fishes

i'll admit, i read horoscopes occasionally in high school. i took them about as seriously as fortune cookies. but in the last 3-4 days, i've heard several references to peoples' astrological signs. in particular, referring to why they do what they do, or why they're attracted to certain mates. and i'm in one of those moods where i'm wondering how it is i keep meeting truly good men, falling in love, living together for n years, and then ending up alone again. is it me? is it them? is it timing? or maybe, it's in the stars.

so i googled myself. pisces. and got this:

That ideal mate is your zodiacal opposite, Virgo, as long as it's a Virgo who is aspected to a more sensitive degree—i.e., one that understands your depth of feeling and appreciates your creative world. link.

at which point i look up virgo's dates. let's see..aug 23 - sep 22. uh, ok. that's kinda creepy. my 3 longest relationships have been with men who are virgos. stook (8/29), pants (9/16) and quirkmaster (9/9). there's nothing to that silly stuff, right? should i start playing the numbers on the back of my fortune cookie?

you are being watched

"...while the Shoreditch Trust recently trialled a scheme encouraging residents to watch live CCTV feeds on a special local channel, the better to assist in policing " link

one of many items i read yesterday on cctv use stateside and elsewhere. makes me think of 1984. speaking of which i saw a great original cover for that book yesterday.

today sitting at the light at spicewood and mopac i desperately wanted to tamper with the camera. oh, if only it weren't a felony.

more remodel, circa 2006

saga, continued. crappy entry parquet. my own 80s mini dance floor.

ahhh, that's better.

goodbye laminate in the kitchen. craigslist took it away.

bamboo really lightened things up. the kitchen still needs to be gutted to the studs, layout changed, wall taken out, new appliances, but this will do for now.

before: carpeted stairs. sparky models. good dog.

for this job, i was an optimist. usually i'm a realist. there's a reason why a carpenter charges $80-100/stair. but they would have used quarter round at the joints, a technique i despise as much as transition strips. so i proceeded with the learning curve.

at this point, i'm getting good with the pneumatic nailers, and better at eyeballing cuts. but it still took 2-3 trips to the saw to get a perfect fit for each board. 14 steps and 2 landings. that's a lot of trips. my knees felt like i had taken up running again.

after: it was worth it.. i think. certainly fit the budget. by far the biggest job i had done on the house. i'm not likely to outdo it anytime soon. maybe if i take on rebuilding the deck and balcony. somebody stop me and hire a damn contractor.

new food

you don't read this quirkmaster, but just in case, there are 2 new restaurants in walking distance to your casa.
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tool

yes, this is a cool tool.

remodel news circa 2006

this dates back to 2006, so don't assume i've actually been anywhere near as productive since then on my remodel. this was such a ginormous job to start with, right after move-in, that i've been in a holding pattern ever since.

first some before pics in the living room where the job started. hi inga. this is your new home.

and looking back into the dining area, kitchen beyond.

ripped the carpet, pad, tack strips and staples out. baseboard and door trim all came out as well at this time. hi sparky.

carpet gone, floor prepped, job starts. laid down roofing felt first. mostly 15# with some 30# in low spots.

headed through dining area. neutralized the walls to white. would choose colors later, i just couldn't live with cranberry and mustard a moment longer. sorry ghost of terry, you probably liked those.

and into the kitchen. decided i would not use transition strips anywhere. i cut my own splines to reverse direction groove-to-groove. i would have to do that in several locations throughout the house. tedious.

moved forward through living room and kitchen simultaneously. left space at the front of the fireplace for a future poured concrete hearth where crappy 80s parquet once lay.

moved past the living room and approached the entry way/coat closet, which was also crappy parquet. this corridor looks to the back of the house with the utility room and back door. hey look, it's that toy. i'm not as amused by that today. sad mostly.
more later.

it's not about oil

"But not only did the four energy giants - BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total - write their own contracts with the Iraqi government, an unheard-of practice: they have also reportedly secured rights of first refusal on the far more lucrative 30-year production contracts expected once a new US-sponsored oil law is passed, allowing a wholesale western takeover." link

if you think it would be any better under the dem's, think again.

virgin bride to be

the gals at work put together a last fling for our pregnant safety officer. we sneaked out of work a tad early and convened downtown over mojitos with some local chemists. fun intelligent group. here's some of the crazy action, caught on film.

betsy_fling

kill your tv

kiwi, if you still read this thing, here's your answer.

