Classic Portnoy

SOTW: Sweetest Thing

2008-07-21T09:20:00.001-04:00

A lot has been on my mind recently. This week's song, "Sweetest Thing" by U2 has a calming feel to it, so I think it fits nicely as a backdrop.

Check it out below:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

Rick, we should talk

2008-07-11T10:34:00.001-04:00

An open letter to G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman and CEO of General Motors

Dear Mr. Wagoner,

Your company has been in the news lately, and sadly the reports have not been positive. Today a flurry of articles suggested worries of bankruptcy. Certainly, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt on this subject, but I’m worried. In many ways, the deck is stacked against you. Pension plan woes and rising healthcare costs are putting GM a big step behind foreign competitors. I know that your predecessor’s poor business decisions have put an incredible fixed cost burden upon your shoulders.

I notice that yesterday’s closing price of $9.69 per share is down over 60% year to date. I also notice that when you took the reigns as CEO on June 1, 2000, GM was trading around $70 per share. Can I be anything else than disappointed?

It’s not just about the financial that disturb me; it’s the lack of innovation. Now that Toyota’s Prius is over 10 years old, I ask you, how is GM competing in the Hybrid market? Unfortunately, adding an electric motor to the Chevy Tahoe isn’t a good answer. Anyone satisfied with improving an SUV’s highway fuel economy from 19 MPG to 22 MPG is completely missing the point of this technology.

I remember your 2007 Commencement speech at Duke when I received my Master’s Degree. You spoke of great advances coming for the automotive industry. Now is the time to step up our game. Once we start giving people more competitively priced options with American innovation, they will respond. They will be proud to own and drive GM cars and trucks.

My goal is defending my Ph.D. in Photonics early in 2009, so I’m on the lookout for job opportunities. My strong engineering and problem solving background would be an asset to your company. In particular, I’ve got some really good ideas for plug-in electric vehicles. Feel free to look me up in the Duke Alumni Directory if you want to talk.

Best regards,

Andrew

SOTW: ABC

2008-07-07T09:49:00.001-04:00

It's back to work after the July 4th weekend. The Jackson Five brings you "ABC".

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

SOTW: From Simon and Garfunkel

2008-07-02T17:20:00.001-04:00

This week's song of the week is one of Simon and Garfunkel's greatest hits. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) features a nice little duet with great harmony. The last 2 measures of the song sound incredibly familiar, but I just can't place it. Please let me know if you have any thoughts.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

Countdown to Beijing

2008-07-02T14:50:00.001-04:00

It was a windy day on June 29, 2008 in Eugene, OR, site of the the USA Track and Field Olympic Trials. The day before, Tyson Gay finished ran the 100m dash in 9.77 seconds setting the American record, and that was just the qualifier. Today, however, was the finals. Wearing a uniform designed in tribute to Jesse Owens, Tyson and 7 others approached the starting line. At first, the majority of runners jumped across the line, but no one was personally awarded the false start. The official ruled excessive crowd noise as the cause. At the sound of the gun, the sprinters exploded. It certainly wasn't a surprise to see Tyson Gay cross first, but the true magic was in his time. Finishing in 9.68 seconds, Tyson recorded the fastest 100m time ever run by a human. Even though faster than 9.72 seconds, his time does not qualify to set a new world record. Tail wind speeds of 4.1 m/s were measured, exceeding the 2 m/s threshold for official 100m records. What he did win, was a place on Team USA's 2008 Beijing Olympics roster. On the world's stage, countless eyes will be on Tyson Gay when he attempts to go for the gold, the world record, and the chance to become this generation's Olympic hero.

-Also note that Michael Johnson was also pretty good.
-Other links for those who don't remember the 1936 Olympics in Berlin or Jesse Owens. From what I can gather, Hitler had high hopes for the Nazi athletes under the theory of some inherent Aryan race superiority. Turns out Jesse had another perspective winning gold in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m, and Long Jump.
-This year in Beijing, swimmer Michael Phelps is a strong favorite for a number of events. However, his arrest in November 2004 for driving under the influence (at age 19) makes it considerably more difficult for me to appreciate him as a role model.
-In his spare time, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski is coaching the USA Men's National Basketball Team.
-The 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London, UK. I'd like to go, so let me know if you want to as well.

Super Bowl, Super Tuesday, Superman

2008-02-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

The New York Football Giants win Super Bowl XLII. In what could be the greatest upset in Super Bowl history, the Giants defeated the New England Patriots 17-14 with two (80 and 83 yard) touchdown drives in the 4th quarter. Just one win shy of perfection, the Patriots end their season with a glaring 18-1 record. T-Shirts are current available on eBay with the subtext "*Cheaters Never Prosper" which references this season's 'incident' where the Patriots were disciplined by the NFL for illegally videotaping New York Jets' signals. See Spygate on Wikipeida.

Steve Tisch, center right, and Steve Mara, left, executives of the New York Giants, ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. Source: NYSE via Bloomberg News

Today is Super Tuesday for the 2008 US Presidential election. We'll see what happens tonight as the Democratic and Republican Primary election poll numbers are tallied for 24 states.

Continuing this theme, the new Song of the Week (SOTW) is the theme from the movie Superman (1978). Composed by John Williams. Need I say more?

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

Thriftville and Squanderville

2008-01-30T15:40:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon an interesting article written in 2003 by the "Oracle of Omaha". "Why I'm not buying the U.S. dollar" warns our nation about its expanding trade deficit, and proposes a policy control it. It's a little long, but I think it's well worth the read.

Here are links to the article and my archived copy:
http://www.pbs.org/wsw/news/fortunearticle_20031026_03.html
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfd88zmz_90d96zjbdd

To diverge a little, I'd like to talk about our national debt and relate it to a household mortgage. Currently our national debt is about $9.2 trillion. To put it in perspective I'd like to compare that against our national tax revenue. For FY07, this was $2.5 trillion. (http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1207.pdf ) So I think I'm correctly calculating our Debt to Income 'front ratio' as 27%. That's right below the conventional limit of 28%. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-to-income_ratio ) In other words, this would be the equivalent of a married couple with combined gross household income of $75k/year obtaining a mortgage of $275k.

Right now, I think our country's debt level is 'ok'. It's not great, but it's manageable. The problem is the rate of change of the deficit; it's increasing. Just as it is in Squanderville, excessive borrowing puts an unfair burden on the future generation of taxpayers. The United States has an incredible amount of collateral to back up our AmEx Platinum spending. There's no doubt we've got wiggle room and borrow at the best rates.

We just need to modify our policies to become more fiscally responsible because our margins are shrinking. From the consumer perspective, this means shying aways from buying quickly depreciating assets (like luxury goods) on credit. However, if we're talking about genuine ways to increase our country's value over the long term, I'm all for throwing in a few hundred billion dollars. Why not go for it?

Eye of the Tiger

2008-01-28T10:09:00.000-05:00

This week's SOTW is Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. At this point, I don't have any supporting text other than encouraging you to check it out:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

What is Benjamin Moore?

2008-01-27T22:25:00.000-05:00

Last and this weekend I undertook a painting project in my townhouse. The stock 'builder beige' was altogether too bland and speckled with scuff marks. It was exciting to shop for color and create my own palette. Choosing just the right formula brings out a new visual dimension which adds tremendously to my house's warmth. The walls now 'reflect' personality. (Great pun, right? Technically, the paint's pigments absorb certain wavelengths upon reflection.)

My design was to segment the living room from the kitchen/dining room with different colors. My downstairs floor plan is open, but I've been able to create a much different feel within each area. I hope to paint more rooms and hallways as time goes marches onward. I am very satisfied with my color choice, but I will not publish the details at this point. I may in the future. My selection in brand, however, is no secret. I highly recommend Benjamin Moore paints. Their quality is well worth the premium whether you're doing the job yourself or hiring someone else. As a non-professional, I found the paint to be very forgiving, coating extremely well. Two thin coats worked great, blending together the rolled areas with the perimeter brush strokes ('cut in').

Now we arrive at the Final Jeopardy clue of the day:
Warren Buffett (likely) chose this brand of paint for his corporate headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

For those who didn't know, Benjamin Moore & Co. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

Midnight Train to Georgia

2008-01-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

This week's SOTW is a 1973 Motown favorite by Gladys Knight & the Pips. As today is Martin Luther King Day, it's appropriate to choose a song performed by an African American artist. This title also intimately relates to this past week's DARPA review meeting in San Diego. The Duke DISP crew took the red-eye back to RDU Friday night, and our flight plan routed us through Atlanta. So figuratively we were on the Midnight Train to Georgia. Enjoy.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

Baba O'Riley

2008-01-15T10:25:00.000-05:00

This week's song is Baba O'Riley by The Who. I recalled the song's usage in an episode of House M.D., and noticed a descriptive annotation on the Wikipedia page. Scanning the other notable soundtrack uses, I learned that it was also used as the entrance music of former New York Yankees right fielder Paul O'Neil. At this point, that trivia probably qualifies as 'old school'.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pbpwnTzCeQnp5v2aGNo9nAw

Bill Gates CES 08 Keynote Video

2008-01-07T12:09:00.000-05:00

Bill Gates CES 08 Keynote Video

Bill Gates gave his final keynote at CES this week. This is a video documentary about his last day at Microsoft and what he's been up too lately with his free time when he isn't working with his foundation. Extremely funny.

2008: It's a New Year

2008-01-07T10:22:00.000-05:00

It's 2008, and Classic Portnoy has resumed a regular posting schedule. To start things off, I'm instituting a new program called the Song of the Week (SOTW). I plan to update it on the first work day of each week. Last week's song was "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones, and this week's is "Ants Marching" by Dave Matthews Band. If you seek just a little more motivation, maybe this will help you start your week strong. Feel free to sing along at home.

Song of the Week

Taiwanese Grad Student Culture

2007-08-13T00:19:00.000-04:00

In Taiwan, graduate students spend long hours in the lab. Not only do the work hard, but school is also the recreational hub. Athletic facilities, fast internet, and free air conditioning contrast the typical small studio apartment. They don’t usually spend too much time at home.

Takeout food from small (usually specialty) shops is extremely cheap, and the students rarely cook. Prices range from 50-100 NTD the equivalent of $1.50 - $3.00 USD. [Current exchange rates 1 USD = 33 NTD (New Taiwan Dollars)]. Food, either takeout or at the dining hall consists often of a meat or tofu with rice or noodles. Optional vegetables are commonly cooked. Hot soup is very common. Actually, I’m consistently amazed by how insatiable people’s appetites are for temperature hot food. A cold drink is commonly served only at the end of the meal. Plus, hot food here is basically boiling, and certainly no relief from the extreme heat and humidity. Also curious, I rarely see people wearing sunglasses.

