Songdog.net
News of a sort, I suppose. Two weeks ago I managed to wind up in the hospital for a week's stay. Our baby is due a week from now and we're planning on welcoming it at the very same hospital. So to those wondering where or how I've been: I was unwell but am on the mend. And to those on baby watch: not yet!
As a father-to-be (twenty-two days until the due date, for those who are counting) I've been wondering a lot about the whole blue-is-for-boys, pink-is-for-girls thing. We don't know whether we're having a girl or a boy, so clothing and interior decorating choices have been driven towards gender-neutral colors, whatever that means. What does that mean? Where do these associations come from? How have we developed gut reactions to pink and blue? And how universal are these associations?
MORE...I missed the anniversary of this site! I started Songdog.net two years ago with this tentative post. I'm not going to offer you a post like last year's first anniversary commemoration with its list of backlinks. For one thing I'm two days late myself, for another I've been a lot less prolific this second year for a variety of ever-evolving reasons. I aspire to writing fewer, but better posts, and hope by so doing to properly hit my stride here.
Other stuff has been happening too! My dear wife had her birthday followed closely by my own a couple of weeks ago. Hers was a great day (I hope she'll agree). Mine was postponed due to food poisoning, but the rain date was a blast. In typical long-distance fashion our birthdays were extended over a week or so, which I've come to really enjoy. I'm thirty-one now, and I enjoy my birthday almost as much as ever. When is this supposed to stop? I'm hoping for never.
The other big news I haven't mentioned here has been hinted at by the "Something New" ticker under the Countdowns heading. We're expecting our first child! The due date is real-soon-now, in forty days (May 1), and a sizable amount of energy has been devoted to baby stuff, most notably the transformation of my disastrously messy home office into a sparklingly clean nursery. I still have some work to do, but the hard parts are all done, thanks to the generous help of Al, Bonnie, Steve, and Leslie, without whom this could not have happened. Thank you all! We'll be in formal baby-watch mode soon, then the baby will come and thank you in its own way.
So this blogging anniversary is a happy one for me, belated or no, coming as it does in the midst of all this other birthday excitement. I can't promise more frequent updates, but I'll do my best to make your visits worthwhile. If I'm going to write this stuff it had better at least be interesting!
Seven years ago I moved to northern New Jersey. The brood had been silent for ten years, and few remembered them. But now, there is a restless stirring in the soil, a trembling buzzing underfoot. Be afraid! They will rise again! Brood X will rise again!
I'm watching live on NASA TV and updating this post as information is revealed:
The Big News: There was ample liquid water in Meridiani Planum (where the Opportunity Rover is exploring), and for a long time this area would have been ripe for life. There are four pieces of evidence for liquid water, which the add up to what the science team calls "definitive" proof.
- Rock spherules (which have sometimes been referred to as "blueberries") appear to be concretions, formed when rocks form from raw material suspended in liquid water.
- The Martian rock is "shot through with some very weird looking holes" which suggest the former presence of tabular crystals which have since been eroded away by water.
- Using the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) and a spectrographic analyzer the scientists have found extremely high levels of sulfur, suggesting the onetime presence of sulfate salts, which suggest water.
- The Mössbauer Spectrometer data has revealed jarosite, a sulfate hydrate which only occurs in the presence of water.
The scientists want very much to return rocks to Earth for more detailed and flexible analysis here. This could be accomplished earliest via robot landers with return vehicles, or eventually via manned exploration.
JPL has a press release up now.
MORE...While New York seethes around me with news of Super Tuesday I find myself reflecting on the fact that the primaries in New Jersey aren't for another fourteen weeks, second-to-last nationally (but just in time to cast the deciding vote!).
Seen in an upscale New Jersey grocery store: skinny woman, mid thirties, expensive blonde hair, wearing clingy fleece pants and a "Juicy Bling Bling" t-shirt. We checked the field guide and concluded that we'd spotted a Mid-Atlantic Trophy Wife. While not all that rare in this part of the country they rarely leave their nests, and never for unprepared food, relying on their mates and attendants for forage.
Mars rover scientists will be making some sort of big announcement at a NASA press conference this afternoon. It's more likely to be about surface water than about Martians, but stay tuned.
Check out the results of this year's Oscar Contest! An awful lot of people did incredibly well, and the winning scores are hard to believe!
MORE...This is your last chance to sign up for the Oscar Contest, or to edit your predictions if you've already signed up. The ballots will close when the Oscar ceremony starts, at 8PM EST.
By the way, I saw "Mystic River" a few days ago, bringing my total to ten of the nominated movies seen. That has to be a personal record, I'm embarassed to say.
I was not allowed to withdraw money from my own checking account today using what I though was the reasonable approach of handing a completed withdrawal slip to a teller. "This is from a checking account?," she asked. Humph. The teller was very friendly and helpful: she fetched and largely completed a bank check to cash in the same amount, and I was able to leave with the money I had requested. The ATM lets me withdraw from checking, though ... what gives?
Congratulations Mama Yeti and Papa Yeti on your new Baby Yeti!
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No further information from the bank yet. And so I wait.
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I did manage to purchase a shredder, thereby significantly increasing identity security (provided I run stuff through the thing).
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I saw "American Splendor" yesterday, which was remarkable and fun. I have now seen more of the current Oscar-nominated movies in the last two weeks than in all of the preceding period.
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There are twelve people participating in this year's Oscar Contest (do we call this the 2003 Oscar Contest or the 2004 Oscar Contest?). Why not join them? You've got five days left to make your predictions!
Update: there's been a popularity spike! Six more people have signed up in the last seven hours. Welcome, all!
Why is it that the same people pushing, shoving, jostling for position, and looking for an edge at the bottom of the staircase after getting off the train all politely hand the open door to those behind them? Myself included.
I just got back from a Metafilter NYC Meetup. I'm sure the party is still raging on, but I left early because it's going to be a busy weekend. I only took a few digital photos this time because my perspective on the gathering didn't change from my seat at the edge of the crowd. If they bear sharing I'll post them here shortly (they don't, really, but for those who weren't there...). There were lots of other cameras and I look forward to seeing all the pictures myself! I had a great time talking with sara, troutfishing, nicwolff, muckster, jonmc, and languagehat. The rest of you were sitting too far away at the big table; I was the guy on the other side of the little table.
The last time I went to one of these events (a year ago) I stayed so late that I missed all possible direct trains and buses home and had to settle for getting as far as I could on another train and coughing up exorbitant cab fare for the remainder of the trip. That was rough. This time I left when the group moved on from Veselka and took a cab to the train station with enough time to spare that even the exodus from a Knicks game didn't keep me from my train.
When I got home, however, I found a message waiting from my bank requesting a prompt return call. It turns out that someone may be running up charges on a card of mine. Amidst the legitimate charges were three or four that I did not recognize. I don't want to cause troble for honest merchants if I've just forgotten a purchase (it is, after all, the end of a long day) but I also don't want to get hit with the big fraudulent charge that could be next. My liability is zero, but I could wait a while to get my money back while the bank investigates.
SOooo ... I've asked the bank to freeze the card for a while until more information comes through about the mystery charges. If they're all accounted for then I keep the card, otherwise I replace it. And from now on I'm never throwing out any papers or receipts that haven't been thoroughly shredded. Oh, DAMN IT! How am I going to buy a shredder?
And if someone out there is trying to spend my money, may centipedes breed in your sinuses!
Update: My Veselka Meetup pictures are posted. All three of them!
