Why am I having trouble finding chocolate I think is Really Good?

They have windows (and doors) here that can open at lots of different angles.  Ingenious, totally useful, and really cool.  For example, if I want just a little fresh air in my apartment, I can open it with the hinge at the bottom so there it is only open at the top.  Apparently ( Read more... )

I now have a cell phone.  Yay.  Incoming calls and texts are free.  More yay ( Read more... )

It's snowing here.  Someone across the street is pulling two kids along the sidewalk on a sled.

All of the U-bahn (subway) stations have (working!) escalators, but the doors on the trains must be opened manually; the fancier newer trains have an electronic sensor you just palm but the older ones have an actual handle you have to pull.  Extra-fun if ( Read more... )

I leave for Germany in two weeks. I'm giving a talk less than 30 about 24 hours after landing and meeting with tons of people I'd, you know, like to impress. Or at least not fall asleep in front of. So, dear livejournal friends, how should I plan on kicking jet lag in the ass quickly and efficiently? If relevant, my flight lands at around 8am ( Read more... )

On a similar note, I'm headed to Boston next week. ( there will be BRUNCH )

Honolulu!

Any suggestions for how to most effectively complain to American Airlines about the lack of food on the flight over here?  I'm mostly annoyed that I didn't know ... if I had been made aware of the lack of meals, I would have bought a sandwich in the airport and been fine.

My cold is getting better, though now I've developed a cough as well

I leave early tomorrow morning for Honolulu for the AAS meeting.  It's going to be great, even if it's not as big as the winter meeting.  Oliver has been here the last few days and we've learned that visits are more fun when one (or both) of us is not feeling sick (in this case, I was the culprit).

The sad part about a post like this is that now a few of my good "this one time...." stories will already be familiar to you.

Ah well.

I'm tired. Sunday night already.  Just finished reading Archangel.  I've been having trouble focussing on real work (apparently this is because Science is Hard), but I updated my webpage today anyhow ... and wrote a related blog post!

This afternoon I used the department Windows box to upload some photos and try my hand at making panoramas using ( Read more... )

blog post I'm too lazy to copy-paste ...