Apartments are also inexpensive compared to US rates, but keep in mind graduate student stipends are proportionally less. One friend said the class structure in Taiwan is like an “M”. Large upper and lower classes, very little in the middle. Downtown large department stores carry expensive designer clothing. The style is actually interesting. Designer retailers rent a 50-500 square foot area inside a large store. The analogy is that malls and their substores are supersized in America.

Karaoke, or KTV, is done differently here than in the US. Instead of broadcasting to an entire bar, a group of friends essentially rent a living room for a private party. The Karaoke building has a hotel feel from the lobby and hallways. Floors have a dozen or two small rooms where friends hang out and sing. Also in this small living room style, it’s possible to rent a movie of your choice and have a private screening with your friends. This makes up for the commonly small apartments.

It's Getting Hot in Here

2007-07-21T04:18:00.000-04:00

Basically, Taiwan is hot and wet. Typical summer highs are 95F/35C with a heat index of 104F/40C. The weather reports here are interesting because it’s common to just report a high and low. No ‘current’ conditions are reported, and in particular, relative humidity and heat index are foreign. The students here had never heard of a ‘feels like’ temperature. It’s an interesting cultural difference. Certainly, the lack of weather variation here makes the actual conditions less informative. And at some point, I’d rather just not know how extremely hot it is outside.

In contrast, Americans have access to hourly forecasts down to the ZIP code complete with temperature, ‘effective’ temperature, chance of precipitation, dew point, humidity, and wind conditions. Weather.com further reports a UV index, the air pressure, and visibility. The extent of our Doppler radar and satellite is also daunting.

Americans are picked on because we have the “world revolves around me” mentality. [Though I fail to see how one could get this impression because the evidence presented above indicates we can at most be criticized for having the world revolve around our respective ZIP code.] In the case of weather, we’re just living the information age to its fullest. I’m curious about ‘the world’ around me. If the technology is available, why shouldn’t I have access to it? I shouldn’t have to justify my entitlement, but here it is anyway: In the old days, people would stick their heads out the window. Today, with so many office buildings switching to fixed windows, it becomes clear the need for accurate electronic reporting.

National Chaio Tung University

2007-07-21T04:16:00.000-04:00

An update from Taiwan is long past overdue. I have settled in an apartment adjacent to National Chaio Tung University. It has a great view. (Code for: I’m on the top/5^th floor, and there’s no elevator.) Jason, who worked with my lab at Duke for a year, has recently graduated. He has been attending to some errands the past couple weeks and is off to serve his military training requirement next week. He has introduced me to his lab, and they have been incredibly helpful showing me the basics for life at NCTU. In the past couple weeks, I’ve wandered around our campus here and visited downtown. Inspired by the success of Harry Potter night and the SIT farewell party, the crew met up for an evening of KTV (karaoke) last weekend. It was much fun. In the coming weeks I will explore other areas of Taiwan. I also have booked a flight to visit Japan August 3-7.

Pride and Prejudice

2007-07-13T08:49:00.001-04:00

I’ll continue the book and movie review theme with a combination. A short while ago, I read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The motivation was primarily due to a friend’s reference to Elizabeth Bennet going clear over my head. I can only give this novel my highest praise. Its characters are quite extensive and were challenging (for me) to keep straight, but it was completely worth the time spent.

The clever book contains great wit and humor. The characters and their experiences are fundamentally timeless, a quality many find analogous to Shakespeare’s work. In a very impressing way, the elegant title becomes more and more fitting as the story builds. I’d recommend without reservations.

I also had the chance to watch the BBC version of the movie. It was quite lengthy but followed the book extremely well. It was almost like the movie version of a play. I expect anyone’s opinion of the book would mirror this movie version identically.

While literature is most definitely not my profession, engineers must critically analyze and make connections. So, I can relate to the field, but I’m just not as familiar with the surroundings.

In my effort to be ‘educated’ I strive to make and understand other people’s literary jokes and references. Luckily, people don’t usually expect much out of an engineer. How’s that for Pride and Prejudice?

It's Not About the Truth

2007-07-13T07:47:00.001-04:00

I just finished reading my (autographed) copy of the It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered. It’s a long, but accurate subtitle. Don Yaeger’s book is an easy read, and, written with former coach Mike Pressler, provides an extremely interesting view of the case. Even after peeling away the layer of bias presented in the book, you still get a feeling for how outrageous the case was. The reading level was basic and the clichés plentiful, but in many respects this parallels the media’s coverage of the incident/rape/scandal. I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend the book signing in Durham and am happy to show my support for the team.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007-07-13T06:13:00.000-04:00

Last night a group of us went to see the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (aka Harry Potter 5). This was my first Potter experience. The movie took a while to get going, and condensing the 2 hour 18 minute saga to a 100 minute version would have been appreciated. Overall, the movie was definitely entertaining with its special effects. Elements of mythology and ideologies created a complexity appealing to all ages. I agree with the current Rotten Tomatoes rating, 74% fresh.

Photos from Taiwan

2007-07-11T02:20:00.000-04:00

Photos taken during my first week in Taiwan with the Summer Program in Taiwan (SIT) staff and other participants from the United States and Canada.

Taiwan Orientation 2007 (SIT)

SIT Rocks

2007-07-07T20:33:00.000-04:00

My first week in Taiwan was great. A dozen college students prepared a wonderful orientation for the approximately 20 American and Canadian students studying here for the summer. We spent the past week getting to know Taiwan and have formed great friendships in the process. Collectively, the staff spoke English very well and communication was quite smooth overall. Some expressions sounded foreign but made complete sense. Especially amusing for me, we were asked to "upload the bus with our luggage". There were also the typical language differences between Team Canada and Team USA. You should know exactly what I'm talk 'about'.

There are so many interesting aspects of life here to compare and contrast. On the bus, as one of the students shared his engagement video you heard identically initial reactions from each group of girls that was watching. (Conversations quickly diverged.) The spoken language and characters are basically all foreign, but some English bands are scattered. The orientation's SIT 2007 photo share is still being developed, but I will try to create a photo essay as things become available. Here's a photo I took at the farewell party at the end of the orientation.

Touchdown

2007-07-01T00:05:00.000-04:00

This is my first post from Taiwan! A few hours ago my plane landed at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport (TPE). My flight plan took me from RDU to LAX (Boeing 737-800) and then LAX to TPE (Boeing 747-400). I was pleasantly surprised at my comfort level for the second (13 hour+) leg. The Delta flight operated by China Airlines Flight 007 had personal on-demand video screens for all. (Q really hooked us up.) Also, the food was excellent.

I left on Friday evening and arrived Sunday morning at about 6 am local time. With the 12 hour time difference, 'jet-lag' comes to mind. However, I don't feel like the time is 'wrong', I'm more clueless about the feeling of what time it is. ("You're not thinking fourth dimentionally" -Dr. Emmett Brown )

And so begins my 8 week overseas adventure. I look forward to continuing the updates as I explore the culture. One thing is certain. The Far East is far out.

K. 364

2007-06-12T16:03:00.000-04:00

Today's favorite music has been Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E flat major, K. 364 (320d). If you'd like to listen to it, you can download an Ogg version of the piece from the Wikipedia page.

My favorite clip is in the 1st movement and starts at about 51 second into the piece. This also happens to be 30 seconds chosen for the iTunes preview. There are multiple versions, but the first one I found is here.

If you know of any other songs that quote/reference this section, please let me know. There may be others by Mozart, but I am not aware of any. I wish I could 'google' that type of information. Maybe someday in the future.

Just another market Monday

2007-06-12T15:22:00.000-04:00

On Monday, June 4, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,676.32 setting a new record high. Lately I have been wondering if investors should expect a decline on the horizon. Research led me to read the Wikipedia article about October 19, 1987 also known as Black Monday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987) I wasn't old enough to remember, but the market dropped considerably (~22.6%).

A certain degree of mystery is associated with the 1987 crash. Many have noted that no major news or events occurred prior to the Monday of the crash, the decline seeming to have come from nowhere. Important assumptions concerning human rationality, the efficient market hypothesis, and economic equilibrium were brought into question by the event. Debate as to the cause of the crash still continues many years after the event, with no firm conclusions reached.

The most recent buzzword has the 'sub-prime crunch' and residential housing slowdown. Interest rates have climbed from historical record lows to historical lows. In reading more about the economic situation surrounding the crash, I noticed that there were some similarities to today.

In 1986, the United States economy began shifting from a rapidly growing recovery to a slower growing expansion, which resulted in a "soft landing" as the economy slowed and inflation dropped. As 1987 wore on, it seemed that recessionary fears were not warranted and that boom times would continue. The stock market advanced significantly, peaking in August 1987 at 2722 points, or 44% over 1986 closing at 1895 points. There were a series of volatile days that caused widespread nervousness leading up to the crash, with the market ultimately sliding downward.

Anyway, I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of Black Monday downturn happens again soon. I think the market may be irrationally high. Private equity firms have done many leveraged buyouts of companies. I think this has led to inflated stock prices in general. Maybe the firms will hold on to their new private companies for a while, but who are they planning to sell them to down the road?

Just-In-Time Dubugging?

2007-06-12T12:46:00.000-04:00

This post is somewhat technical in nature and deals with Microsoft's "Just-In-Time Debugger"
According to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/5hs4b7a6.aspx

Just-In-Time debugging is a feature that launches the Visual Studio debugger automatically when a program, running outside Visual Studio, encounters a fatal error. Just-In-Time debugging allows you to examine the error before the application is terminated by the operating system.

Basically, this is a tool designed to help a software developer understand why a program crashed. The name gives me the impression that the program could be fixed and resumed. However, this is simply not the case. The 'just-in-time debugger' prolongs the inevitable; the program is going to crash. For regular users, wouldn't you say this tool is more 'just-too-late' than 'just-in-time'?

Vonage Disconnect

2007-04-19T15:32:00.000-04:00

Vonage, a VoIP company, held it's IPO nearly a year ago on 5/24/06, at a $17/share, the middle of its targeted rage. The stock dropped to $13 in the first 2 days, and has been on a downward tumble since. Currently it is trading at $3.

