biaaaaaaaaaaaaaatch

This is J.Vo, calling me on her commute. (Long drive home from Detroit + free calling to Verizon customers = lots of missed calls from J.Vo.)

press debut

The cutest panda in the world made his press debut this morning...and I wasn't there!! I am SO bummed. I called the PR person at the zoo before Thanksgiving, but I was in a bad mood yesterday (and I wasn't sure which day the press viewing was) and I didn't follow up, so I missed it. Sigh. It sounds like he was being very, very cute.

after-turkey sale

Yep, I'm a good daughter - I was at Giant a couple of days after Thanksgiving, and they were unloading these special mums. Originally $6.99 - now $0.25. Between my mom being amused and my dad taking many pictures (this is his masterpiece), I'd say they got at least a quarter's worth of entertainment out of it.

the godfather

Could someone who has seen The Godfather please explain to me why it is all that? I got it from Netflix because, hey, cultural history, I figure I ought to see it. I was sort of into it for the first hour or so. Assassinations, horses' heads, Marlon Brando - good stuff. But by an hour and a half in, I was getting bored, and by two hours and fifteen minutes in, I was *so* over it. People were getting whacked left and right and not only did I not know who was being killed by whom or why, I also no longer cared.

UPDATE AFTER SEVEN COMMENTS: It turns out no one has actually seen the Godfather. Which makes me wonder how it got to be so overrated in the first place. Is it all some big Coppola conspiracy? Coppospiracy?

firefly

Okay, I've become one of Those People: Firefly is the best TV show EVER. I just finished watching it - all 15 sad little episodes - today, then had to go back and start from the beginning with the commentary tracks. So I have this quote from Joss Whedon on one of the commentaries, which I would like to adopt as my motto:

"I'm a control...not a control freak. A control enthusiast."

mighty leaf tea, of course

This is my mom on Thanksgiving. (Note gravy-colored background.) She's mad because I'm beating her at Scrabble.

L.Tall came over today - it was a super fun time. My parents and I have a leeeettle too much together time, so it's always nice to add someone else to the mix. It was a great meal. Kosher turkeys, it turn out, are super tasty. My mom had a choice of free-range or kosher at Trader Joe's, and she picked free-range. Because they're vegetarian and antibiotic-free and who really cares if they're ritually slaughtered. But then the free-range-turkey truck had an accident, so it was Kosher or nothing on Wednesday. I'm not sure my dad would agree that it was worth all the time he spent with the pliers, pulling out bits of quills. (Kosher turkeys are hand-plucked, and not quite as completely as one might hope.)

L.Tall provided deeelicious tea, some tasty home-made pumpkin pie and - get this - jello/cream cheese/pretzel salad. Yeah. Pink fluff with pretzels. It was good. And we ate it long enough after the pie to call it "dinner."

yet another one

It's Beebeecue from down the hall. (Yes - YAOWWAS who you don't know. But she's real cool!)

bandwagon

Tall L, not to be left out, now has south park characters of her AND her three-year-old. They're pretty cute.

finnish choir

That Finnish choir I was going on and on about last month will be on Performance Today this Friday. So, if you - unlike me - happen to be so lucky as to have a public radio station that still airs Performance Today, you should listen! The host mostly talked to the director of the choir, but he also interviewed my church choir director for a minute or two, so keep an ear out for the American dude. And, of course, you should listen for my highly distinctive clapping in the studio audience. (If you, like me, are PT-free, check out this cool site that tells you when public radio stations around the country stream the shows you want to hear.)

hot off the presses

how could I resist another picture of A.Vo?

contra dancing

Friday night I went contra dancing for the first time in a year. Contra is dorky fun - it's kind of like square dancing, but a little easier and more geometric. And it's danced in big long lines, where couples progress up and down the lines. I really like it, but, like any event that allows physical contact with members of the opposite sex, it attracts its share of mildly skeevy middle-aged men. Most of them are really good dancers, so they're tolerable. But you know what's gross? When you put your left hand on a dude's shoulder and you can feel his back hair poking through his shirt. I mean, really. Ugh.

On the plus side, I finally saw contra boy (I hadn't gone in a year because I'd been avoiding this guy I briefly dated, yes, I have issues, thank you for reading, don't forget to tip your waitress) and it was awkward but fine. And now the first awkward meeting is over with, phew. I was super glad B.Nick was there to protect me, although he needs to develop the part of his social radar that tells him he shouldn't wander off when a skeevy guy is attempting to engage me in conversation.

