And now here is my very first draft of Journey to Dunheasa. This was pretty much inspired by a lot of stuff that's happened in the last few years, including my own research experience, (mis)adventures, and most of all, the fascinating cast of characters I've met over the years.
Feel free to either e-mail or leave comments, I can always use a bit of input!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Orthogonal Thought-Chains
Thought #1 is another "Do Not Attempt At Home"
Basically I got really stressed yesterday and decided to make some comfort food in the form of some Indian-style curry. I had 2 bottles of curry sauce from Trader Joe's and tons of frozen meat and veggies. Being hungry, tired, and aching from jogging about 3 miles on a treadmill, I decided that the best way to make something yummy was to boil the chicken strips first and then add the sauce and then the veggies. Only problem was I was really impatient and didn't wait for the chicken to thaw out properly so I could separate the pieces. So I have this huge chunk of chicken that's taking forever to cook, so I'm thinking "I'll add more water and by the time I drive the water out, it'll be thoroughly cooked". Not quite, especially since when I tasted the result, it was kinda bland so I added some cayenne pepper to the mix. About an hour and a half (and about half a pound of salad) later, I had curry. Now keep in mind, I added A LOT of cayenne pepper to this mixture, so it was hot. But it's still good, just that I need to have rice and a lot of water (or other appropriate drink) with it. And that reminds me of a saying I once heard in my lab: Spicy food is hot twice, going in and coming out...
Thought #2 is a more introspective one...
One thing I'm learning these days is that there are some things that just won't go away... especially the part of me known as the Ranger. Now that I've gotten hooked on archery, martial arts, and all things that involve making myself physically tougher, it's getting pretty darned hard to concentrate. Even with me doing the last bits of Journey to Dunheasa and getting a lot of the Ranger out of my system, there's that bit that just won't let go. Speaking of Dunheasa, it might be a bit longer than I thought before I post that one. It's really frustrating when I'm trying to read up on latent heat models or when I'm trying to do intelligent models based on both vegetation indices and micro-met data and I just feel the outdoors calling out to me. What have I done to myself by rediscovering my old strength by picking up the bow again and learning tae kwon do?!
Thought #3 is are pet peeves I've got that have been making me swear excessively...
1) Applying excessive cosmetics in the locker room or anywhere (semi)public. Hey, as much as people like to think otherwise, gas molecules DO travel and when there's a lot of perfumes, lotions, etc being applied, some of us start having trouble breathing! And how the hell could someone pay so much attention to their appearance, especially as a student?!
2) Skimpy clothing in/near a chemistry or machining lab. Can we say, safety hazards?
3) Gym classes getting pre-empted by non-essential stuff like various business fairs on campus. Enough said. Can't they find somewhere else to go and NOT interfere with our few opportunities to actually try to keep ourselves healthy?!
Basically I got really stressed yesterday and decided to make some comfort food in the form of some Indian-style curry. I had 2 bottles of curry sauce from Trader Joe's and tons of frozen meat and veggies. Being hungry, tired, and aching from jogging about 3 miles on a treadmill, I decided that the best way to make something yummy was to boil the chicken strips first and then add the sauce and then the veggies. Only problem was I was really impatient and didn't wait for the chicken to thaw out properly so I could separate the pieces. So I have this huge chunk of chicken that's taking forever to cook, so I'm thinking "I'll add more water and by the time I drive the water out, it'll be thoroughly cooked". Not quite, especially since when I tasted the result, it was kinda bland so I added some cayenne pepper to the mix. About an hour and a half (and about half a pound of salad) later, I had curry. Now keep in mind, I added A LOT of cayenne pepper to this mixture, so it was hot. But it's still good, just that I need to have rice and a lot of water (or other appropriate drink) with it. And that reminds me of a saying I once heard in my lab: Spicy food is hot twice, going in and coming out...
Thought #2 is a more introspective one...