Bill Mann of the Motley Fool, wrote an article back on 5/30/06 called "Vonage: The Most Successful IPO in Years". His logic follows, and I couldn't agree more:

"In every other form of commerce, "success" is determined by someone's ability to generate profits, or to sell something for more than it is worth. Vonage's management and underwriters convinced a bunch of people and institutions that a company worth roughly the price of a Happy Meal should be valued on the market at $2.6 billion!"

What's in store for Vonage? Only time will tell, but they have consistently been loosing tens of millions of dollars a month. In their recent 10-Q they said "Intellectual property litigation, especially our ongoing patent litigation with Verizon, if determined against us, could lead to the bankruptcy or liquidation of the company. " That's just not a good sign.

You've got a clean shot. Do you take it?

2007-03-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

This morning, I noticed a very interesting article on digg.com. I enjoy discussing ethical questions, and this new story is quite applicable. However, someone is dead, so I'm obviously not 'enjoying' the situation. I first will preface this by 3 things. I don't own a gun, have a wife, or live in Texas.

From KWTX.com (Waco, TX):

Husband Shot Wife’s Lover: She’s Charged, He’s Not

A Fort Worth man who killed his wife's lover after finding them together has escaped murder charges from a grand jury.

Instead, the Tarrant County grand jury indicted Darrell Roberson's wife, Tracy Roberson, accusing her of causing the shooting by claiming she was being raped.

The 35-year-old wife is charged with manslaughter in the death of Devin LaSalle.

Police say Roberson invited LaSalle to her home in December with a text message that said "I need to feel your warm embrace!"

If convicted after Wednesday's indictment, Mrs. Roberson faces two to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Darrell Roberson arrived home and found his wife clad in only a robe and underwear with LaSalle outside in a pickup truck.

They allege Mrs. Roberson told her 38-year-old husband she was being raped, so he fired four shots as LaSalle tried driving away.

One bullet struck LaSalle in the head.

Some legal experts say they've never quite heard a case quite like this.

Texas Wesleyan School of Law associate professor Jason Gillmer says a husband "is entitled to defend his wife and his family against aggravated assault."

----

Some questions I've been asking myself:
Are the charges fair?
Who's the victim?
Who's 'good' and who's 'bad'?
What if the wife was raped?

I've got some thoughts, but I'd also be interested in hearing your questions, answers, and plot twists. Please feel free to comment. I'd really be interested to hear what you think about this and other issues.

Kidney Kare 5k

2007-03-31T10:29:00.000-04:00

Last week I ran in the 2nd Annual Kidney Kare 5k sponsored by the UNC Kidney Center. There were over 300 participants raising over $9,000. The race was at McDougle Middle School in Chapel Hill, NC. According to the map, the race was actually 5.14km. I finished with a time of 23:54. Using the updated distance figure, that translated to an average pace of 7:29/mile or 8.0mph. This is a significant improvement from my last 5k race, 2nd Annual Duke University DPT 5k, this past fall (24:40 total or 7:56/mile). Most likely due to some rounding inaccuracies, the race results page incorrectly reports a pace of 7:58/mile. They mean well, but they're just wrong. This past week, I have been taking it easy due to some pain in my shins, but hopefully that will subside soon. I've been keeping a full running log, and will post highlights periodically.

Murray Perahia

2007-03-28T18:50:00.000-04:00

It was a slightly roundabout way, but I learned about a concert by receiving a email invitation to a group dinner. The invitation to Murray Perahia's concert was on the same day and passed along to show (no pun intended) that they weren't mutually exclusive. I went to both. Dinner was Thai food. No surprises, it met expectations. I really enjoyed the concert afterward.

The summary:

In the more than 32 years he has been performing on the concert stage, American pianist Murray Perahia has become one of the most sought-after and cherished pianists of our time. He has a long relationship with Duke University, having first performed here on the Duke Artists Series as a young rising star in 1979. A multiple Grammy-winner, Mr. Perahia performs in all of the major international music centers and with every leading orchestra. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and has recently embarked on an ambitious project to edit the complete Beethoven Sonatas.

I actually purchased one of his CDs a while ago, and it is quite good. (Mozart: Piano Sonatas K.310, 331 & 533/494) Köchel 331, Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11, is fairly well known mostly for its 3rd movement, Rondo Alla Turca. The concert's program included works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin. At total of 5 pieces were scheduled, but Murray didn't stop there. He went into extra innings, playing 3 extra pieces with standing ovations between each one. Unfortunately, I didn't have the savvy to know the overture pieces. Funny enough, there was an accidental crowd mishap during the scheduled performance. In a three movement piece, the audience applauded after the second movement. Having lost count myself, I am sad to admit I was part of the problem. Overall, the concert was great. All the pieces were new to me, and I was very impressed with the performance. On a side note, I also learned that Murray is a member of the tribe thanks to Wikipedia.

Man of La Mancha

2007-03-28T18:03:00.000-04:00

This year's final Broadway at Duke performance was Man of La Mancha. I'd give it a good, but not great review. During my senior year in high school, I was part of the pit orchestra for the show. This probably contributed to my high, fairly unobtainable expectations. Seeing the show again, reminded me of our production. For me one of the funniest parts was the scene in which a Bishop, King, and Queen are conversing. A checkerboard pattern was projected onto the stage and the actors movements were all 'legal'. The Bishop, introduced as 'charmingly diagonal' would move diagonally one way while speaking. The King, 'restricted', would only take one step when he spoke, etc. It was hard to tell, but I don't recall seeing a Knight's movements in this show, whereas I remember that was the case when we did it. It was good, but a little more depth would have made it priceless.

Inland Empire

2007-03-21T16:02:00.000-04:00

Inland Empire was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Dragging on for 3 hours, it was completely incoherent and mundane. I wish I could recover the time I wasted. The only entertainment I found during the movie was musical, which is very surprising because the soundtrack was practically nonexistent. The only humorous element was when a group of girls were dancing to "The Loco-Motion". I did notice a musical connection to the 1999 version of "The Thomas Crown Affair". The song "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone was featured in both movies. It was in the end credits of Inland Empire. IMDB confirmed that it appeared in "The Thomas Crown Affair", and I believe it was also in the end credits. Any help here would be appreciated.

March Madness Update

2007-03-21T11:23:00.000-04:00

The #6 seeded Duke Men's Basketball team lost to #11 Virginia Commonwealth in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament this year (79-77). Duke had made 9 straight Sweet 16 appearances, and had 10 consecutive first rounds victories. Interestingly, Greg Paulus scored a career-high 25 points, and Josh McRoberts added a career-high 22 points and had 12 rebounds. Major problem: Duke went 20-32 from the foul line. I've archived the game notes for future analysis. Link

The good news is that the Women's Basketball team received the top overall #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With a loss to NC State in the ACC Semifinals, the team certainly looked back on track last night with a 81-44 win over Holy Cross. The game was memorable for one of the Holy Cross Seniors, Brittany Keil. Entering the game with 993 points, she had scored only 4 minutes in the first 39 minutes of play. Timeout Holy Cross. They inbound the ball, and after a few passes, Keil gets the ball drains the 3 point basket. Granted our defense left her pretty well open, but a 20 foot shot isn't exactly a 'gimmie' (basketball or golf).

Here's what Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons had to say about Duke and Coach Gail Goestenkors:
"I always have respect for Gail, but today it grew ten-fold. I am rooting for Duke to win it all because of the class they showed."

I concur. This game will fade from our memories, but I thought it was important to document it. Certainly, it was a big day for that senior.

I was a recipient of the Holy Cross Book Award in 2001

Tidbits

2007-03-14T13:54:00.000-04:00

A few people in the office have observed a similarity between a Duke employee and Dr. Niles Crane from the TV show Frasier. If you have a guess or would like to know who it is, please contact me directly. This further builds on one of my previous pseudonym creations. I renamed a former employee to Lilith, Frasier’s ex-wife.

Speaking of monotonous voices, I couldn’t stop laughing yesterday after I heard a particular Duke Professor describe a conference as “very exciting”. Also, please inquire directly if you would like to know the details.

Duke 67 - St. John's 50

2007-03-14T13:11:00.000-04:00

It has been over a month since my last post, but that isn’t an accurate reflection on the rate of adventure. In fact, these past few weeks have been exciting, and I can only begin to summarize. One trip stands out in my mind, being the journey to New York City to watch Duke Men’s Basketball vs. St. John's in Madison Square Garden. The trip was nonstop, and I did want to mention it was unfortunate that I couldn’t meet up with my sister who also happened to be in town on Sunday.

The itinerary included driving up with Vito, Jeff, and Kristen to Philadelphia to stay at Eric’s place. The next day we took the train. I met Jeff and Liz for a tour of the American Museum of Natural History. I enjoyed that a great deal. There’s so much information there it can be overwhelming.

A remarkable small world story was that we ran into another group of students from our department in Penn Station. We each had an independent travel schedule, but managed to run into them just after getting off our train. This was marginally more significant for them because we were the only people they knew in the City. Personally, that’s what I like most about New York: Even though there are more than 8 million people living in NYC, it’s fairly common to cross paths with people you know.

I met up with Lauren and Leah from high school to celebrate Lauren’s birthday. She also went to the game with us. I think Leah may have said it best in commenting that we would have never expected the reunion if it was predicted back in 2001.

Mathematically speaking, this reunion phenomenon is similar to the small world phenomenon. The probability of a particular reunion event on a given day is low, but integrating all the possibilities over a time period of years has a tendency to make the unlikely a reality.

See also: The Serendipity article on Wikipedia describes many life changing inventions such as Penicillin and Post-It Notes.

Duke Basketball

2007-02-12T16:56:00.001-05:00

The men’s game against UNC in Cameron was really exciting. My dad came down for the game and we had a fun time. Unfortunately Duke lost, but the game was close the whole way. The following day the #1 ranked women’s team beat #2 ranked UNC at Carolina. Each with records of 24-0, this was a great match.

Unfortunately, the men’s UNC loss was just one in our current 4 game loosing streak. For the first time since 1996, the team is not in the top 25. Dare I say, we’ve become a bubble team? If we don’t start winning we’ll be watching the NCAA tournament on television.

Tidbits

2007-02-12T16:42:00.000-05:00

I saw the movie Dreamgirls. It was ok, but nothing great. Eddie Murphy did a good job. They had a reference to the Jackson 5 which I thought was great.

Janelle hosted a game night. It was fun. I didn’t get a chance to play Scene It. “Apples to Apples” was a good one. Cranium I had played before. Scrabble went on. I made chocolate chip cookies.

Zach, Alyssa, Matt, and Paul came over to watch the game. I made chicken parmigiana whose leftovers have formed the basis for lunches a couple two days. I also made brownies from the Taunton cookbook I bought at Costco.