And on the other plus side, I danced with a *totally* cute tall goofy boy. (Slight minus: he appeared to have come to the dance with his cute tall goofy girlfriend.) His name was Hiram. Who names their kid Hiram? I mean, really. Have you ever met a Hiram under the age of 30? Or 70, for that matter?

iPod

One of the best things about the iPod is all the classical music I have on it. I think most people use the iPod as a way to listen to singles - the shuffle mode (and the Shuffle) certainly lend themselves to that. That was actually one of my concerns about getting one: how weird and wrong would it be to sandwich the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th between Madonna and Will Smith? Some people like that kind of juxtaposition, but I have limits.

But despite those concerns, as we've established, I gave in to the Apple marketing machine and got one. And it turns out to be great for my classical experience. Today at work I've listened to two complete piano concertos - one by Grieg and one by Schumann. A few days ago I listened to all of Orpheus and Euridice and Peer Gynt. (Talk about your juxtapositions - refined 18th century opera followed by wild late-19th century romanticism.)

These are all from CDs that I own. But I almost never fish them off the shelf, especially since my stupid Aiwa stereo stopped working, and I certainly don't bring them to work with me. So I'm finally getting to listen to them, and it is good stuff.

The Schumann just ended, so I'm switching to Einojuhani Rautavaara's sacred choral works. Because a little contemporary Finnish music is just the way to end a Friday afternoon.

j.vo is semivisible here, too

Okay, last A.Vo picture for now. Well, for today, anyway.

on wisconsin or whatever

Yes, of *course* A.Vo is a Packers fan.

intrepid reporter

Yeah, that's not me - it's Kay Ray, shielding herself from the Oregon rains! Ok, so no one who reads this blog regularly actually *knows* Kay Ray, but she's Another One Who Writes About Science and she is way cool.

cutest baby in the world

Lookit! It's A.Vo! Isn't she the cutest?

holy cow

Yep, it's my South Park character. It is kind of freakishly like me, although perhaps not as much as grrbear's is like him. UPDATE: Sophist's is totally cute, too! UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Don't miss g-dog and the .Bro family. MY UPDATE'S UPDATE HAS AN UPDATE: South Park characters are sweeping the nation: see Miss S. and Mister Miss. And J.Po. And J.Po's Gentleman Caller. Wow. Is that everybody yet?

the lion, the witch and the energizer bunny

Here's a quote from a press release that a colleague forwarded to me today:

"This program combines two long-standing holiday traditions: stocking up on batteries and sharing time with family at a classic Christmas movie. The value-added offer will not only ensure that consumers have batteries to fill their toys and gifts but also special gifts to fill their stockings," says Jeff Ziminski, Vice president of Marketing for North America

Yes, Disney and Energizer are joining together to bring you Narnia-themed batteries. BATTERIES. I'm sure it's exactly what C.S. Lewis would have wanted. That said, I'll probably have to buy a set, because they come with souvenir snowglobes. Cute!

three minutes of fame

The fine people of Sacramento just got an earful from me about sleep apnea. I was kind of nervous, but what can ya do. This was the first time the producer called me ahead of time to check that his questions were okay. These radio interviews are fun...I don't know why I'm suddenly getting to do them. Maybe our PR firm really likes to push stories about sleep. (Yeah, I have another story in this week - I'm on fire. It's a short one, though.)

mohammed tablecloth

This guy is a refugee from Sierra Leone, and he makes the most beautiful tablecloths. When he was in high school, he didn't want to take tie-dye, because that stuff is for girls. But his father told him you should always take every opportunity to learn, so he took the tie-dye class, and now he supports a bazillion relatives with his dye skillz. The tablecloths are just beautiful - you can see one of the tie-dye ones in the front left there, and there's also the print ones like the one he's holding. They're about $25-30, if anyone has a need for a tablecloth and matching napkins - I could set you up. They make mighty fine wedding presents.

