brain on flu

I just finished reading 'Twilight', the mega-best seller that was recently made into a movie (which I have not seen), since I heard (ahem) that the movie was good, and I figured I might as well read the book since it's always better. I hadn't counted on the fact that it would take longer to read the book than it would have taken to watch the movie, and that those would be hours of my life that I'll never get back. The plot turned out to be almost unreadably trite (girl hates boy, girl loves boy, boy saves girl from someone who wants to eat her), with characters I couldn't care about. Edward is a perfect high school god who natters on about how dangerous he is, and Bella ... smells good? Look, I'm no literary snob, I can enjoy almost anything, I loved the Harry Potter series, but Twilight was a real challenge even for my flu-dazed brain. The vampires weren't remotely scary, even the ones that were supposed to be scary, and I speak as one who is easily scared. There was no creepiness. It was like reading Sweet Valley High, except that the cool dude was technically dead. I just don't understand how this book made it to the top of the NYT bestseller list.

Anyway. Now, for a really good vampire novel, may I suggest Fevre Dream (GRR Martin), or Sunshine (Robin McKinley).

from cough syrup to turkey

This Thanksgiving, despite the best-laid plans, I caught the flu and wound up flat on the couch for about three days. My diet consisted basically of this:


so we canceled all of our plans to visit friends and relatives. However, Mike rose to the challenge and managed to cook an excellent meal:



(Yes, we did eat the pumpkin pie first.) He basted the turkey fanatically and it came out amazingly well.

Meanwhile, I mustered just enough energy to read comic books and watch DVDs. :)

Spain, again?

It seems like a long time since I've updated this blog. In fact, one might suppose that I've been in Spain this whole time, considering that now I'm posting fresh pictures from Mallorca. (Mike and I went to a small conference there - probably <100 attendees.) The hotel was beautiful, with a private beach and 3 squares a day (I should say 'rounds' given the number of calories I consumed).






The hotel sort of staggered down the cliffside, so about 10 stories up from the beach was a rooftop accessible from one flight of stairs off the road.








We explored a bit of the town (Illetes),








but came to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with being pampered in the hotel. After all, our room had a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.














not to mention the hotel's 18-hole miniature golf course. Which we did play through completely.















We also went to Munich, but I don't have many pictures from there (it was raining), and all I remember is the beer. Oh, and the biophysicists.

Okay, time to leave work and make food for hubby wubby (his last class today ends at 9:30pm). This weekend I'm moving in with h.w. . Wish me luck!

P.S. Anyone going to be in the NYC/Philadelphia area for Thanksgiving?

Spain, now in pixel vision!

We landed in Barcelona and traveled two hours to Sant Feliu on Costa Brava the next day for the conference. Here is a typical view of Sant Feliu's 'downtown':



Sometimes I needed to be reminded of where we were. Fortunately, the name of this street is 'Mediterra'. But where are the elves?



Probably the best thing about Spain was the food, including the hot chocolate, which should have been called chocolate mousse.



Europe is SO different; wine with lunch, euros instead of dollars, A4 instead of letter. I also discovered that the A4 dimensions influenced other ratios in real life, such as pillowcases



and toilet paper



Say, those ain't no squares!

There was a lot of rain, but the two days of sunshine in Sant Feliu were terrific.


There is a limit to the amount of outdoor frolicking one can do, even on a sunny day. Here's the view from our hotel room. (Musically talented boyfriend costs extra.)


The conference organized an expedition to Girona, a large, old city in Catalonia. It was like walking around in a medieval castle (it probably WAS a medieval castle), except with cafes on every other block.







I wasn't really thinking about my dream wedding dress, but it was taunting me even in Girona:


For a highly sophisticated society, there was a surprising amount of crap to deal with.


The helpful note says: PELIGRO est es una mierda (DANGER this is a poop.)

Mike noted that the message is held up by a drinking straw.