Tom and Vito had a potluck this weekend. Good call.

Am I speaking English?

2007-01-31T18:22:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I have a difficult time communicating with people, and other times, people just don't get my jokes. Does anyone have any advice? Here are some examples:

Me: “Hey that’s a nice jacket.”
Anonymous 1: “Thanks.”
Me: “Is it warm?”
Anonymous 1: “No, it’s cold outside.”
[The antecedent of “it” was meant to be “the jacket” not “the weather”]

Me: “Hey, I heard that the metal used to make a penny is actually worth more than a cent.”
Anonymous 2: “Yeah, me too.”
Me: “Don’t you find it ironic that pennies were once made out of Nickel?”
Anonymous 2: “Yeah, I think so.”
Anonymous 1: “Huh?”
Me: “The element Nickel also shares its name with a coin of a different value.”
Anonymous 1: “Haha, yeah, that’s funny.”
Anonymous 2: “Oh, now I get it.

Monet in Normandy

2007-01-31T17:29:00.000-05:00

A little bit ago, Sharon and I went to the North Carolina Art Museum in Raleigh, to see the Monet in Normandy exhibit. There were about 50 paintings by Monet, borrowed from public and private collections from around the world. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to go. I recognized some of the paintings, so it was especially exciting to see the originals. At first, I was going to say “it was surreal”, but this would have been a terribly inaccurate pun. [Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a founder of the Impressionism movement whereas the Surrealism emerged in the 1920s.]

The museum staff did an excellent job of laying out the exhibit by grouping works of similar dates and subjects. In addition, a photograph or painting by another artist would occasionally complement Monet’s work. One of the more famous paintings was “Garden at Sainte-Adresse” (1867) on loan from “The Met”. This one seemed familiar, and there’s probably a good chance I had seen it before in NYC.

Andee Firestone

2007-01-29T12:57:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was saddened to learn my cousin passed away due to complications arising from a brain tumor. My parents attended the funeral service today near Boston, Massachusetts. Andee Firestone was a registered nurse who worked at the Bertram House of Swampscott, a Sunrise Senior Living community. She has touched many lives as a mother and caregiver. [In a small world way, my friend Chris works for the Sunrise Senior Living Real Estate Investment Trust.]

We must find our own balance between enjoying life and working to make this world a better place. Often times, these overlap, which is all the more special. In times of sadness, I think we are left with the challenge of transforming our grief into growth.

New Computer

2007-01-22T16:54:00.000-05:00

My desktop computer just stopped working so I needed to get a new one. Turning to the world leader in silicon innovation, I build a computer based on the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. My chip actually has 2 processors within the same chip package, each running at 2.13 GHz (with 2GB of RAM). Built on Intel’s 65 nm technology, roughly 291 million transistors arranged in an area that's 143 mm^2.

More information about the process is located here, but I’d like to point out that the gate oxide thickness is only 1.2 nm, which is basically a distance of no more than 10 molecules. “These guys are good.”

I did learn that Intel’s design team in Haifa, Israel contributed significantly to the processor’s high performance, low power multi core architecture. It's powerful in application, not in energy consumption.

Good Times, Great Oldies

2007-01-22T15:29:00.000-05:00

New Year’s nicely segues into the following weekend with Nick and Craig mentioning that they’re going to be coming down to Durham. With a nearly record breaking high in the 70s, we saw the men’s basketball team host Virginia Tech in Cameron. It was a tremendously exciting overtime game, but we unfortunately lost 69-67. [Last year, that crew was here for the FSU overtime game in Cameron where we won 97-96.] The scarceness of overtime makes it such a thrill to watch, especially when it’s live.

That night, there was a huge reunion of friends on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. I’ll have to get the photo from Matt, but I’d say a dozen of us met up at Top of the Hill.

Post Scriptum: Nick found my CD, Elgar’s Enigma Variations. This was huge! I had been looking for it for a long time. By the way, my favorite variation is Nimrod (number 9)

New Year’s 2007 in DC

2007-01-22T15:12:00.000-05:00

There’s been much excitement this past month, certainly too much to capture fully on the blog. I will try to catch you all up on some highlights. This year’s adventures began in our nation’s capital. I met “The DC Crew” along with some fellow visitors. There are far too many names to list, but Chris, Nick, John, Craig, Brian, Brook, Marko and Gracie immediately come to mind.

Some activities included walking around a few monuments and historical sites. That night, the Crew had planned for us to attend a party at the Hyatt downtown. It worked out great! (The Metro literally stops under the hotel so it couldn’t have been more convenient.)

In addition to the live music, DJs played all the expected 80s hits. To name a few:

“Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey*
“Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard*
“Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi**
“Your Love” by The Outfield
“Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield**
“You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC

*Saw these guys at Alltel Pavilion last summer
**Some fellow partygoers gave these songs an a cappella reprise that night on the Metro. They were certainly in the ‘spirit’ of the holiday.

It’s a small world moment: I ran into two friends (Bryan and Brian) from High School there! In their words, that alone was worth the ticket price.

Beethoven (Remix)

2007-01-09T11:39:00.000-05:00

Just when you thought Wellington’s Victory (1813) couldn’t get any better, it does. As previously noted, Part I of this piece contains a quote of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

The new development relates to Part II: Victory Symphony. If you listen carefully, it is possible to hear the melody of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” [Technically, we should refer to this song as the British National Anthem, “God Save the King/Queen.” According to wikipedia, the lyrics for My Country, ‘Tis of Thee hadn’t been written until 1831.] It is quite cool. I've got the CD if you want to borrow it.

Personally, I think the story went something like this: Britain/Spain/Portugal just beat France in this battle and they asked Beethoven to write a little something commemorative. Beethoven was probably really busy working on one of his symphonies, but didn’t want to say no. So he threw together a couple “pop songs” with some trumpet fanfare and a little percussion. And the peasants rejoiced.

V for Vendetta

2007-01-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

This was a great find on Netflix (Saw it on HD-DVD, of course.) Definitely a 5-Star movie, it really makes you think about freedom. It also included a Latin moment: Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici which translates to “By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.” Did the movie remind anyone else of Fahrenheit 451?

Family Visits Durham

2007-01-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

My parents and sister came down to Durham a little bit ago. It was nice to see them and show them around Duke. My sister ended up getting really good grades this past semester. I think it was almost all A’s, which was great especially with her very full schedule. We saw the Da Vinci Code on DVD. I didn’t feel like it lived up to all the hype.

14.5/32, 30x30

2006-12-28T17:47:00.000-05:00

When it comes to shopping for computers, people really have 2 options. They can buy a complete system from Dell or Apple and get everything they need at the same time. Or the more professional user can buy a system piece by piece. They can order each component individually and assemble it themselves.

I wish I could buy clothes the Dell/Apple way. Currently, I’m stuck buying things piece by piece, and frankly I’m not as good at putting together ‘outfits’ as I am computers. I know there are people who actually enjoy shopping for clothes. I could really use your help.

"This is the train to Ronkonkoma"

2006-12-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

After the game everybody caught the next train to Long Island. John missed it because the NYC subway was running slow. He got on the next one. We didn’t end up doing too much the next day, but we did meet up with Philip. I was introduced to Euchre, which is a very good game. We should play it here.

Tom’s motivational quote of the day: “It’s not worth winning if you can’t win big!” –The Mighty Ducks

"Start Spreading the News" (Trip to NYC)

2006-12-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

I first want to express my frustration with airport security confiscating my toothpaste. As of today, only containers of 3 oz. are allowed in carry on bags. Clearly a 4 oz. toothpaste tube is too dangerous. [By the way, screwdrivers and wrenches seven inches or less in length are permitted.] Link

We flew over Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was cool. [google map]

My flight landed at LGA. That’s always fun because you land over the water and looking out the window you basically have to hope that the runway appears. Luckily it did this time. I saw Donald Trump’s Boeing 727-100 plane parked at the airport. It’s pretty big.

It was time to get ready for the Duke vs. Gonzaga basketball game. I instructed my cab driver to “Take me to The Garden.” I had always wanted to say that. Traditionally, Duke schedules one ‘home’ game in the NYC area. This year we were at Madison Square Garden. The game was a lot of fun. I had a good time conducting the Duke Pep Band in “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” It was great to see all the alumni (and current students) who came to the game. My dad and Rick were also there. Not sure about TV coverage, but the band and I definitely made it onto the jumbo screen. We won 61-54.

Other points of interest:

Tom, Michelle, and I saw an electronic billboard displaying the IE “Cannot find server” page. It was extremely funny. Too bad John couldn't see it. [The computer running the sign couldn’t connect to the server to get the content it was supposed to display.]

The Wachovia ATM ate my debit card. I was able to get one shipped next day to Durham, though. Luckily I was able to get my money.

Food-wise, I was able to get the 3 main food items I was looking forward to, a Potato Kinish, a slice of pizza, and cheesecake before we caught the train to Long Island.

Washington Duke Inn

2006-12-19T16:36:00.000-05:00

I ate dinner at the Washington Duke Inn this past weekend. It’s a nice treat to eat there, but you really have to mentally prepare yourself for a 3+ hour dinner. Also, with the wait staff attentively filling water glasses, I can’t imagine anyone making it without a rest room break. The staff was incredibly friendly and the food was great, presentation included. Favorite quote from the menu:

“To use your cellular phone, kindly excuse yourself from the dining room.”

I guess sometimes you just have to spell it out for people. Wait, that didn’t include Blackberry does it?

PS: Speaking of Blackberry, my advisor is no longer “IN”. He claims that “Blackberry is too dorky.” He opted for a newer, slimmer phone. I’ll hold onto mine for a while, the Motorola Q looks pretty cool, though. Is that or Treo any good?

Latin Moments

2006-12-19T15:31:00.000-05:00

I wanted to note how well the Latin title of my previous post leads into this post. I wanted to share some saying from my Phrase-A-Day calendar. Here are some excerpts in chronological order:

Melius tarde, quam nunquam.
Better late than never.

Sit vis nobiscum.
May the force be with you.

Aude sapere.
Dare to be wise.

Monstra mihi pecuniam!
Show me the money!

Quid currus passus est?
You did what to the car?

Ubi fumus, ibi ignis.
Where this is smoke there is fire.

Licentia poetica.
Poetic license.

Modo vincimus, modo vincimur.
Well, you win some, you loose some. (Literally: Sometimes we conquer, sometimes we are conquered.)

Iube tuos colloqui cum meis.
Have your people talk to my people.

