, I said it. Don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. It's all about sex appeal. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy voluptuous curves as much as the next guy, but is bra size really the best way to shop for your future soulmate? It's not a bad strategy when shopping for a quick lay or an STD. I know pretty much everyone will agree that beauty is only skin deep, but everyone is also too much of a chickenshit to really see if it's true.

Case in point #1: "As good as it gets". Has never happened, will never happen.

Case in point #2: I went out salsa dancing with a few of my friends from work. I ended up staying after they left, and dancing with one of her friend until it closed down. The girl was a really good dancer, and as we talked, I found out she was a really interesting person. She's going to med school, smart, funny, etc... But she wasn't "Hot." So, after the last song played, I bailed, saying I had to get up the next morning... to do nothing. I rationalized it by telling myself that I was leaving town in a month, no sense in starting something I can't finish. But, then again I worked up the guts to ask my really really hot co-worker out to dinner, with hopes of starting something I couldn't finish.

Then again, even if you do find your soul mate, if you're totally repulsed by her, that's not very healthy either.

I think I'm just on the rebound and am still in a "fuck you, Erin" mode. In the immortal words of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, "Is the way to get over someone, just to get under someone else?"

Once again, I think I am doing the right thing by swearing off girls (relationships) for at least a year. Maybe the key is to just date the beautiful people for fun while they are young and beautiful, but then when everyone gets old and ugly, then find someone you can settle down with.

Sigh... I thought I had both in Erin. Fuck you erin.

Dear ol' Dad....

Ok... this is going to be a serious post. I've got some issues that I need to work out. You're welcome to read them, but please don't try to help.

I'm not sure I've ever completely dealt with the death of my dad. Most of the time, I don't even think about it, but every now and then I really miss him. It's sad when you start thinking that your boss is the closest thing you've had for a dad for five years. That's not a knock against my dad or my boss, but since I was young (18) when he died, I never really got to know him as a person, rather than just an authority figure. I did some, but I think I was 16 or 17 when I learned that he was terminally ill, and getting to know someone while you're racing against the clock is a bit like someone holding a gun to your head while you're watching a movie and telling you that you'd better enjoy yourself or else. I wish I'd gotten to buy him a beer at the chicken and hear him tell R-rated stories and figure out what made him tick. I've heard stories about him, and he seemed like he was quite a prankster. I think there's a little of that aspect of him in me, but I think Mandy got more of it.

I think the best resource I have, other than my family is his website, http://rdeen.tripod.com.

I was watching some TV ad for a depression medicine, and it said that one of the symptoms is inability to focus. I know I'm not severely depressed, but that describes me to a T. I cannot focus on anything for the life of me. I have 20 million little projects that I've started, but I can never force myself to sit down and finish one. Studying is hard for me. In high school and the first semester of college, that was not the case. Studying was never hard for me. Yet in college, I've found myself so distracted that it's really tough to focus. I keep telling myself that I'm just going to have to buckle down and make myself focus, but it never seems to happen. I have no willpower.

Maybe I just need to get it out in the open and deal with it.

I'll muddle through eventually.

Ants

My apartment has an ant problem. Well, it's not so much a problem as an annoyance. They get into my dirty laundry and stuff, but I've only gotten bitten a few times. If I were going to stay here longer, I'd complain, but since I'm moving at the end of the month, I figure it's not worth the trouble.

Anyway, I've noticed that everytime I go into my bathroom, there are, more often than not, 2 ants patroling the floor. Sometimes there's only one, but most of the time, there's two. Kinda makes you wander whose wife they hit on to get stuck on bathroom duty. How do they keep their sense of direction to make it back to the nest? They turn so often and seemingly randomly, that it seems they'd get lost pretty easily.

These are the things I wonder about.

heartburn

I've had heartburn for the past few days.... some observations:

• Alcohol - Makes it worse. Of course if you have enough, it lessens your awareness of it.


• Red Meat - Makes it worse.


• Milk - Not exactly sure... It feels better immediately after drinking, but not for long term


• Sugar/Chocolate - Makes it worse. I think Fats are pretty bad for heartburn


• I do not like heartburn

drinking

If you cannot drink heavily without your significant other present, or trust your significant other to drink heavily without your presence, you don't need to be dating.

Knee Shorts

Wow.... That's crazy. We are a nation founded by prudes.

Elf

Sometimes I surprise myself. I'm watching Elf right now. Overall it's a pretty stupid movie, but I found myself laughing pretty hard at some of the jokes. While dating Erin, I never watched many Will Ferrell movies because she thought he was stupid and I usually watched movies with her.

Thinking about it, Erin's taste in movies and mine were about as diametrically opposed as possible. Her idea of a funny movie was Hollywood Homicide. I have seen few stupider movies. She hated Dancer Texas Pop. 81. Screw her.

Screwing with Chris

If you hear Mahaffey talking about some wierd mormons who tried to give him a book of Mormon and convert him, insisting that he requested it, I have no idea what you're talking about, nor did I have anything to do with it.

Shipping to Africa is freakin' expensive! A 7.5 lb package will cost me $35 to ship in 4-10 days. It'll be worth it, because it's all going to orphans that Crystal is working with. I'm sending pencils, pencil sharpeners, paper, raisins, cool glow-in-the-dark things, and a Howdy T-shirt.

