Category Archives: News

News

Serious Waste of Time

November 29, 2008 Mike

There’s a slightly obsessive part of my nature that sites like Sporcle bring out. After a month of memorization, I finally managed to name all 265 popes. It’s not that difficult if your know your roman numerals, some history and smattering of latin. The alternative quiz, which has them alphabetically and without having to use the numerals, helps a lot. I would take both quizzes simultaneously to jog my memory.

News

Sneezola

November 26, 2008 Mike

There are a number of things I will miss about Texas: the cheap real estate; the warm spring; the way random strangers will, on little urging, tell you their life story.

One of the things I will not miss is cedar pollen. Good Lord. I feel like I’ve been over by a truck full of Obama supporters. My face feels like I was punched in the nose by the blob. I’m lying on the floor of my daughter’s room next to air purifier, hoping I can breath in a few hours. I don’t dare drive to Austin today — I might run off the road just to end the suffering.

Every place has its pollen. I used to spend every fall in Minnesota sneezing my brains out. But this is the worst I’ve encountered.

News

Incoming Links

November 22, 2008 Mike

It’s always flattering/scary when other people link to me. Today, I got a nice link from my friend Amanda, who runs a cool astronomy blog and is a skilled volleyball player. Another inbound link comes from Nicole, a graduate student from my old UVa stomping grounds who recently counter-protested the Westboro Church. Counting myself, that’s at least three readers.

News

Crap

November 13, 2008 Mike

Fire Joe Morgan is calling it quits.

Why is it that I discover things right before they fall apart?

News

Huxley Siegel (1997?-2008)

October 20, 2008 Mike 1 Comment

The whole reason I moved out of a nice Shamrock apartment into a cookie-cutter U-Heights place was to have a cat. But before I could start looking around, one of the professors asked me if I was looking for one. A stray tabby had taken over his deck. I drove out there with two friends to meet him. He was a big linebacker of a cat, with a broken tooth and a mangled ear from fighting. But he ws the most beautiful cat I’d seen. He was extremely friendly. He immediately nuzzled up to me. A couple of weeks later, he moved in.

At first, he hid under the bed. I brought him out only to have him pee on me. He wouldn’t even eat until I cooked salmon one night and he poked his head out enough to gobble some down. For a while, he would only stay in boxes or under furniture, occasionally coming out to pee on things. He had (and never really lost) a fear of bathrooms. But one night he came out and we lay next to each other and I petted him. A few months later, he was my best friend at a time when my world was in motion. I’d broken up with a girlfriend, my parents had divorced and moved out of the house I grew up in. But he was there for me.

For the next few years, it was just me and him. I would come home late at night and see him sitting on the top of the couch. He would get up, stretch and come to the door for me. When people came over, he would come out, nuzzle and roll over to have his belly rubbed.

When I got a second cat, he came over and started bathing her. He took care of her for me. The first night, she woke up and meowed in fear. He bathed her until she went to sleep. Whenever stray cats would be outside, he would meow at them in a friendly way. He was never territorial.

For ten years, he was the most loyal most friendly sweetest cat you could imagine, playing all the time and talking in chirps and purrs. As time went on and my life filled with a family, we weren’t as close. But we would still have our moments when he would lie in bed with me and just purr.

A couple of months ago, he started vomiting on a regular basis. I took him to the vet and they did some bloodwork that showed little. A week and a half ago he stopped eating. The vet wanted more tests, but I was determine just to get him to eat, not to subject him to all sorts of poking and prodding. Saturday night, he stopped even eating the food I would give him. And this morning, he crawled into my room, meowed a few times in agony and then died in my arms. I took him to the ER and they said the could resuscitate him, but for little purpose. He was gone.

He’s wrapped up in the closet right now. I keep checking on him to make sure he’s really gone. I keep expecting him to start that deep sleeping breath that was almost like a purr. I keep expecting him to come out and bite my ankles for food.

Eleven years isn’t a long time for cat. I’d hoped to have another five years. But I think he wanted to go. Whatever was ailing him, all the X-rays and ultrasounds in the world would only prolong it. He’d want to go this way. On his feet. With me.

Sorry if this post rambles. I haven’t slept all night. Something told me to stay up because this was the end. Later, I’ll wrap him up and bury him under his favorite tree with his favorite toy. I don’t know if there is any such things as a spirit. But if there is, he’s still with me. Always.

Pleasant dreams, big guy.

PS – I can’t figure out how to put pictures on this blog. I’ve put a picture of him up at Right-Thinking.

'Culture', News

Garage Sale

October 5, 2008 Mike

Sue and I are in the initial stage of moving to Pennsylvania. The first stage is the ritual shedding of possessions. It’s astonishing how much useless crap you can accrete. So after the initial run to Good Will and the filling of several garbage cans, we had a garage sale. This was the first one I’d participated in since the mid-80’s.

I hadn’t realized that the $5 bill was changed I use cards for everything and rarely work on a cash basis. Having people hand me unfamiliar bills was a bit jarring.

The two people you meet at garbage sales: the guy who touches everything and asks lots of questions and buys nothing; the guy who rolls up and, without a word, casually buys something you thought would never sell.

A tip: schedule your garage sale for the time when (a) one neighbor has been advertising one for several days; (b) your other neighbor has suddenly decided he needs to sell his furniture and puts it out in front of your garage, drawing buyers.