Hoc est verum et nihili nisi verum.
This is the truth and nothing but the truth.

Isto pensitaris?
You get paid for this?

Mater atrium necessitas.
Necessity is the mother of invention.

Nullum gratuitum prandium.
There is no free lunch!

Experientia docet.
Experience is the best teacher. (Literally: Experience teaches.)

Nunc aunt nunquam.
Now or never.

Nec possum tecum vivere, noc sine te.
I can live neither with you nor without you.

In memoriam

2006-12-19T14:36:00.000-05:00

Joseph Roland "Joe" Barbera (March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, cartoon artist, storyboard artist, director, producer, and co-founder, together with William Hanna, of Hanna-Barbera. The studio produced well-known cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo as well as the musical film, Charlotte's Web. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Barbera]

On a personal note, I remember watching many of those cartoons when I was younger. Also, in my undergrad days, I remember using the Flintstones theme song in an engineering project. The ECE 64 music project was generated solely using MATLAB. I’d be more than happy to share more technical details for those interested. [http://www.duke.edu/~adp4/flint_final.wav]

I didn’t realize this as a small kid, but The Flintstones name is actually very amusing. ‘Flint’ and ‘Stone.’

Master’s Thesis approved, completed, and submitted

2006-12-07T12:45:00.000-05:00

A final version of “Coded Sampling in Optical Imaging Systems” has been submitted to the Graduate School, completing all my requirements for a second Duke degree. If interested, please let me know, and I will be happy to email you an electronic copy. I made an effort to make the first chapter non-technical.

A Classic(al) Music Connection

2006-12-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

A blog update is much overdue. I do hope to meet all expectations with the following update. As you may know, my favorite classical radio station, WCPE, has a Saturday evening request program. It was a treat to hear a very familiar tune on the radio this past weekend, one I couldn’t quite place at the time.

After checking the online play list, the noteworthy piece was Wellington's Victory, Op. 91 by Ludwig van Beethoven. According to wikipedia, it is “a minor orchestral work to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory over the French at the Battle of Vitoria in Spain on June 21, 1813.”

With the help of Apple’s iTunes, I discovered the appropriate section, “Part I: The Battle, Marlborough.” iTunes Link

Listen carefully, and you will hear an unmistakable connection to “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” [In addition, alternative lyrics sharing this same good old(e) tune are “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”]

"Get on your feet"

2006-11-20T21:09:00.000-05:00

This weekend in college football, [The] Ohio State University (#1) defeated Michigan (#2) 42-39. It was a very exciting game. With an audience of 21.77 million viewers, it was the most-watched regular season football game since 1993. Alternatively, one could say it was the most popular regular season football game broadcast in HDTV ever.

[The] Ohio State University’s Marching Band was a major [no pun intended] part of my overall viewing experience. I found their song “Hang On Sloopy” particularly catchy and with good reason. According to the band’s website, it has been an Ohio State phenomenon since its debut in 1965.

The ability of the song to bring the crowd to its feet has been noted by university officials, particularly in the pressbox…Dr. Paul Droste confirms this rhythmic power, noting that Sloopy was used on several occasions to test the structural integrity of the stadium.

Audio and video links for your entertainment:
http://tbdbitl.osu.edu/media/audio/hang_on_sloopy.mp3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oPiBSktp6M
(Anyone notice the key change?)

However, let us not forget [The] Duke University Marching Band and1966 favorite “Devil With A Blue Dress On.” [Also notable for those particularly attached to 1965, “Can’t Turn You Loose” builds the excitement whenever the team enters.] I won’t even attempt to explain the intensity this song brings to Cameron Indoor Stadium’s critical moments. Next time you’re in town for a game, I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Houston, we have a problem

2006-11-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

My hard drive crashed this morning, and I spent the better part of today trying to recover my data. I was quite unsuccessful. Frustration levels rose, but I’m handling it well. Luckily, nothing work related was lost. I’ve got a couple more recovery avenues to investigate, but the prognosis doesn’t look good. I can certainly remember a time when I would have been furious, but I believe I’ve matured since then.

I don’t remember who first said this to me, but you can learn a lot about a person by the way they handle lost luggage. In many ways, lost data is analogous.

Election Day

2006-11-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Midterm elections were yesterday. The Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives, although the word is still out on the Senate. Even in the information age, Virginia is still having trouble counting ballots.

In local news, Mike Nifong won the Durham District Attorney election. He captured 49.10% of the vote, while two challengers Lewis Cheek and write-in candidate Steve Monks received 39.25% and 11.64% respectively. Please notice 39.25+11.64>49.10.

Also interesting was my polling location, the River Church. Apparently, North Carolina isn’t too strict about that whole separation of church and state. Remember: God’s watching you cast your ballot!

Some states voted on issues ranging from abortion to same-sex marriage. Hopefully not as controversial, in other news, Arizona rejected the $1 Million Voter Reward proposition, an incentive designed to increase voter turnout, by randomly drawing one lucky voter’s name.

And for all those Classic Portnoy fans out there, I leave you with this story: After feeding my ballot into the electronic scanner, I commented to the attendant, “Gee, I hope this gets counted.” I don’t think she got the joke.

Counting Carbs

2006-11-02T15:36:00.000-05:00

Today’s adventure begins at The Refectory Café, advertised as an environmentally friendly eatery supporting local farmers and living wages. I had the Sheppard’s Pie for lunch, and while it may have been a little pricy, the portion was quite large.

In an effort to validate my beliefs that I ate healthy today, I inquired about my meal’s nutritional value. Unfortunately, no statistics were available. However, I was reassured that they are working on the issue and it may be resolved in about a month.

One must take the time to applaud McDonald’s for publishing its nutritional information on the Internet. Within a few seconds, I was able to learn that the Big Mac contains 560 calories, 30 grams of fat (including 10 grams saturated), 1010 milligrams sodium, 47 grams carbohydrates, and 25 grams protein. It may be unhealthy, but at least it’s transparent.

Now, I do believe that the food at the Refectory Café is much healthier than McDonald’s. However, I hope this claim can soon be verified quantitatively. One can not expect consumers to make educated decisions about their diet if they are not given access to the nutritional facts about the food they eat. [See also: “Super Size Me”]

Miscellaneous Catch-up

2006-10-27T12:02:00.000-04:00

Finally having a chance to catch my breath, it’s time for a blog update.

The demo went well. The last presentation of the day was given by my advisor. His title slide was “Camera Ab Initio.” [High school flashback: Magistra pulcherimma and her latin moments.]

The housekeeping staff noticed that “it’s pretty tight” in our office. I guess I had gotten used to the fact that we squeeze 8 into space designed for 7.

One of the Chinese students in our group has the best ring tone for his phone. It’s the “Star Spangled Banner”.

I saw a couple movies lately. Netflix delivered “Thank You for Smoking” which I enjoyed. Rating: 8.2/10. Interesting lesson in debate and argument.

I end up watching DVDs with subtitles most of the time. Does anyone else do this? Anyway, I was amused by the first few lines of text when the 20^th Century Fox intro was playing. “[Drumroll]” “[Rousing orchestral fanfare playing]” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I also saw “Little Miss Sunshine”. I’d rate it a 7.3/10. Quite funny at points. Very amusing group dynamic.

Busy

2006-10-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

I haven't been able to post lately because setting up for the DARPA demo has been consuming [all] my time. I also need to finish writing my Master's thesis. More updates will follow, but I right now, I need to put blogging on standby.

Updates

2006-10-20T14:35:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I ran the Duke Physical Therapy sponsored 5K in 24:40. (Mile pace: 7:58)

I also saw the Departed. I’d recommend it.

This is certainly not important is the overall scheme of things but it made me laugh:

My radiation physics professor is clearly not an expert in pn junctions. In class someone asked how one was made, and he explained that you simply put two pieces of Silicon together. For the non scientist, that’s like saying you build all the levels of a skyscraper on the ground and then stack them on top of each other.

People were passing out bibles the other day. My question is this: If someone takes a bible and later decides “this isn’t for me”, how are they supposed to get dispose of it? I expect someone might get upset if the bible was thrown out (or for that matter, burned). When people try to hand out fliers for stuff they generally don’t get very upset if you just throw it on the ground 10 feet later. Seems like the bible people would.

I just casually did the Chronicle’s [Friday] Sudoku in 20 minutes.

We have another demo for DARPA next week.

It is the fall pledge drive for my favorite classical radio station, WCPE. They stream online, too. [http://theclassicalstation.org] I gave them a donation to show my support. (Recently they played Wynton Marsalis’s “Canon for Three Trumpets And Strings”. It’s a good one, but you already know I’m a fan of Pachelbel's Canon variations.)

On my way to work I passed a man on a bicycle. He ran a red light. Last time I checked, that’s illegal for cars and bicycles! Not a very good way of getting more drivers to share the road. Hypocrite.

Do you hear what I hear?

2006-10-16T11:30:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night Mike, Mohan, and I were stranded in Rochester because of rain in NYC, our connecting city. So it was quite late, and we were at Applebee’s having a small snack and drink. At one point I must have looked pretty focused and the waitress asked Mike/Mohan about me. “Is he communicating? Did he just phone home?”

No, I was not, simply ITZ [in the zone]. I was realizing a musical connection between the song on the radio and Pachelbel's Canon in D. Mohan and Mike were skeptical, but “Can’t Stop Loving You” by Phil Collins has the same chord progression. Right now I probably do sound pretty crazy, but Wikipeida verifies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_in_D

Wikipedia also brought to my attention the piece influence on “Basket Case” by Green Day and Burger King’s jingle. [Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us.]

More from Rochester

2006-10-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

Before my talk, Mohan, Scott, and I were utilizing the free wireless internet from the adjacent hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt, which was nice, but they make you pay for everything. I overheard a passerby complaining that he took the wrong voltage adapter for his Blackberry and his battery was almost dead. I offered to help out a fellow member of the Research in Motion family and helped him out with a power-up. The guy turned out to be a former OSA President, Peter Knight from Imperial College in London.

My talk Monday afternoon went well. When I had practiced before, I found that I was taking a long time. I picked up the pace during the actual presentation and ended up finishing slightly early. I was probably talking too fast, so next time I’ll have to remember to slow down.

The OSA student reception was held Monday night at some Western style bar downtown. Funny story, I ran into Connor, who was in high school band with me. Sure enough, he ended up in grad school, too. There was also a bowling alley downstairs so Scott, Mohan, Kelly, and I played a game. I won with a score somewhere between 110 and 120. Overall I had a good time. Mohan has some pictures on his camera phone.