Molly's mom (who I was visiting) could never remember the guy's last name. When she called to ask him to come over with a backpack full o' tablecloths, she looked him up in her phone, where he's listed as "Mohammed Tablecloth."

niger river sand

This was an exciting afternoon. Our driver learned a new rule: never leave the road, even if it looks totally sketchy. Those sticks and rocks may be the only thing holding the sand in place. That's me in the green, helpfully taking a picture. (The local small boys seemed to have everything under control.)

afrique

My dad also just got around to giving me the pictures he took when we went to Africa last winter. This is the world's largest mud brick building - it's a mosque in Djenné, Mali. Non-muslims aren't allowed in, after some scandalous photo shoot or something happened there a few years ago.

not quite mount tam

My parents got a tandem last weekend, and they've already been out for several rides. Yesterday they talked me into going with them, so I dragged out my bike (which had not seen the light of day in a year and a half) and we loaded the bikes up on the rack and drove to Rock Creek. They close down some of the roads on weekends. Yesterday it was sunny and the 60's, and the road was packed with cyclists, runners, walkers, and even a clump of rollerbladers. I didn't know anyone still rollerbladed. It was a perfect day - we rode from Silver Spring down to the zoo, where we checked out the baby cheetahs. They were all lounging around in the sun, but the baby panda, sadly, isn't on public display yet. The ride back uphill wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be, but my butt hurts today.

camera fate

The next morning my camera died, so you will not be treated to any very, very dark pictures of two scientists looking in a microscope. (They were doing stuff with fluorescence, so the lights had to be off.)

Tonight I actually managed to talk myself into transcribing some more of the hours and hours of interviewing I did in North Carolina. It takes foreeevvvvvvvvver. Good thing it's interesting stuff.

j----- baptist church, I suppose

One night at my hotel I was watching TV, and there was this gospel choir whose robes all said "JBC" on them. Which are "Martin"'s initials. So I thought I should immortalize it in electrons. Bummer that it turns out to be really hard to take pictures of TVs.

girly shoes

Look: scientists' feet.

lab flashbacks

Look: science.

lamest picture ever

They had some pretty sweet toiletries at this hotel. I'm especially happy with the lotion, which I've been carrying in my purse recently. Okay, this isn't actually the lamest picture *ever*. Believe it or not, I leave some out.

target pajamas

This is me in my hotel room. And that's my belly. Hello, belly.

oooh...pretty

It was raining when I left for North Carolina - I thought it looked pretty from the window of the plane, and I was extra-special happy that no one arrested me for taking pictures at an airport.

home away from home

My dad's digital camera died when I took it to North Carolina in September, so I've just now gotten the pictures I took then. This is my desk at work. Or the way it looked in September, anyway.

so. cute.

Our baby panda is cuter than San Diego's baby panda. I know it's true, 'cause Wonkette said so.

overwhelmed

This is one of those weeks where there's just been too much going on. Too much work, too many e-mails, too many social engagements, too many choir rehearsals, too many DVDs and books, too many undealt-with papers on my desk. Gack. Would anyone like to suggest a favorite coping mechanism? Biking up Mount Tam over the weekend is not an option, if you were thinking of suggesting that. It wouldn't be an option even if I weren't 2,800 miles away, unless I suddenly became physically fit, or unless someone else was pedaling and I got to ride behind in one of those kiddie trailers.

kids these days

I tell ya, in my day, bank robbers didn't yap on the cell phone through the entire transaction!

take an aspirin and call me

One of the great things about talking to doctors all the time for work is you can sneak in questions about your own health. Like, yesterday I was talking to an expert on obstructive sleep apnea. And he said you have these little wake-ups all night long, but they're so short, you don't necessarily know they're happening, you just wake up feeling unrested. And a while later I was like, so, is there anything else that can cause that? And he said, well, there's this thing called periodic limb movements, and people who do it don't know they're doing it. And I was like, huh, what causes that? And he said, in a lot of people it's kidney failure or neurological problems, but it also happens with a fair number of people who have nothing apparently wrong, and it may be related to low levels of iron.

Aha! I am obsessed with my anemia. Which appears to have cleared up, thanks to the twin wonders of pharmaceuticals and beef.

Mmmmm...beef.

baby mozart

I know I've linked to this doctor's blog before, but she's funny, so I'm doing it again. This is especially for you, Miss Shirley - she checks out one of those Baby Einstein videos for her kid and concludes it's the work of Satan.

more ipod video

Of course, in addition to the free video content, there's plenty you can buy off iTunes. I've bought a dozen or so music videos.

Today we consider: the Kanye West video Gold Digger. The song is pleasantly funky, the words are funny, Jamie Foxx's part sounds like one of those vintage field recordings, and the video, it turns out, is pretty original. Kanye West is so cool, he doesn't actually have to face the camera to rap - he does almost the whole thing with his back toward us, although he does look partway over his shoulder sometimes. The women in the video pose like pinup girls on the covers of fake girly magazines. Relatively class girly mags. The solid-color backgrounds look great on the little iPod screen.