One thing I'm learning these days is that there are some things that just won't go away... especially the part of me known as the Ranger. Now that I've gotten hooked on archery, martial arts, and all things that involve making myself physically tougher, it's getting pretty darned hard to concentrate. Even with me doing the last bits of Journey to Dunheasa and getting a lot of the Ranger out of my system, there's that bit that just won't let go. Speaking of Dunheasa, it might be a bit longer than I thought before I post that one. It's really frustrating when I'm trying to read up on latent heat models or when I'm trying to do intelligent models based on both vegetation indices and micro-met data and I just feel the outdoors calling out to me. What have I done to myself by rediscovering my old strength by picking up the bow again and learning tae kwon do?!
Thought #3 is are pet peeves I've got that have been making me swear excessively...
1) Applying excessive cosmetics in the locker room or anywhere (semi)public. Hey, as much as people like to think otherwise, gas molecules DO travel and when there's a lot of perfumes, lotions, etc being applied, some of us start having trouble breathing! And how the hell could someone pay so much attention to their appearance, especially as a student?!
2) Skimpy clothing in/near a chemistry or machining lab. Can we say, safety hazards?
3) Gym classes getting pre-empted by non-essential stuff like various business fairs on campus. Enough said. Can't they find somewhere else to go and NOT interfere with our few opportunities to actually try to keep ourselves healthy?!
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Creativity = F(stress, deadlines)
For some really weird reason, the urge for me to write non-technical stuff is strongest when I'm under serious deadlines and when I really need to work on more important stuff like my research. So I've been having trouble concentrating on my thesis and instead I keep visualizing acts of derring-do and brave archers in the wilderness. Not good when I need to finish and defend soon! Maybe I should start modelling my random thoughts instead of evapotranspiration... although for some reason, I don't think that'll quite cut it for my thesis (aka my ticket to freedom from CSULA)
And got a few words of wisdom...
-- Elbows are great until they don't want to turn outwards while doing archery Olympic-style with my non-dominant hand (standing straight with a recurve and holding the bow straight... ouch!).
-- Shooting at very short-distances on a target with lots of hard spots is really scary
-- It's a lot of fun cranking up music in the lab late at night when there's nobody else around, but when there's a class very close by and the walls are paper-thin, someone will be pissed. For some reason, people don't seem to quite appreciate Etno (Romanian/Moldovan folk music) or bagpipes very much...
And got a few words of wisdom...
-- Elbows are great until they don't want to turn outwards while doing archery Olympic-style with my non-dominant hand (standing straight with a recurve and holding the bow straight... ouch!).
-- Shooting at very short-distances on a target with lots of hard spots is really scary
-- It's a lot of fun cranking up music in the lab late at night when there's nobody else around, but when there's a class very close by and the walls are paper-thin, someone will be pissed. For some reason, people don't seem to quite appreciate Etno (Romanian/Moldovan folk music) or bagpipes very much...
Friday, April 07, 2006
SpecNet and Random Brain Fart
I recently found out that the paper I had accepted into the SpecNet special issue of Remote Sensing of Environment is finally getting published after things moving slower than Cal State LA bureaucracy. I'm waiting eagerly for the proofs to show up so I can see what my paper will look like in all its glory... and I'm even more eager for when the publication actually comes out with all of the papers that have been accepted! I can't wait to see what other efforts have gone into SpecNet.
And then there's also hope for Project Argonium (which I've temporarily removed from my webpage until I can find a more "permanent" home for the musical side of Project Argonium) moving somewhere besides in circles. So for the last several weeks I've been writing bits and pieces as time and stress levels allow me. I've tentatively titled this current work Journey to Dunheasa. I won't say much more about it just yet just to keep my readers in suspense. I might also write another story about Killer Parakeet -- it's been far too long since my last Killer Parakeet story! Stay tuned for more...
And then there's also hope for Project Argonium (which I've temporarily removed from my webpage until I can find a more "permanent" home for the musical side of Project Argonium) moving somewhere besides in circles. So for the last several weeks I've been writing bits and pieces as time and stress levels allow me. I've tentatively titled this current work Journey to Dunheasa. I won't say much more about it just yet just to keep my readers in suspense. I might also write another story about Killer Parakeet -- it's been far too long since my last Killer Parakeet story! Stay tuned for more...
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