Still need to find an apartment in Austin. I may come down to the wire on this one... I hope not. If nothing else, I can live with Mike for a while until I find my own place. He would wet himself if he knew I was thinking about this.

My telescope still hasn't gotten here yet. I hope it'll come tomorrow because the skies have been excellent the past few days.

new checks!

I finally gave up looking for my other box of checks, so I went to the bank and ordered some temporary checks. They printed them there, and they actually don't look half bad. $2 for 12. Not a great deal, but it's a lot better than ordering a box of 100 more with my college station address. Seriously, these 12 should get me through the rest of the summer with checks to spare.

On a completely unrelated note, I hate banking hours. I really don't understand the point of being open from 9 to 4. People who are making money and hence, need to deal with banks are WORKING!! During NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS!! There's only so much you can do online or through the drive through. I think a great idea for a bank would be to be closed during regular business hours (except for lunch) and then also be open from 6am to 9am, and then from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. I hate dealing with machines.

I now own a telescope! Here's the ebay page. It's going to ship priority, so hopefully it will get here by this weekend. Probably not though.

I'm going to go finish paying my bills and then possibly go eat dinner with Vince and Kit and possibly Daniel.

I'm out...

screw ebay

You know what, screw it, I'm going to bed. If some bastard outbids me in the last few milliseconds before the auction closes, fine. I only bid $50 on it, and $50 is the most I'm willing to spend, so if I don't get it, I really shouldn't waste sleep over it. I'm going to go to bed under the assumption that all the other astrogeeks out there are in bed too, so I should wake up tomorrow owning a telescope. I just hope they can ship it here before the weekend. I'm trying to convince Vince (... Hmmm... conVince? Oooh... that has too many fun meanings...) to go to Austin this weekend. Maybe we can go camping, although Vince doesn't really seem like the camping type. I'd like to go try my new scope out, weather permitting.

No bites so far on my tutoring flyers de fisica. Maybe I'll have more luck when I move to Austin.

Yay for cheap optics!

Well, if all goes well for me in the next two hours, I will be the proud owner of a 4.5" CStar Telescope. It's got 375x of zoom, and aparently it comes with a tripod, two eyepieces, and some other stuff. It's not very large, but I figure it will be perfect for my back yard and maybe some astrophotgraphy. I'm rather out-of-town here in my sublease, so I should get a chance to use it out here. I'm tired of waiting for good weather, my wanting to go, and Don's presence at the observatory to all coincide. Hopefully it will be easily transportable so I can haul it around in my car. I'll let you know in about 2 1/2 hours when the auction ends. Then, maybe I'll post the link. Don't want any of you fuckers outbidding me.

saturday goings-on

Today, I did quite a bit. Not exactly everything that I was planning on getting done, but I did get some things done that I didn't expect that I would.

I printed off a few astronomy papers on my roommate's computer. His printer is slow as hell.

Went to McAlister's with Vince and Kit. Had a soup and salad. I told her to suprise me on the salad, but she gave me a garden salad with ranch dressing. Weak. If I ask you to surprise me, and you give me something I don't like, it's my own damn fault. The Tortilla soup was pretty good though.

Went with Vince to his lab. I took a picture of him at work. He's pretty focused on his research. Good for him.

Went to Hobby Town and bought a launcher and rocket for $30. Then went to Best Buy to redeem my gift certificate from Chelsea. I got two CDs, Bad Company and Audioslave. So far, I've only made it through Bad Company. I enjoy it. They actually remind me of Audioslave a little bit. I guess Audioslave reminds me a little of Bad Company, but you know what I mean.

Went on a 30 mile bike ride to Riverside Campus to water the trees. Everytime I go out there, I swear someone else has been out there. Last time, I only remember 2 lengths of hose. This time, there were 3. Not a bad thing though. Jumping over the gate was interesting. Good thing I have an aluminum bike frame. After about 20 miles my legs started to give out. I made it home just as it was starting to get dark. I left around 6:15, and got back around 8:45. Wind is a mutherfucker on a bike.

If the weather is going to cooperate, I think I will go out to the observatory with Justin and Jillian. On the bike ride, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but they were starting to appear when I was getting closer to home.

I need to call mom tomorrow and see if I left my checks at home.

So long to Mahaffey

Vince and I went to visit Chris on thursday night after work. He's probably nearing Virginia right now. Sucks to drive that far. Oh well, at least he's not driving back.

He's an interesting guy. I'll miss him. He's very good at making people laugh. I thought it was funny how he was making pot-smoking references about his brother infront of his mother. He's taking a giant texas flag to hang in his living room. I think I'll do the same with an A&M flag once I get to Austin.

Back to trying to wade through the numerous astronomy papers which I have to read before August. Sigh... reading is not fun. Especially when you have no idea what they're talking about.

We are stardust

Did you know that everything around you, including the very bones in your body, was once in the firey belly of giant star that went supernova way before our sun was even a twinkle in the galaxy. Kinda cool to think about. We are the product of one of the most violent, destructive processes known to the universe. Supernovae obliterate stars in a titanic explosion, belching heavy elements deep into the depths of interstellar space.

In 5 billion years, the earth will get swallowed up by the outer regions of our sun in its death throwes (sp?). Humans will be long gone by then. Personally, I only give us another 1000 years before we screw ourselves over completely. We're doing a pretty good job of it so far.