I’m one of the worst people when it comes to sentimentalizing inanimate objects. I constantly pick up, say, a cassette tape I haven’t listened to in 15 years and don’t want to throw it out because I listened to it during that wild night in Boston. I have to force myself to toss/sell things.

Having a cute baby around helps sell stuff. If you don’t have one, see about renting.

News

Signs You Are A Dad, Part I

July 29, 2008 Mike

How pathetic is it that I can correctly identify more sesame street characters (16/25) than Will Farrell movies (9). About as pathetic as realizing I know all the songs on Sesame Street but couldn’t identify a top 40 song if my life depended on it.

News

Mac Attack

July 3, 2008 Mike

Well, money comes and money goes. The day I got two months worth of grant funding, my computer broke. It works, but with the Airport dead, the casing battered, the battery dead, the power cord bent, I just decided to invest my newfound fortune into a Macbook Pro. It came yesterday — I saved about $500 by getting the 2.4 Ghz model off Amazon rather than the 2.5 Ghz model from Apple.

Of course, it was a while before I could enjoy the thing. Before even typing my first letter, I had to:

Set up an initial account on OS X 10.4.

Transfer over the wife’s stuff, which Mac make ridiculously easy with their migrate utility.

Log in as her and transfer my stuff, because it required over-writing my account. I usually, when getting a new computer, prefer to transfer stuff piecemeal. I’m mildly obssessed with computer clutter and hate to transfer over the organic mess of files. I prefer to pick applications, files, folders and leave everything else to be deleted. But Mac’s migration function — plus the intimidation factor of moving 33 GB worth of music and family photos — nixed my little neurotic quirk.

Of course, then I needed to download all the 10.4 updates, which required several reboots.

Then I upgraded the powerbook to 10.5.

Then it was time to download and install all the 10.5 upgrades.

Finally, I needed to reinstall iWork and some of my professional applications, which require licensing, etc.

All of this was interspersed with the wife poking her head in the door every half hour and starting the following conservation.

Sue: So how do you like it?

Me: I’ll let you know when I’m done updating it.

Sue: Still?

I eventually went out into the living room to watch John Adams with her while the Mac churned away.

I finally finished everything after about six hours. And after one day, I’ll just say that it’s sweet. The installed iSight rocks. None of my applications stall or die. I haven’t seen the spinning beach ball of death yet. I’m even enjoying Spaces and Front Row. And it’s nice at work, since it’s a 17″ model and I no longer have to hunch over it.

News

Quiet Down Under

June 16, 2008 Mike

News

Unexplained Shellfish

June 16, 2008 Mike

Mmmmmmmmm. Moreton Bay Bugs.

News

Whistling Dixie

May 27, 2008 Mike

Poor Abby:

Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic “Harlem Nocturne” and composed memorable themes for “The Andy Griffith Show,” “I Spy,” “The Mod Squad” and other TV shows, died Monday. He was 88.

“The music just flowed from him,” wife Laura said of composer Earle Hagen.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for “The Andy Griffith Show,” died at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

When Abby was about a day old, I was holding her in the hospital room. The Braves were in a rain delay and they were showing the Andy Griffith Show. When the theme song came on, I whistled along with it. Abby’s eyes went wide open and she looked around for the sound. To this day, if I whistle the tune, she gets a great big grin on her face. The other day, the played it on The Simpsons and she started looking around for me.

News

The N Word

May 22, 2008 Mike

At long and blessed last.

I love my powerbook. For a scientist, having a computer that can blog, browse, play movies/music and run unix scripts is a dream come true. But after five years it is increasingly becoming a pain in the ass. I’ve replaced the power cord and battery God knows how many times. The memory is starting to creak under the increasing load of OS X. I can’t afford to replace it as my grants are dead. (Right now, I’m testing out a macbook for my in-laws. Sweeeet. I hate being poor.)

For the last few months, my keyboard has become increasingly erratic. In fact, almost all of the n’s you’ve read in my posts — here, at Moorewatch or at Right-Thinking — have been cut-and-pasted since that key has been dead since March. I finally got a replacement part, replaced the keyboard and I’m happily typing on a working board. Bliss. The only problem is that I’ve become used to the pasting. It’s hard to write “nincompoops” without spelling it “control-v-i-control-v-c-etc.”

Ugh.

Incidentally, don’t ever look under a keyboard. I mean ever. I’ve seen bone tumors cut out. I’ve seen skin grafts made. I’ve removed a toilet drainpipe. I have a one-year old baby. I’ve seen my share of gross stuff. But good God Almighty is keyboard fluff disgusting. We type in that stuff.

News

Weeds

May 6, 2008 Mike

Between Sue taking care of Abby, a wet summer and my lack of interest, our lawn wasn’t too different from this last year. There is no force on Earth more powerful than Texas weeds. I had weeds that were taller than me.

Also with more certain employment.

News

So Much For All That

May 6, 2008 Mike

Housing crunch? Collapsing real estate market? My home appraisal for tax purposes just went up an even 10%. Of course, that was the first rise since I bought it three years ago.

Mike's Meandering Mind

Category Archives: News

Serious Waste of Time

Sneezola

Incoming Links

Crap

Huxley Siegel (1997?-2008)

Garage Sale

Signs You Are A Dad, Part I

Mac Attack

Quiet Down Under

Unexplained Shellfish

Whistling Dixie

The N Word

Weeds

So Much For All That

Astronomy, Sports, Mathematical Malpractice, Whatever Else Pops Into My Head

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Astronomy, Sports, Mathematical Malpractice, Whatever Else Pops Into My Head