Later that night, I went out with another friend from high school, Austin. We met up with Chris. Good times, great oldies.

[For the time being, my moratorium on beer no longer exists.]

My glass is half full

2006-10-13T16:00:00.000-04:00

A few of us from the DISP group ate breakfast at the hotel one day. The menu listed the buffet as an option. One of the items as listed in the menu was the chef’s daily creation (or something similar). I asked our waiter what the creation of the day was. He did not have any answer other than “nobody’s ever asked that before.” Steve, Scott and Mohan all agreed that of all people, I’d be the one to ask.

Also unsatisfying was their overwhelming selection of nonfat yogurt. Why doesn’t anyone have yogurt with normal fat level anymore? It just tastes better.

Orange juice came with our breakfast buffet. I had a glass, but just wanted a little bit more. While I was getting more food, I asked Steve to relay my instruction of getting exactly half a glass of juice when the waiter came back. I returned to a nearly full glass (~90%). What was his problem? Was I not clear enough? I proceeded to drink my requested volume and left the rest on the table.

Flying to Rochester

2006-10-13T15:38:00.001-04:00

Sunday I flew up to Rochester on JetBlue Airways with a connection in JFK. My first time on the airline was pretty fun. They had TVs in the seats with 40 channels of DirecTV. One of the channels was also the map of our journey with altitude and speed information. Moderately cool, but I ended up turning mine off for most of the time and reading/napping.

At JFK, we at ate the New York Sports Grill. The experience was terrible. The service was extremely slow, and my food was really bad. The only reason I didn’t care that much was because we had a 2 hour layover.

OSA Annual Meeting

2006-10-07T19:17:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Rochester, NY for the Optical Society of America (OSA) Annual Meeting. I will return Wendesday night. My talk is on Monday, so I still have a little bit of time to finish up my Powerpoint slides. After running this morning with Daniella, I pretty much worked all day on my presentation. Not quite there yet, but I'll be ready.

Annual Fund Executive Committee Meeting

2006-10-03T22:13:00.000-04:00

Hank and crew planned a great meeting this past weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the sessions on Friday because of the DARPA lab visit. However, I was able to attend the Nursing School Opening/Dedication Ceremony. Becky and I heard the speeches, took the tours, and of course indulged in the food. [Some of the deserts were quite good.] We also saw some GPSC friends Audrey and Josh, and also Swatee.

Saturday brought yet another Duke Football Homecoming loss against Virginia (0-37). Here’s my favorite classic Duke moment. It’s 4^th down and we’re punting from our own 10 yard line. The punter sets up on the goal line, while we all scream that he is way to close to the line of scrimmage. Probably afraid of getting a safety, we hike the ball and with little surprise the punt is blocked. They recover within the 5 and score a touchdown on the next play.

Saturday night Daniella and I went to the Founders’ Societies Reception on the new Student Plaza [It’s basically bigger and better walkway to the student union.] Anyway, that was a great deal of fun. The food was fairly fancy; crazy gourmet pizza was served, for example. We talked with Provost Peter Lange, President Richard Broadhead, and their wives. Not really sure how to describe that other than they all seem pretty nice.

Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics Annual Symposium

2006-10-02T20:34:00.000-04:00

As part of the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics Annual Symposium, Charles H. Townes gave a lecture on Thursday. He won (half) the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics “for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle”.

Wednesday, I wondered if Dr. Townes had written any books. I found out he wrote “How the Laser Happened” as well as some others. So, I decided to obtain a copy. Local bookstores were out of stock, so I decided to order online from Amazon.com. Now, you might ask, “What can Brown do for me?” Overnight delivery with UPS got me the book in less than 24 hours. That afternoon, I was able to get the Nobel laureate to sign it. “Best wishes to Andrew Portnoy. Chas H. Townes”

The best parts of the lecture were most definitely the anecdotes. Most notably he recalled Bell Lab’s reluctance to patent the laser/maser work. They had said, “Light’s never been used for communications before.” He also talked about Neils Bohr’s skepticism. [Niels Henrik David Bohr won (all) the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them.” He was also a member of the tribe.]

Work update

2006-09-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned before, it’s been really busy getting ready for Friday’s demo with our funding agency. In addition, this Thursday and Friday, we have the Fitzpatrick Center Annual Meeting. I am presenting a poster on hyperspectral imaging. A few days ago, I was nearly ‘freaking out’. Today I realized that everything is going to be fine, so I’m feeling a lot better.

It looks like Homecoming weekend is going to be a ton of fun! Stay tuned for the details.

Running Update

2006-09-27T20:39:00.000-04:00

I have been running at the gym most evenings starting last week. At first, I was doing 30 minutes at 7 mph. Last night, I ran for 10 minutes at 7 mph, and then 20 minutes at 7.5 mph. (Total 3.66 miles) Today I ran at 7.5 mph for the full 30 minutes. (My 5K split time was 24:40) I haven’t registered yet, but I think I will run in the 2^nd Annual Doctorate of Physical Therapy 5K on October 15. Vito had said he was probably running in it, too.

They actually just installed new treadmills in the Wilson gym yesterday. While I feel most of the features are quite superfluous, I did enjoy watching the blinking light move around the 400m track. The personal fans are a little excessive.

The simple things

2006-09-27T20:38:00.000-04:00

Walking to the parking garage I found a dime on the ground the other day. Again, just let me know if you lost it.

Usually we have brown paper towels in the bathroom at work. Right now, we are lucky enough to have the white ones. I know what you’re going to say, “why’s it gotta be white.” The truth is, they just work better. Maybe they’re more absorbent, I don’t know. They do usually have the white paper towels in the 1^st floor bathroom by the auditorium, but that’s a pretty far walk.

Sonicare Toothbrush

2006-09-24T11:49:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I bought a Sonicare toothbrush. The first time I tried brushing, it almost tickled my teeth. It was a very strange experience. I’ve mostly gotten used to it now, so it’s pretty fun to brush. I’d recommend getting one. They’re pretty cool. I have the e5300, which I got at Bed Bath and Beyond. I used a 20% off coupon from my stack, and there was also a rebate.

Authorized Personnel Only

2006-09-24T11:34:00.000-04:00

COMP-I, one of our lab’s projects, has been taken to the next level. United States ITAR restrictions require that only US Citizens see our new IR camera. While this does sound cool, it is turning out to be a large inconvenience. Foreign citizens can’t be in the lab when the camera is being used.

This does provide for some amusing lab terminology. The Black Pelican carrying case has been coined “the football”. When taking data, “the package is in the open.” Also, when not in use the case must be safely stored in a locked cabinet. Thus, “the football is secure.”

Making life even more complicated, a few collaborators from Raython and Digital Optics Corporation visited us Thursday and Friday. We were mostly preparing for a site visit at the end of this week by our funding agency.

Campout 2006

2006-09-18T15:40:00.000-04:00

For those who aren’t familiar, it is a tradition among Duke Undergraduates to pitch tents and campout for tickets to the blockbuster basketball games. In that same spirit, graduate students have their own campout, devoting Friday night through Sunday morning to nothing short of “power tenting”.

Along with some fellow ECE students, I began the adventure this past weekend. Friday evening was great. My choice to refrain from drinking beer continued, and for no specific reason, I extended that to alcohol, in general. As predicted and independent of drinking, I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with everyone and meeting new friends.

Unfortunately, with the night air, my throat took a turn for the worse. At around 2am, I lay awake coughing nearly nonstop. In the interest of health, I choose to depart from campout and do my best to recover at my house. It was sad to leave, and sacrifice my share of game tickets, but it was the right choice. Health needs to come before basketball.

However, here’s when things get exciting. I needed to return to campout on Saturday to pick up the rest of my gear. It was around 4 when I decided to make my trip over, debating quickly whether to grab a bite before or afterward. I ended up going directly and arrived just as Johnny Dawkins was announcing the raffle winners. On Friday, I bought $10 of tickets to benefit the Emily Krzyzewski Family LIFE center. First up were two tickets to the men’s basketball game versus Maryland. Next were tickets to the Indiana game. The last prize was 2 tickets to the Duke-UNC game, in Cameron. The winner announced was actually this girl Becky, who I knew. However, she was unable to be there, and so they drew another name. They called my name next!

By this time I was almost back at the tent and literally ran and shouted my way up the hill to claim the prize. Luckily Josh saw me and helped out with a “he’s here” shout. It was all pretty amazing, considering I arrived less than 5 minutes before they called my name.

It looks I will be attending the Duke-UNC game after all. And I get to invite a friend, too. So does anyone need a ticket?

Starred Thought

2006-09-15T15:03:00.000-04:00

Lately, I have revisited some notations of wisdom. When I refer to a ‘starred thought’, I mean that a sentence is preceded by an asterisk or your own favorite importance indicating designation.

The three I chose to focus on the past couple days have been:
* Positive thinking gets positive results
* Three Stages in Life: You believe. You don’t believe. You become.
* You can only get better when you are ready to change.

Feel free to share your own. I anticipate posting future daily mottos as they unravel.

Side note: I enjoy the legitimate utilization of the importance flag (!) in emails requiring immediate attention. I’d also be interested to hear related anecdotes.

Department of Corrections

2006-09-15T14:58:00.000-04:00

The other day, I refrained from correcting my professor in class. His lecture notes refer to Raleigh scattering. The phenomenon which he almost surely intended to refer to is Rayleigh scattering, after Lord Raleigh. [I suspect that Durham’s proximity to Raleigh, NC increased the probability of this error.] One may be interested to know that this phenomenon explains why the sky is blue. From wikipedia:

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was a British physicist who (with William Ramsay) discovered the element argon, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. He was the second Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge, following James Clerk Maxwell in this position from 1879 to 1884.

Secondly, this professor also described the Photoelectric effect. He mentioned that Albert Einstein won his 1^st Nobel Prize for its discovery. While not actually wrong, this does suggest that Einstein won more than one Nobel Prize. He did not.

I was praised by a fellow officemate for exercising discretion in not publicly correcting the instructor. This is the more politically correct approach, and I am glad that I took it.

Having a good day

2006-09-12T19:08:00.000-04:00

I’m almost fully recovered from my cough. The past couple days I’ve had a sore throat, but I’ve been trying to eat well and drink plenty of water. It’s working out well.

I ate lunch today with Katie at the Loop. She drove across the country with her friend before the semester started. It sounded pretty like they had a good time.

