Update on Sunny the Bike

Yes, my bike is called Sunny.  Turns out, didn’t even really need many repairs!  Yay!  I took it to this shop to get a repair estimate where this like showed me how to put the basket on properly and how to make the middle fold.  He said actually the wheels didn’t need to be aligned just now and really just recommended getting grippier break pads.  He even topped off the tires for me! I’m going to have to slip him a tip next time I go over there.  The owner even gave me 10% off of a helmet.  So, of course, once all that was done, Sunny and I had to go on a “getting acquainted” ride. :)  Well, my bike is a one speed and Berkeley has some nice little hills…so between that and some pretty busy streets some of that ended up being a getting acquainted walk, lol.  But it was fun, and quite good exercise, I’m sure.  Berkeley has lots of bike lanes and where there are none I think you can ride politely on the sidewalk.  A colleague told me that since Sunny’s a folder I can also take it on the BART any time of day with no problem, so if I ever wanted to go ride around SF or some other nifty spot I can hop on a train and head for the city.  So good times there.

Look What God Did :D

My friend/ former physics classmate is leaving the country to go to grad school after visiting her home country :(.  (We plan to keep in touch :)).  She needed to get rid of some stuff…I had just told the Lord I REALLY wanted a bike.  And I REALLY wanted a musical instrument.  Well among a few other acquisitions, guess what she gave me for a super low price?  Check it out!

My little Japanese Brompton-like folding bike here is a sweet ride :D.  Just needs a couple of repairs and a helmet and I’ll be cruizin around town!   Oh yeah…and look at this:

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!   YESSSSS!!!!!!

See,  now I’m excited.  I already figure I should be able to learn to play some Newsboys in short order… and maybe lil’ Sis and I can rock a duet sometime (Hi Princess!)

He’s Always Good, and this is just icing on the cake, but I just wanted to say: BARUCH HA-SHEM!

no, it’s just called bootleg

I went to the “Physics Idol” singing contest yesterday where the prize was advertised as “a $50 iPod equivalent”…LOL

I wasn’t asked!

When I hear, for example, that “ a New York Times poll found that 60% of people nationwide favor the new [Arizona immigration] law, or support making it even tougher ”, my question becomes, “who is being asked?”  Not me!  I was not polled.  And it seems like there are a lot of people around me who weren’t invited to vote, either.

Being a scientist, I understand that it is virtually impossible to get everyone’s opinion.  That said, when I hear statistics of this nature being quoted by reputable newscasts, I want to know about your scientific method.  You need to write a paper explaining your sample population, how it was selected, and a background analysis of the statistical fluctuations arising from the phrasing of the question.  You should indicate the conditions under which the data was taken and demonstrate that your sample is representative of the population over which you are claiming your results to be valid.

A note on that law:  Listen, I understand the need for border control, but I also understand that there are a lot of people in America who have motives other than national security for targeting people of obviously extra-European backgrounds.  Legislation that carries the possibility of the harassment of citizens and legal immigrants in their homes because they look like they might be from Mexico (or Cuba, or Haiti) is not a good idea.  Don’t forget, “we were all immigrants”.  It’s just a matter of when.

Real Christians Have Joy

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

So, I really did start some posts in March and April...they just never got published.  I'll finish them soon.
The Kindle App for ITouch is great and Amazon has tons of free books.  A book that I just began, and of which I had never before been aware as far as I remember, is Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by Herself by Harriet Jacobs.  Great so far.  Highly recommended.  She was born in Edenton!  This book has reminded me of the importance of knowing the history of the African American people and creative ideas have arisen in my head. I hope to pursue them someday soon.  In the meantime, I suppose I could just blog more often :)

So Excited...

...that the building people finally cleaned up the mold behind the toilet in the bathroom and painted the wall!  Praise Jesus... this calls for pictures :)

An Education in Physics Jokes

An Education in Math Jokes: Finite Simple Group of Order Two

The '80's

Legend of the Pimp Walk

I forgot to mention last time that while I was wearing the post op shoe I think I discovered the origins of the pimp walk.  See, once upon a time, a cool guy got crunched in the foot.  He had stuff to do and places to go, but the best he could manage was a little stiff legged hobble.  One day, fed up with such a style-crimping motion, he found that he could speed things up a bit with an asymmetric swinging gait, favoring the

February Life Update

Happy belated Valentine's Day!

A bit of time has passed since my last post. A few updates are in order.  I was trying to remember what happened this month, and these are the things that came to mind. 

1. The Post-operative shoe.

My toe wasn't broken but apparently I strained a ligament or something and I was wearing this [insert description here] post-operative shoe for two weeks:

This shoe, a foot x-ray and, like, a 4 minute visit from a doctor cost me approximately $40 at the good old Tang Center Urgent Care Center (lesson: don't go on the weekend). 


2. The Friday night Movie

In an effort to relieve stress, and establish good weekend habits, Friday night has become movie night.  Thanks to the new local redbox, the inaugural video was T.P.'s "I Can Do Bad All By Myself".  Hilarious movie, at times sad, at times thought-provoking.  A weak redbox selection and an international tradition nominated the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics as the featured entertainment of the next week, and last night's show was "Gifted Hands" (purchased at a local used video store), based on the autobiography of pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson.  So far all of the selections have been great!  Don't know next week's selection yet...


3. Finally saw Avatar in the theater

I liked it.  It was quite well done.  Beautiful cinematography, CGI, what ever they did.  I have got to got to New Zealand (LOTR, Avatar...just...gorgeous).  I came out of the movie wanting to be a little eco-friendlier and kind of wishing we could really do intergalactic travel (who doesn't?).  The 3D effect was cool too, and a great choice for the movie.  I didn't see it in IMAX after all (I had been under the impression that that was the case and had been talking about it for a little while, so heheh correction), but even in the regular theater it was pretty good.  I was kind of excited to learn online that night that the actors have already signed on for a sequel, so maybe in the new future we'll see what the next chapter of the story holds...


4. UCB, grad school, etc etc

Despite the wintery blasts in the Midwest and on the East Coast, we've had a few almost summery days recently.  There's also been a bit of a fog roll-in too, though, and a couple of mornings the cars looked like they were using their high-beams...School's rolling on along and I'm rolling with it...bought a shredder from the local Goodwill (YESSSS don't hate) so soon the ridicuolous pile of books and papers surrounding my desk will all be but a happy and clean well-organized memory:

XXX

Well I was going to put a picture up here but my memory card isn't showing up right now.  Whoops :)  I'll try to get that worked out soon.  In the meantime, sianara! 

Is it funny?

Okay so I haven't posted in a while and I'm starting to cut it a little close on my "at least once a month" goal...when in fact the point of a blog is to write more often than that anyway... but my siblings have a gift for storytelling that leaves me with a desire to look for the more entertaining side of life. I need someone to help me come up with a funny story about tripping on a crack in the side walk and hoping I didn't break my toe.