Here's the problem. In the radio version, it's totally obvious that they drop out the n-word, because it rhymes with "gold digger." And that's fine, because it's radio, and you can't say anything on the radio.

But iTunes isn't the radio. It's a music store. The FCC doesn't care. And yet Apple apparently feels the need to protect me from bad words.

If you listen to the song closely, you realize that so many words are missing, it's hard to follow the lyrics. Now, it could be argued that I'm not missing that much when I can't figure out the missing word in the sentence "My best friend said she used to ___ with Usher." (Actually, I have a good guess.) But dropping words out messes up the rhythm, too, not just the meaning. And, dang it, I'm an adult, and I paid my two bucks. I can handle some naughty words.

once was enough

Last night I went to drag bingo for Beaker's birthday. It was...an experience. It was hosted by three drag queens. There were times when you were really hoping *not* to win. For instance, I was particularly happy not to get bingo when we were playing for a porn video. One of the hosts stripped and gave lap dances (you had to pay her off to get her away) and I was very glad that I was (a) female and (b) not sitting at the end of the table. Especially (a).

bench

I just interviewed a woman who's in town promoting her book, and right before she came over to the office, I decided we should do it outdoors. Because it's 70 frickin' degrees outside. I think she thought I was kind of crazy when I suggested it. And I felt bad when I realized I was making her walk down a totally uneven brick sidewalk in spiky-heeled boots. Oops. She handled it well, but I would've felt super guilty if it had rained, because she couldn't have run back to the office. And she was little, but I still don't think I could have carried her.

operation name-drop

I am posting solely for the purpose of dropping the name of another embassy, because for the second time this fall I have been to an Embassy Event: this one at the Austrian embassy. Yes, there was strudel. There was also a talk by an Austrian mathematician. Perhaps most astoundingly, I followed almost everything he said, even when he took a side trip from his discussion of his fun math museum thing to talk about his research. Okay, he lost me in the last sentence or two of his little chalkboard digression, but up til then, I was on it.

I'm not sure I can explain his research, but it has something to do with a number he calls psi (Ψ), which is 0.z1,z2,z3,z4,z5,z6, etc. where each zn (I don't know how to do subscripts, that says z sub n) is 9 if every digit from the nth decimal place of pi to the 2nth decimal place of pi is 7, and zero otherwise. So, Ψ is 0.0000000000000000000.... But you can't prove it's zero. Or something. He had a whole book about it, but for $44, I don't actually care. And I doubt I'd understand it if I read it.

Anyway, math, whatever, the food was really good.

reading pleasure, especially if you enjoy hypochondria

I have a new story out - go to my publication's website, click on "Health," and it's the second story in the big brown box. Enjoy!

ph...one?

I talked to grrrbear on the phone tonight. Imagine that - a real, live phone conversation with one of you bloggy people! Weird, isn't it? Sort of like when Spice, J.Bro, and I shared tasty, wood-fired pizza a few months ago. I think the last time I talked to the Bearster, it was over a year ago, when he was in the West for A.Jay's wedding and needed J.Po's phone number.

I complained about my sinus infection (I know, big departure from the usual for me) and Mr. Bear pointed out, helpfully, that I've had it since 1996.

But I'll forgive him for his heart-rending insights into my character and sinuses, because he's going to try to score me a tool-themed t-shirt from his tool expo. Yknow, the tool expo, where all the tools of the man get together and hit on the girls who man the booths. Or "girl" the booths, perhaps.

end of suspense

I went for Porgy & Bess outdoors. It was pretty excellent.

la la la

I had a solo in church this morning - and I rocked it! Yay! I haven't sung a solo in yeeeears - I'd turned them down, because I figured the nerves just weren't worth it, but I thought I'd give this one a try. I think it's easier to sing a solo like this one, with the choir, instead of totally on my own. Partly because there's no way to go out of tune and partly because it's more fun to play off other parts. My last note was a two-measure-long high F. It was high. It was loud. It was way cool.

And, hey, by about halfway through the sermon, I managed to stop shaking.

porn to go

Here's something I have not downloaded for my iPod. And, thankfully, neither has anyone I've sat next to on the bus or the metro. Well, I actually haven't seen anyone else watching an iPod - it's pretty much all me. Or it could be that I'm just too busy watching to notice anyone else.