I also visited Madrid, which was a huge city filled by a hodgepodge of classical and modern buildings. On many of these old buildings, I enjoyed the tiny architectural details that they seem to take for granted (when I commented on a lovely system of window latches, Mike's friend exclaimed, 'what, that's so old-fashioned!'). Although I don't have a picture of the latches, here is a detail from my hotel. I have no idea what its function is - maybe preventing the window shutters from hitting the wall?- but isn't it pretty?



P.S. Mike says it holds the shutter open.

Well, Spain was fun, but it's good to be back!

Text only

I'm in Madrid right now, having just read Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers' (recommended by a particularly shy blogger - you know who you are!). I hope many, many people read this book. Gladwell's main point is that success depends largely on apparently irrelevant circumstances, such as what month you were born in, and that a small bit of early success gets amplified into stardom for a few lucky people. One of the most compelling cases concerns star athletes, who are culled from a young age from successively more selective little leagues. Since young children are grouped by age, those who are born just after the cutoff (e.g., Dec. 31) have a big advantage because they are bigger and stronger than their peers. They do better at the sport, get picked for intense training, get better as a result, with the result that most pro hockey players in Canada were born in the first quarter of the year.

Gladwell also talks about how cultural norms play a huge role in determining success of upper class children vs. lower class children (which we already knew), and that it's really the summertime activities that let the upper class children get ahead (judging from standardized test scores). He was less successful at convincing me that Asian kids are better at math because their ancestors had a rice paddy work ethic (seems to me that this would translate into a nonspecific advantage). A particularly chilling example of the importance of cultural norms is discussed with regard to airline accidents, where the degree of assertiveness of the crew was important (e.g. the willingness of the first officer to contradict the captain), although I would have liked to see more statistics.

Another interesting point he makes is that above a certain threshold, IQ is largely irrelevant to success, since other types of intelligence (like practical intelligence and creativity) are also important (and, based on personal experience, probably not correlated with IQ. :) )

Why am I reading my Kindle when I could be touring Madrid, visiting the Prado museum, or getting a Mediterranean suntan? Well, I did walk around a bit, saw old and new buildings, and ate some Spanish tapas, but ultimately what I really wanted to do was read. I know I should be taking better advantage of the location, but actually I can't wait to get back home to do some wedding planning oops! I mean labwork. :)

Anyway, this book made me think about lab culture, and how to encourage a culture of assertiveness and self-reliance in an atmosphere of hierarchy (such as at Harvard). I'll probably start having mini-lab meetings soon; maybe I'll try to start a tradition of recounting mistakes, so we can all benefit from each other's experiences and so people will be less intimidated by others. That'll be a good exercise in self-examination, anyway!

Whew, I just got back from dinner which lasted for 4 hours (no kidding!). First were drinks, then a leisurely meal of fried baby squid, cured pork (a Spanish specialty), sardines, angler fish (all with white wine) and sorbet with cava (the Spanish equivalent of champagne).

Markovnikov's rule

Remember the salary cap on executives of failing companies that are being bailed out by the government? Well, it looks like it's not going to bother them too much, given how much they are about to receive in contractually required bonuses. AIG execs are going to get $165 million. It's a lot like addition reactions across a C=C; the rich get richer. For a little frustration release, I'd recommend watching Jon Stewart's smackdown with CNBC's talking head from the world of financial scum, Jim Cramer.

A couple days ago I gave a talk at the University of Southern Maine. It was in the planetarium!


Not only was my slideshow projected onto a dome, but the room was illuminated by Christmas lights. Whee!

Poo!

Now I know why I'm writing these entries: it makes me feel socially connected and therefore happier, according to a recent pyschology study. Gosh, I hope someone's reading this...

Check out this fantastic paper from Creative Papers in Tasmania: it's made from kangaroo poop (giggle)!

Now for some eye candy:

Photo from Devoto wedding via The Offbeat Bride blog