I ran at the gym today. (30 minutes, 3.47 miles) I am making a better commitment to leading a healthier lifestyle. I may try to lift weights soon, but I am somewhat inexperienced in that area. I will need to figures out a routine/circuit. I suppose I am on the lookout for an exercise partner. I am making an effort to eat 3 meals a day, because I have been skipping breakfast for a while.

Tonight, I’m going over to Kenny and Samantha’s (new) house to make ECE campout T-shirts. The Graduate School Basketball Ticket Campout is this weekend, and we’re kicking it up a notch.

The second episode of the third season of House, M.D. is on tonight. It has been one of my favorite tv shows lately. I can’t wait to watch it.

I think I’m going to give up beer for a period of time. The length right now is indefinite. I feel that when I do drink beer it doesn’t settle very well with me and for that matter doesn’t taste altogether that good. I’ll continue to ponder the subject of alcohol.

Trip to Florida

2006-09-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I was in Florida visiting my grandparents (mom’s parents). I flew to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) via Atlanta on AirTran. I’m starting to like that airline because of the XM Satellite Radio. When in Florida, it’s all but obligatory to drive on the classic road including Military Trail, Donald Ross, and US-1. If you’ve been you’ll know what I mean.

It was good to hang out with them. I’m glad to see that they’re both keeping busy. My grandpa is involved with the home owner’s association and is the chair of the committee building a new guardhouse. You can never be too careful. Especially when half the residents aren’t there for the summer, those houses would be sitting ducks if it wasn’t for the top notch security in place. Complications are also ongoing regarding the 2 country clubs in their development. There is talk of merging; everyone would have access to two 18-hole golf courses, administrative costs would decrease, etc. Unfortunately, life is never that simple. In other news, one of the batteries died in the golf car, and they had to replace it. (Power Up)

Also, thanks for the new sneakers and watch!

Remembering September 11th, 2001

2006-09-11T16:53:00.000-04:00

I will soon share thoughts. Right now, everything is just hitting me pretty hard.

Trip to Las Vegas, NV

2006-09-08T15:02:00.000-04:00

I was on a direct flight to Las Vegas from Durham, which worked out really well. Arriving in the evening, I picked up our rental car. When I turned on the car for the first time the radio was playing Van Halen’s “Jump”; this was going to be a good trip.

For our first night in Vegas, Tony, Richard, I went to see comedian Ron White. Unfortunately, Gregg’s flight was later that evening so he couldn’t make it. Ron was drinking Scotch as usual, and it was a fun show. Somewhat pricy, but whatever, it was a vacation. Due to the incompetence our hotel, the Excalibur, Gregg wasn’t able to get the key Tony left for him at the front desk. Names were entered wrong in the computer, and they were just dumb.

We drove out to the Hoover Dam on Saturday. It was quite hot outside. (>100 °F) The dam was fun to see, though. The tour was fair, but the views were great. The sheer size of the dam is amazing. We took a couple pictures there, but Tony hasn’t had a chance to send them out, yet.

I gambled a little bit. I lost a little bit on Roulette, but won on Blackjack and Craps. Overall, I was down marginally, something like $10 or so. Craps was lots of fun though. I won $50. I did manage to loose in a small Texas Hold ‘em poker tournament. I was in with pocket Aces and a small flop came up. I called someone’s “all in” correctly reading that they had a lower pair. Everything was looking good until the River card, when they paired up their other hold card giving them two pair. Annoying, but that’s poker. I did last longer than Tony and Richard. Gregg wisely decided not to throw away his money.

Spell Check

2006-09-08T14:49:00.000-04:00

Thanks two Janelle’s advice I will bee sure too use spell check four all future posts. I’ve also red this won twice; its free of error.

1776

2006-09-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading 1776 by David McCullough. By the way, he's won the Pulitzer Prize twice. I liked the book, although it took me a long time to get through it all. There are lots of names and places, and it sometimes gets confusing. As you can probably guess, the book was about the first year of the American Revolution. If you read it, you'll see how amazing it was that we actually won.

Anyway, I've been getting into a habbit of reading lately. This was a good start.

Coming soon, I'll recap this past weekend's trip to Las Vegas with Gregg, Tony, and Richard.

An interesting type of Energy

2006-08-30T04:29:00.000-04:00

I was talking with Nick the other day. He and John are training for the Marine Corps Marathon and just ran the New York City Half-Marathon. We talked a little bit about what it feels like to run. He was saying how a crowd’s cheer (or even just turning a corner) can give an energy boost. Sometimes the right song and the right time can give that same effect, too. The whole concept is just really interesting to me. Real results and better performance can be derived from a small trigger.

It seems like the emotional state of our friends is contagious. We ourselves feel excited when good things happen to our friends. This is a great phenomenon, but it can work against us. When our friends experience unfortunate events, feelings of sadness are shared as well.

I can’t sleep…so I guess I’ll update my blog?

2006-08-30T04:08:00.000-04:00

My stress level has been ‘high’ lately. Our lab group’s acronym is DISP, and we sometimes refer to the DISPerometer as an indicator of desperation. It’s high, too. The good thing is that I work REALLY WELL when “the going get’s tough.” With little sleep, I awake very refreshed and am extremely productive. It’s like an extreme version of being “in the zone” (ITZ.) The bad news is that I frequently forget to eat meals, sometimes forget to eat altogether. Combined with my inability to sleep in these situations, after an extended period of time, I’m going to get physically sick. I'm not even joking.

So, I’m awake at 3:30am, debated about going to the lab to continue writing my Master’s thesis, and decided it’s probably best for me to stay at home for now. (I feel like I need to hold myself back sometimes in order to prevent myself from actually getting sick. It has happened before.)

Why are stress levels so high?

Based on two projects, the research part for my master thesis is basically done. However, the write-up has been hanging over my head for literally months now. I missed my personal deadline to have it done over the summer. I’m trying to get a rough draft done this week before my trip to Las Vegas (see below).
Classes just started. Luckily I’m only taking one class this semester.
I didn’t end up going to Charlotte last week, and am going to need to go on Thursday. I’m going to miss my class’s second lecture. This is moderately annoying.
On Friday through Monday, (Labor Day weekend) I’m going to Las Vegas with Gregg, Tony, and Richard. Next weekend I’m visiting my grandparents (mom’s parent’s) in Florida. The following weekend is the Grad School basketball ticket Campout. (Haven’t even thought about a ticket group, yet.)
The Fitzpatrick Center Annual Meeting is at the end of the month, which means I need to do a poster. Also, a conference is on the radar for October, so flights and hotel need to be booked.

I’ll stop now, but the list goes on.

Slicing and Dicing

2006-08-24T09:46:00.001-04:00

Yesterday evening I took a cooking class at A Southern Season with Kristen. We learned the proper technique for how to hold and use a knife. It was fun. Christina was also there volunteering so that was cool. The instructor was the head chef there, and he was definitely a professional chopper. I’m not at that level yet, but I am starting to get the hang of it.

America's Best Colleges 2007

2006-08-22T07:54:00.000-04:00

US News and World Report released their annual

America

’s Best Colleges 2007. Unfortunately, I think Duke dropped a ranking or two from last year. Was this related to the Lacrosse accusations? Bottom line is, when it comes to arbitrary rankings, you mine as well be thought of as one of the best.

Here are their top 20 National Universities:

1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. California Institute of Technology
4. Stanford University
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
7. University of Pennsylvania
8. Duke University
9. Dartmouth College
9. Columbia University
9. University of Chicago
12. Cornell University
12. Washington University in St. Louis
14. Northwestern University
15. Brown University
16. Johns Hopkins University
17. Rice University
18. Vanderbilt University
18. Emory University
20. University of Notre Dame

DISP Update

2006-08-22T07:48:00.000-04:00

IMPORTANT: I found a dollar on the ground the other day after work. If you lost it let me know, and I will return it.

I had a very busy week at the lab because I’m working on about 8 different projects. Classes start soon, which means I should figure out what courses I need to take. I probably shouldn’t talk much about research on this (public) blog, but we are working on some very exciting things.

I think I’m “going to have to go ahead and” visit Digital Optics Corporation in Charlotte tomorrow, and possibly Thursday for the thin IR camera project. Also, collaboration is starting to pickup with our friends at Rice University.

I have successfully transitioned to a new (for me) office desktop computer. With Evan’s help I am now running dual AMD Athlon MP 1700+ (1.47GHz) with 1GB RAM. Definitely fast enough for MS Office, email, and the web. However, some new students in the group have newer Dell 3.4 GHz machines. In a way this is good because it forces me to write my code twice as good in order to keep up. I manage. [Historical note: current processor technology is just starting to use ‘dual core’ 65 nm process technology. The Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 1066Mhz FSB runs at 2.13 GHz sells for $260.]

Connecticut

2006-08-14T20:59:00.000-04:00

Friday I took the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry over the Long Island Sound to Connecticut. I saw my parents and sister that night as we went to the club for the team selection dinner of the weekend’s golf tournament. My dad’s team came in 3^rd place, which was really nice to see. The tournament could be a post all by itself, but I won’t go into it here. Feel free to ask me for details.

I saw my sister, who is doing really well. She’s working this summer at and an industrial design company and teaching swim lessons. Classes at her college start up in a couple weeks. My mom is also doing well; she goes back to work pretty soon, too. (She’s a teacher.)

On Saturday, I ate lunch with some great friends from High School, Josh and Austin. They are both doing well, and it was good to catch up. When I go up to Rochester for the Optical Society of America conference in October, I will try to meet up with Austin, because he goes to school up there. Our conversations turned entrepreneurial soon enough. Company ideas were tossed around, and we reassured each other that someday we would start a company. Together we know some great people and it’s just a matter of time before the right idea comes along. Friends from Duke, you know who you are. Bottom line is we need to setup a dialog (weekly, bi-weekly?) for ongoing discussions. Thoughts?

Saturday night we had some people over for dinner. In addition, my dad’s parents drove down for the evening. It was good to see everyone. I don’t think I’ve been back home for a year.

In other news, our neighbor’s daughter Rachel had her 7^th birthday party on Sunday. It was definitely a surprise to see how old she has gotten. I definitely remember when she was born. At the party another couple brought their 8 week old baby. It’s really incredible how small she was.

Currently there is increased security at the airports because of an attempted terrorist attack on flights headed to the US from the UK. Thanks to those authorities who foiled their plot. For me, this means I had to buy new shaving cream gel and toothpaste because no gels or liquids are allowed in carry on bags. There was a noticeable increase in security at BDL (Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport). Luckily I was able to speed through security because it wasn’t very busy.