I felt kind of guilty the other night on the way home, when I was laughing at the second episode of the cartoon podcast from Channel Frederator while the dude next to me was trying to read Into Thin Air. Come to think of it, I feel less guilty giggling next to someone reading something totally gripping than next to someone who's trying to decipher, say, the tax code. *That* dude would need all the help he could get.

Channel Frederator is by the people who came up with the Powerpuff Girls. Anyone can submit their animated shorts, and you don't have to have an iPod to watch the episodes. I recommend the first short from Episode 2. It's about a bunch of vikings who play in a marching band.

e-mail faux pas

Oh, oh, oh, I hate Outlook. It sends messages immediately without queueing them, so if you accidentally hit "send" - as I just did - you can't catch the message before it goes out. So I just sent a very rough first draft of a message to a guy who I have worked with before and like just fine, but don't know especially well and haven't talked to in several years. In this message, I am asking his institution to lay out a decent amount of money for an event I'm planning. In said rough draft, I had addressed him as "Hey Dude" and had, in fact, used the term "lay out" in reference to money. The plan, you see, was to rewrite this before sending it.

Please, never allow me near a computer again.

I sent a hasty "oops - I'm embarrassed" message, which I suppose is the best I could do, but boy - I'm an idiot. At least I didn't address him as "hey, hot stuff."

funny words

This article will surprise none of us who are familiar with the icky spam bloggers, but I'm linking to it because it has some hilarious made-up words. Like "spamalanche."

non più mesta

Oh my gosh I am so excited: my favorite favorite production of my favorite opera of all time is about to come out on DVD! It's already out in Europe! The opera is Rossini's Cenerentola - Cinderella, but with bracelets instead of glass slippers. The public TV station where I lived when I was little showed it once, in the early 80s; my parents taped it on our new VCR and I wore out the tape. Well, you can still watch it, but it's reeeeally blurry. The production starred Frederica von Stade, and it's just lovely...it was designed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for the San Francisco Opera in the 1960s, then they made a more movie-like version at La Scala in Milan.

This was the production that hooked me on opera - I don't know what it would be like to see it for the first time now, but as a five-year-old, I was captivated. It shaped my taste - Frederica von Stade is my faaavorite singer, and this is my faaaaavorite opera, and I looooove Rossini...you get the idea. It's not a particular major Rossini opera. It doesn't get performed as often as, say, the Barber of Seville. But damn, I love it.

Oh yay. I'm so happy. Every few months I wander through the Amazons looking for it on DVD, but usually I just turn up the version with Cecilia Bartoli at Houston, which is fine, but all wrong. Amazon.de used to have the proper version on video, but that's no good. But then last night I went looking again, and there it was! only in German Amazon, but I googled around and found out it's supposed to come out in January in the U.S. I'm not sure I can wait, though - Martin is going to Prague in a few weeks, and I may have to send her with a shopping list.

plan my weekend

Dudes, I am stuck. I have two conflicting events Sunday afternoon. So you get to help me decide.

Option 1, 2 p.m.: The Washington National Opera is setting up a giant screen on the Mall and showing the matinee of Porgy and Bess, live. In November, yes, but it's supposed to get into the 70s on Sunday. Porgy and Bess is getting faaaaabulous reviews - most of the shows are sold out.

Option 2, 3 p.m.: The Washington Chorus is doing Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Carmina Burana. Carmina Burana's always good fun, although I might have trouble keeping myself from singing along. And people keep raving to me about the Stravinsky, including the members of my church choir who are in the chorus.

So, either way it's 20th century music...but outdoors or indoors? Opera or chorus? Free or less free? What a friend wants to go see or what my mom wants to go see?

airfares

Travelocity has super-cheap fares to Norway right after Christmas. Since it's stupid Travelocity, which refuses to show you prices with taxes and fees, I don't know what the fares are, but it's probably about $350 round trip to Trondheim. I'm kind of tempted to go see my friends and all their offspring (everyone I know there is reproducing like crazy). But Norway in winter really kind of sucks. It's dark all the time, and everyone's all mopey. So I dunno. I'm also not sure I can swing the vacation time.

pear? fire truck?

Yesterday I read in Us Weekly - I may write about science, but I'll read anything - that Gwyneth Paltrow is pregnant again. Given that their daughter is named Apple, what do you think they'll come up with for kid #2?

gack

I just got back one of those really depressing edits - it went, like, the first four grafs of your story are really good, then the next three will work if you change the context a bit, then let's condense the last 10 grafs into one and change the entire focus of the second half. Unfortunately, I spent all my energy reporting my version of the second half. Gack. Time for some major starting over.