"Daily television viewing for two or more hours in early childhood can lead to behavioral problems and poor social skills, according to a study of children 2.5 to 5.5 years of age conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health." link

glass ceiling

"Forty-one percent of highly qualified scientists, engineers, and technologists on the lower rungs of corporate career ladders are female. But more than half (52%) drop out." link

can't imagine why. with less pay, lower title, and equal education and experience to my male coworkers through the years, i just can't imagine why half of us drop out. it couldn't be related to the hit-on-then-shit-on scenario or sexist verbal abuse. i certainly wasn't dissuaded when advised during phd studies by two male faculty that women should take a masters or switch to the science education masters because eventually we'll have kids and not use our degrees anyway. this all seems totally fair to me.

i'm sure the inner workings of the boys club are just as cut throat. i'm sure they do these derogatory, career stunting behaviors to each other.. right?

roundup

a little story about monsanto. roundup sounds funny in french. link

that process of stimulating sea urchins to release gametes at around 18 minutes in, i did that for the prep room back in undergrad. i remember reaching into that super cold tank to pull out urchins. i also remember the smell when the tank went unattended. peee-yew.

hippocratic oath for scientists

"Since something close to half of all life science PhDs are reduced to begging for a job at the local WalMart within four years of graduation or are forced to change careers to avoid a lifetime of welfare and food stamps, it seems that many of those who are lucky enough to remain in science do so by working at Big Pharmas. ... most of whom have reached their mid-40s having never earned more than 30K in their lives and who are grateful to simply be working in science at all..." link

yes, this is the fear we face on the day-to-day. especially in the current saturated job market.

she states "I don't think that there is much scientific misconduct occurring in academics". uh, pay attention much?

misconduct is by no means rampant, but it is present in academics. very present. all you have to do is read the literature to realize how much crap gets through by means of a big rubber stamp. these are the boys keeping each other in business, encouraging each other to build that publication record like a stamp collection. the reviewers could care less about the content on which they sign off.

and that's the tame underbelly of the beast. that's a little bloody hangnail.

look a little closer to home. perhaps in your own lab or the one next door. misrepresentation of data, cherry picking of data, citing only positive results and not the negative ones, complete disregard for what all those failed experiments mean (yes, there is meaning there - you just can't publish it - they need a journal called science failed), the misleading of colleagues and the public? it occurs at all levels, from undergrad volunteer to prestigious senior faculty person.

and let's not even begin to think about industry misconduct. just because it's poop from a different animal doesn't mean it smells any better.

new cancer treatment?

"A patient whose skin cancer had spread throughout his body has been given the all-clear after being injected with billions of his own immune cells." not bad. have we tried that with hiv yet? autologous cd4+ t cell therapy. or would that just be a selective pressure that would open a niche for escape mutants. or is that all together wrong and adding fuel to the fire...

inga the lion

here you go, ron. the moots.


she smiles like that all the time. that's my girl.

slow progress

before (march 2007)


after (april 2008)

plants are new and will need 2-3 years to look like anything. need more steps, more path. need mulch and serious vine control for the greedy non-native asiatic jasmine and english ivy. need to finish potting aquatic plants for the stock tank. just equisetum and dwarf umbrella grass right now. want water poenies, lilies, or pickerel weed too. need to improve sprinkler heads and finish the irrigation in the back section. need to replace the fence. need trellises for the native mustang grape and passiflora vines in the back section. need to replace the rotting railroad timber with masonry. and eventually redo my makeshift pressure treated timber steps with masonry.

the list is endless. and not in the budget.

i have my first hostas (april 2008)

i never thought i could grow them, but they are hanging in there with only twice weekly waterings. city of austin is on a water restriction. not that i care to water more than that - easy on the water bill.

the triangle (april 2008)

experimenting with dwarf yaupon holly, sago palm, river fern in dry shade.

yummy beverage review

the best drink reviews ever.

in review of the beverage cel-ray: "I suppose if you like ginger ale but want something more in the celery department, you should basically look no further." quirkmaster might appreciate this one: "I only enjoy sweet things, beer and wine for me are the potable equivalents of beets and cauliflower."

sadly they don't do big peach or peach nehi. they don't know what they're missing.

metabo

"As part of its intensifying efforts, the company has started giving its employees “metabo check” towels that double as tape measures."

leave it to the japanese to make clever gadgets to go with their metabo campaign.



japan is setting waistline limits on its citizens to help combat obesity, or as they call it, metabolic disorder. companies are measuring their employees, retirees, and families. i would call it a social prophylactic. japan is not (yet) fat.


over the course of a week in tokyo in 2007, spending most of my non-work time roaming the streets in search of my next noodle house exploit, i saw maybe 3 noticeably overweight people. tokyo. busy, cram packed, dense tokyo. it was incredible.




i came back to the states to loud, undereducated, morbidly overweight, rude, low tech americans and wanted to get back on the plane. i felt like i was in the wrong country. i still do.



mmm. noodles.



mmm. midgety autos.

toe jam

i like david byrne.

history

this toy came up in conversation with our pregnant safety officer today at lunch. i told her the story, and she cracked up, making all her pregnant parts jiggle.

thanks for the memories quirkmaster.

gives new meaning to roach coach

how can you resist a story like this. entomology, and more specifically host-parasite interaction was often a favorite subject in school. i really like the part where the wasp drives the roach home like a cadillac. for the author, this conjures up images of alien. for me, it's mars attacks! and mib.