http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/dec/HQ_05499_concepts.html
NASA wants geniuses to propose “grand visions” for space exploration. The suggested topics include sustainable human presence throughout the solar system and so on.
Proposals are due in Feb. Go get the government’s money.
The party last night went well. We prepared for 16 to 30 people, and about 8 showed up. S’cool. We all had fun, and the house is stocked with booze and candy for the foreseeable future.
Today we drove into town to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art. It was really awesome. A large collection from a single private collector, spanning his entire life. They even had a pair of folding dividers, onto which he had mounted a split-up, large format version of some of his pictures. Pretty awesome stuff. The man was really a master of photography, particularly with bringing out contrasts with light and darkness. Just wonderful.
It did lead me to comment that one can probably have either (a) original Ansel Adams art in one’s house, or (b) children in one’s house, but probably not both if one wants to remain sane.
Thank you, spammers, for yet another thing I really didn’t need to know.
There was a large batch of spam in my inbox when I corrected a teensy problem with my web hosting company, and dislodged TWO THOUSAND messages accumulated there since the 9th of December. I get a lot of spam. Anyway, there was a pattern to the spam addresses. They were all plays on my domain name. “dwazoo” and the like. Among the list: “dwarftoss.com”
Turns out that it’s registered, but the owners are willing to sell.
I’m wondering if there’s a cell phone plan that doesn’t suck.
I’m currently on Verizon. I hate them, but they have the best network, based on my totally unscientific sampling.
I pay around $159/mo for 1400 minutes shared between two phones. That’s the “bottom line on the bill” figure, not the $90/mo they claim such a plan will cost. I’m more than a little horrified that the bottom line price is more than twice what’s on the advertisements … but such is life. \
Are other people paying that much? Is there any company that’s cheaper but still as a meaningful national network?
**Broadway** “Eet’s the most wonderful tiiiiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeer” **/Broadway**
35 degrees, and steadily raining this morning as I made my way to the train for one more round of “hide and go debug the memory interlacing issue”.
I realized on the plane yesterday that I’m definitely the old guy now. The flight was totally full, and I got the last seat (since I hate queuing up like cattle before boarding). My seatmates were a big atheletic guy on the left, and a geeky jewish 18 year old on the right. Big athlete leans in conspiratorially when I got settled, and boomed out in a battlefield voice laced with gin and beer that he and his buddy had smuggled a quart of Bicardi rum onto the flight, so we were all to order cokes in cups for our drinks, and he could “set us up.”
Once upon a time, I would have thought “Hell yeah! Free drinks!” Last night I thought (though I tried to conceal it) “Ah crap, I have work to get done, and I sit in the drunk a-hole section.” I made up some line about a bad experience with booze and an intercontinental flight, begged off, and buried my head in my Economist. The kid on the other side, however, somehow determined that I was the Cool Slightly Older Guy, and wanted to impress me with the stories of how only the ugly girls in his dorm would sleep with him, and he throws up every time he drinks. Or something like that, I might be mixing up the details. It was a lovely flight.
So yeah, I’m that guy now.
To anyone within range of my voice: If I was ever one of those two characters near you, and it bothered you, I’m very sorry. I didn’t realize at the time that not everyone shares that definition of “cool.” Further, if I am currently some other irritating character, drop me a direct, unambiguous note and I’ll work on correcting it … or at least not being that guy when you’re around.
In Palm Beach Gardens, at the Hampton Inn. $169 a night. It feels like such a ripoff. Especially given that I had to use google to find out that there is a restaurant in the Mariott next door. The guy at the desk tried to send me to some “ale house” a mile and a half up the road … but I am wily. I know the ways of google maps. I mean, it’s a nice enough hotel … but when I think about a cart loaded up with $169 worth of groceries … or filling up my planet-killer with gas four times in a row … it doesn’t measure up.
Imagine how happy I would be if I was able to dedicate $169 to getting really high quality olives and cheese delivered in snack-sized portions, exactly when I want some olives and / or cheese over the next month or so!
Okay, that’s it, it’s time for sleeping. I am *not* writing slides for my class tomorrow in this mental state.
Okay, now I know I’m getting old. I actually sorta like the early train. This is the 6:40 train, which is the last one with which I can basically guarantee a spot in the parking lot that’s both closer to the train and $2 rather than $3. It’s populated with hardcore commuters who are quiet and studious, and it’s not very full at all. Based only on the pleasantness of the train ride, I would go with the 6:40am inbound and the 6:50pm outbound. Of course, that’s crazy talk.
The other crazy bit is that to catch this train, I had to set the alarm for 5:30. In yet another sign of my advancing adulthood, that’s not all that bad. I just planned my evening so that I went to bed around 10, and all was well. What have I become?
Last night we drove into Boston after the thundersnow (yes! thundersnow! score!) to see the Tallis Scholars. It was the most amazing concert I’ve been to in years.