Costume, part the first

glasses
Originally uploaded by _buttercup

W00t!

Oh, the cultcha

rach 3
Originally uploaded by _buttercup

Fun. I liked the Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet. There was an encore piano duo with Michael Tilson Thomas and Yefim Bronfman that was entertaining. While I was listening to the "Rach 3" piece, I was thinking, "do I not like piano concertos?" because I was not thrilled. I liked the lighter parts, but I thought some of the moodier parts would be better distributed across the instruments that were, after all, right there. Happily my company for the concert, much more experienced in these things than I am, basically agreed, and I didn't feel like such a country mouse.

Merrell's fake Uggs (Merrell Yeti

merrell side
Originally uploaded by _buttercup

These boots turned out to be a terrific purchase. I was planning a trip to New England in late December four years ago when I decided I needed some really warm boots. I bought these (used, I know, that can freak one out) for $75 with shipping, which is still a whole lot of money. I've gotten more use than I expected from them. I take them with me anytime I go anywhere cold. Since they pack down to nothing but sole, I end up taking them more places than I expected. And if they're with me, I always wear them. I also wear them on remotely chilly nights in SoCal. They're too lose to be comfortable for long walks, but they're so easy to slip in and out of that I find myself wearing them a lot. Unsurprisingly, they are truly warm. I think Uggs are aesthetically hideous, and these follow that trend. Still, the high comfort and convenience mean I'm willing to uglify and old-trendify my look on their behalf.

Happy accident

I took this shot unintentionally, but i find it strangely compelling.

A favorite place

How could this be a favorite place? Because I can be very alone, sing
to my music and let the dog run.

Tristan und Isolde

I went to a movie theater yesterday for over five hours to watch the Metropolitan Opera simulcast of their production of Tristan und Isolde. I thought I'd sleep during it, given how long it was and how little sleep I got this week. I didn't sleep much though, and I really enjoyed it. The set, as you can see above, was lovely. The backstage interviews were also fantastic.

One thing I hate is how I easily forget who was involved in productions. I made picture flash cards for this one.

Minor JPL-watch item: lawyer lauded

Alan Mittelstaedt at the LA City Beat (in the context of criticizing a lawyer):

You should be a lawyer more like Dan Stormer, who for free represented JPL scientists who fought back the invasive forces of the federal government that wanted to do background checks on their credit history and sex lives in the name of national security.

Why?

buried
Originally uploaded by _buttercup

My dog loves the inside of his soccer ball.

Spinach salad v0.2

Today's version had the same red pepper, spinach, apples and gorgonzola dressing, but I added canned mandarin oranges and left out the sausages I tried last time. Good, but definitely required the side dish of hummus and pita to make a full meal. I'd like to try to a wilted (i.e. briefly cooked) spinach salad with cheese and walnuts, but the inside of my mouth is too tender for walnuts right now. It was nearly too tender for today's salad.

I experiment

It's nice when it's pretty too.

State-supported prayer breakfasts?

Why? Why does an elected figure have to have a prayer breakfast? Can't they envision a broader moral leadership? If Mr. Random Mayor (I don't know of women mayors having prayer breakfasts, although they certainly may) wants very badly to have a prayer breakfast, I say that's your privilege. But use your name, not your title, and don't use city money to publicize the damned thing. Here's my local annoyance, and here's a link to the prayer breakfast network, which asserts that their strategy is to allow breakfasters to "experience a fresh reminder of our country's Spiritual Heritage." They seem a little fringe though, so maybe they're not as much a part of prayer breakfasts as they'd like.

Fashion don't

One of the first things I saw this morning was a discordant image in the periphery. Turns out even the corner of my sleepy eye is startled by the combination of jammies I was wearing.

Cravings

spinach salad
Originally uploaded by _buttercup

For some unknown reason I was motivated to make some food today. This salad has spinach, red peppers, apples, chicken-mango sausage, and some kind of gorgonzola dressing from trader joe's. Ultimately I couldn't soak enough of the grease out of the sausage, and the salad is too greasy. Guess I'll have to stick to eating the sausage with pasta and tomato sauce. Maybe I'll use bacon for the salad if I'm planning on making it my whole meal.

Franken-timer

I am on a perpetual quest for a better lab timer. Unfortunately the features I want don't seem to live in a single timer. I've thought about buying parts and programming/soldering something with the features I want, but it's not worth the time it would take. Here's my list of needed features:

1) Enter countdown time using number buttons, none of that up/down crap. In other words, it should have a keyboard like this:



1a) The interface for setting the countdown time shouldn't be stupid. For example, I shouldn't have to hold down a "set" button. If I'm pressing a number button, what else might I want to be doing? Obviously, I want to be setting the time.

2) When the elapsed time is finished, if I don't silence the alarm within a minute, it should stop beeping and start counting up so when I come back I know how long it's been.

3) It should show three different countdowns at once, like this:



4) It should have a "lock" slider button that prevents the buttons from responding when I put it in my pocket.

5) It should have a clip so I can attach it the outside of my pocket when I need to take it with me and use it frequently.

6) It should have a magnet on the back so I can attach it to the eye-level metal rail at my bench.

7) It should not be ginormous.

It's this kind of thing that I find to be a ridiculous need given the technology we have today. I can program. I can get a circuit board printed. I can print to a 3D printer. Why can't I make the timer of my dreams easily?



(Image and inspiration from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sdm/examples.htm)

Dynamic memory? Not so much

A group of researchers found a way to retrieve memory in RAM from a computer: lower the temperature of the RAM chips. One method they used was compressed air. This isn't a real security threat to the merely mortal among us - I'm interested in it because it sounds like an incredibly fun project. Still they are handicapped by researcher-talk: "data written even momentarily to RAM persists for a non-trivial period of time." Here's all the dirt.

Smoothie yums

smoothie ingredients
Originally uploaded by _buttercup

I've been on a smoothie kick since I got braces. It's very nice to have icy cold in my mouth when my teeth hurt. I'm getting more fruit this way too. Approx amounts:

9 lg frozen strawberries
3/4 c frozen blackberries
enough chocolate rice milk to cover about 3/4 of the fruit
1/2 cup yogurt
~4 Tbs quick oats
~4 Tbs low glycemic protein powder (80 calories)

i'm not usually much of a supplement person, but i like the protein powder because it seems to help with sugar crashes. Ditto the oats. I'm also a fan of the idea of low-glycemic foods, although there's plenty of available sugar in this smoothie.

Large-scale projects

I'm a sucker for large-scale projects. Bridges! How are they possible? It's hard for me to really believe that all those little steps can make things so big and strong. Lately I've come across a few things that get me excited in the same way.

I found this picture on the Eye Level Pasadena blog. It's a half an apartment building being moved.


There is also a very fun time lapse movie of construction on campus here. Why are time lapse movies so pleasing?

And finally, there is the great tree moving of the past few days. Click on the image to see a quick animation. It's annoying to watch after the first few times.

Cute golf shoes (?!)

Someone (who shall remain nameless, lest you end up wanting to curse her too) introduced me to these golf shoes. Aren't they lovely? I can't stop thinking about them.

Stick Figures in Peril

This is the name a terrific Flickr group. It lead me to this sign:

Moving Gate Can Cause Serious Injury

There is so much gated parking here in Heck that this graphic has seared its way into my consciousness. The drama of the figure is quite arresting, but i'm confused about how the victim's arm is apparently behind the thing s/he's being squished into. (Perhaps this is meant to portray a man; in Sign-Land, only men wear pants. Does this mean women don't have anything to fear from moving gates? Or maybe all the victims have been men so far?)