pieces

Tonight I joined a bunch of the astronomy grad students at Jorge Cham’s talk. He is the creator of PhD Comics, a strip that made my laugh (and cry) throughout my grad school career. the talk was even funnier than I had expected. He has a great presentation style.

The astronomy grad students all in the front row?

Jorge Cham:

I love the turtle pond on UT’s campus. I don’t normally have a camera with me when I pass by it, but today I was planning to go Jorge Cham’s talk, so I happened to have it. Several turtles jumped off the stumps and came swimming over when they heard the camera click; maybe some photographers feed them?

Here is a site that will suck up all of your free time:

http://www.20q.net

One warning: the sports theme isn’t great.  Despite it’s insistence, the Cowboys were popular in the 90’s!  Since the AI adjusts its opinions based on the responses of those who play, the basic animal/vegetable/mineral/other is the most accurate.

The AI is sometimes creepy in the way it sneaks up on an answer.
Exhibit A (from Rebecca):

1. It is classified as Other.
2. Does it live above ground? Yes.
3. Can you control it? Yes.
4. Does it open? No.
5. Is it human powered? No.
6. Is it an omnivore? Irrelevant.
7. Is it annoying? No.
8. Does it make noise? No.
9. Is it used for entertainment? Sometimes.
10. Is it worth a lot of money? No.
11. Can you find it in a church? No.
12. Is it electronic? Yes.
13. Is it a metal? No.
14. Does it usually have four corners? No.
15. Is it used with a computer? No.
16. Is it made of plastic? No.
17. I am guessing that it is a lava lamp? Right.

Weird.

On April 8, 2024, there will be a total solar eclipse in Austin, TX.

Cat Osterman is an incredible pitcher. She tends to overshadow the other amazing players on the UT softball team.

Last night, we went to the Georgia Tech doubleheader. Meagan Denny pitched the first 3 innings of the first game and all seven innings of the second, with Cat stepping in for the four innings in between. We were there with a girl who used to be a softball pitcher, and she was blown away by Meagan’s speed and was really enthralled watching her. She said she’d never seen anyone throw a ball that fast, and wasn’t surprised when one of their hitters almost hit it out of the park on a half swing.

It’s nice to get that perspective sometimes. A 1.28 ERA is pretty incredible, and I knew she was good, but with Cat around everyone can tend to seem a little ordinary.

Way to go Horns!

I’ve started a workout regimen. Last week, a group of us from work (as well as Jack, although he’s doing it on his own) started a 10 week run/walk program designed to bring us up to running thirty minutes without stopping. Considering that my usual way to start a running program is to run way too far and then be too sore to do anything for a couple of days and give up, this is promising, if a little frustrating, considering how in-shape I used to be.

So I’m running three days a week. And then I joined a soccer team last week. We’ve had a couple of practices and now have weekly games starting next week. It’s indoor, 5-a-side including a goalkeeper, at the local Y. Lots of fun.

And now, I just found out that there is a capoeira group that meets literally a block away from my office (Capoeira da Rua). I’m a little frustrated that I just now found them, but I’m also really really excited. I’ve shown the girls at work a couple of videos, and I think I may have addicted one of them. But anyway, I am going tomorrow, so I won’t be able to move on Friday.

of marriage. Yay!

In answer to the question I’ve been getting, if I were going to stop watching my favorite sports team because of a management decision I disagreed with, I would have done so several years ago when they cut the greatest running back of all time after previously telling him that they would keep him until he retired. Loyalty. What a concept.

But this new guy? He’s just not worth the fuss.