I Love NY

2006-08-14T20:23:00.000-04:00

Before I visited my family in Connecticut this past weekend, I stayed with my good friend Tom on Long Island for a couple days. I flew up to LGA (that’s New York’s LaGuardia Airport) and we had an incredible view of Manhattan. For future reference, the right window seat has view. The flight plan took us up the Hudson River and from my window I could see everything New York. ‘Ground Zero’ where the World Trade Centers once stood, Madison Square Garden, Central Park, the Empire State Building, and who could forget Yankee Stadium. Alas, the Yankees were on the road Wednesday, so I had to settle for a Mets game, with Tom and Phil. We watched as the silly fans cheered on their former teammate Mike Piazza (now a San Diego Padre) hit 2 home runs, and almost a third. The Mets won, 4-3.

Thursday we were on the Island (that is, the Long one). Tom and I saw the World Trade Center movie, which I felt was a good see. That night, we played some poker, while watching the World Series of Poker. I actually ended up doing very well, although having good cards did help. Which got me to thinking: we should start up a poker night at the house here in Durham. To all local readers: what do you think?

Avocados and Bananas

2006-08-01T23:25:00.000-04:00

Finally a new post! At least I’m starting off the month right. This post comes from this past weekend (technically Friday). I ate dinner with Katie at the Blue Corn Café on 9^th Street. We were originally thinking Cosmic, but this ended up being a great setting for another Classic Portnoy adventure. Our waitress finishes the list of the day’s specials and also mentions that they are out of avocado. Searching for an appropriate sarcastic remark, I proceed to order my quesadilla as listed on the menu requesting it be served with the traditional lettuce, tomato, cheese, and extra guacamole. Her response probably included shaking her head from side to side, uttering, “sure thing”, all the while thinking, “stupid American.” Though I admit she completely caught me off guard when returning as she announced for us a basket of chips and guacamole. I definitely turned my head with excitement only to find a cup of salsa. Very impressive and well played, indeed.

Any thoughts on why I enjoy pretending to be oblivious? I’m not sure why, but this story reminds me a little of some self checkout adventures at the local supermarket…unfortunately, those will have to wait because I’m still looking for my tarjeta de Kroger. (pronounced: tar-JET-a, of course.)

Week in Review

2006-07-23T10:41:00.000-04:00

It has been quite some time since my last post. Lately, I have been very busy at the lab. I’m glad I have the chance now to catch up on the past week’s excitement.

I went to see Chicago and Huey Lewis & the News last weekend with Katie and Roman. The show was a lot of fun. How can you beat rock and roll trombone? This time we sat out in the ‘John Deere’ Lawn at Alltel Pavilion. Great place to watch the show. (Obviously the grass was really nice.) The weather for the day looked a little threatening, but it worked out perfectly. Not a drop of rain the whole evening, plus we saw lightning in the sky behind the stage.

This week, I went to a Durham Bulls game. They got slaughtered by the Red Barons 8-1. Unfortunately not the best game, but at least it was a nice day.

Back at the lab, I’ve made some great progress on how to better use our 3D rapid prototyping machine. I can give more technical details, but this basically allows us to create 3D plastic objects in pretty much whatever shape we want. It gives a new meaning to ‘Save and Print’. My fun non-scientific breakthrough of the week was giving us the ability to import a graphic into our CAD software. Now we can put logos on our parts! (For those concerned, don’t worry, I actually do real
work, too.)

Review: Original Steakhouse & Sports Theatre

2006-07-13T13:37:00.000-04:00

Neal was in town the past couple days and we went to the Original Steakhouse & Sports Theatre. The food was pretty good although I have one complaint. I don't like the aspect ratio of their menu. The menu was about 24 inches tall and 7.5 inches wide, unfolded. (Each of the 3 pannels were about 2.5 inches wide.) This just made for an awkward experience. We couldn't both put our menus down on the table at the same time because they would overlap. I had the bottom of the menu running into my stomach. It was just a pain. I mean really, don't these people know I'm used to watching HDTV in the 16:9 aspect ratio? I need my content to be wider than it is tall so that I can more effectively process the data.

Rant: Unlock My Door

2006-07-10T13:25:00.000-04:00

I don't understand it. A particularly convenient first floor entrance to CIEMAS is guarded by a Duke Card swipe 24 hours a day. In all fairness, this isn't a traditional entrance to the building because it allows access to the under construction clean room. HOWEVER, the door does allow access to the stairwell. And, it’s a lot quicker to get to my office by going up these stairs than walking all the way down to the main entrance, and then all the way down my hall.

Here’s my problem: The door isn’t protecting anything! I can still exit though the door without ever needing a Duke Card. Will someone please unlock my door during normal hours like every other door in the building?

July 4th Weekend

2006-07-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

To start off, I want to wish my coworker, Scott, and his newlywed bride, Robin, all the best. I attended their lovely wedding on Saturday, July 1st. Additionally, two great friends, Gregg and Jeff, were in town this weekend. It was great to have the opportunity to catch up with them.

I saw Superman Returns, which I would rate it a 3.8 out of 5. There were a number of references to the historical Superman which were especially amusing. Overall, the movie met my expectations. Not outstanding, but a worth seeing action movie. Interestingly enough, the movie questions its own reason for existence. Does the world need Superman? I believe the world at least needs the idea of a Superman. I’d also be willing to bet Joseph Campbell would agree.

There was a great turnout for the 3^rd Annual July 4^th BBQ at my house. About 30 friends came over for the hamburgers, hot dogs, and vegiburgers. Guests generously brought their own favorites, too, so we had more than enough food for everyone. Thank you to all who came out!

At the BBQ, we also watched the launch of space shuttle Discovery live in HDTV. The launch was originally scheduled for Sunday, but delays pushed back the date to July 4^th. If you ask me, that was probably more than just a coincidence, but the show was well worth the wait.

As if that wasn’t enough, Paul, Jeff, Gregg, and I went to the Journey/Def Leppard concert at Alltel Pavilion Tuesday night with fireworks afterward. Now, I usually try to make the best out of any situation, but we had an incredible time. As you can see, our seats were just amazing. Great music, great friends. Feel free to choose your own tagline. The couple that came to mind include Mastercard's Priceless commercials as well as the all too fitting recent Alltel ads. It's all about being in the Circle.

Proud To Be American

2006-06-30T10:52:00.000-04:00

I ran the Washington Duke cross country trail the other day. At my speed, I probably should classify it as a jog. For those not from around Duke, the trail is basically a 3 mile path through the woods around the perimeter of the hotel and golf course. People from Connecticut would classify it as a little hilly. People from Texas (or Florida) could easily mistake the trail for the Rocky Mountains. I know because I was collaborating with Rice University last week. The biggest hill in Houston is an onramp.

The point is I was wearing a T-Shirt running that had a US flag and said “Proud to be an American”. (I still remember buying that shirt in the East Campus store shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001.) After my run, I stopped at Sam’s Quik Shop to get a Gatorade. I was thirsty. When paying for my drink I was practically interrogated by the clerk and other shoppers for wearing said shirt. He asked me what exactly I was proud of. At the time I didn’t have a very good answer.

After some pondering, I am now very amused that the guy who makes his living SELLING GASOLINE asked me this question. (For readers in the future: The price of oil today is about $70/barrel and has basically doubled in the past 2 year.) By no means is our country perfect, but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud to be a part of it. We must have something good going for us if one of today’s big issues is illegal immigration.

In demonstration of my patriotism and in honor of our nation’s 230th birthday, I will be hosting my 3rd Annual July 4th BBQ at my house. What could be more American than that?

Also, if you haven't already done so, I highly recommend checking out the winning photos from the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography by Todd Heisler. My favorite is below:

When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process. "See the people in the windows? They sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. And they should."

On advice

2006-06-28T10:48:00.000-04:00

I have found that when one seeks the advice of another person it takes one of three forms. Alice and Bob are the two generic characters in any worthwhile cryptography example, so I will use them here. For those not familiar with our friends, Alice traditionally tries to send a message to Bob. (More on Alice and Bob at Wikipedia)

Here, it is Alice asking for Bob’s advice. This will be amusing because I’m officially using generic names, but they carry obvious gender externalities. Keep this in mind the next time you are asked things like “Does this dress make me look fat?”

The three forms:

Alice genuinely wants Bob’s advice. Alice has some problem in which she feels Bob is either as or more qualified to handle. If he was less knowledgeable about the subject, Alice would find someone else to ask for advice. (Insert cryptographic reference: she could ask Carol or Charlie)
Alice has a problem, but already has a solution in the back of her mind. She asks Bob for advice, but really wants reassurance in making this decision. Alice wants Bob to reflect Alice’s already defined opinion back her to alleviate her doubts.
Alice has a problem, but doesn’t actually want to move closer to a resolution. Alice wants to share frustration with Bob, and simply rant about her situation. The problem may eventually be solved, but not now. To avoid talking to herself, Alice talks to Bob.

Let us analyze:

In situation one, Alice must admit that Bob is better suited to solve the problem. This can actually be pretty hard to do, depending on the circumstances. There’s a comfort associated with being in control of a situation. Inherently, you give that up when following the lead of another person. If asking for advice in this form, we must first ask ourselves a question. Would we follow the other person’s advice even if we don’t understand their reasoning?

Situation two is interesting because it may be difficult for Bob to know what the hidden solution is. If Bob doesn’t know what the ‘right’ answer is, he may unintentionally propose a different solution. This can be disastrous because Alice was simply seeking reassurance in the first place.

Lastly, everyone has been in situations where they just need to rant. One calls up a friend initially asking for an opinion or advice, but the conversation quickly turns one sided. Similarities to situation two can be drawn easily, because Alice really just wants support.

I find all three cases completely valid and reasonable. When being asked for advice, though, the first challenge is determining where one fits into the decision making process. Only then, can one appropriately respond.

What do you think?

My first post

2006-06-25T21:22:00.000-04:00

Today, I enter the world of blogging. In the past, I've tried keeping a journal before, but I just never could get into the habit of updating it. It was always a struggle to find the right words to describe the world as I see it. I will try to overcome these obstacles as I look toward the future. As I move forward, I hope to record snippets from my life. Someday, I may enjoy looking back on my adventures. For the time being, I hope this will help me to organize some of my thoughts and provide interested friends with a glimpse of my life. Hopefully it will be entertaining.

I shall set the philosophy aside for now and close with an anecdote from my latest trip to the grocery store:
I was at the deli counter and wanted to purchase some smoked turkey. Casually, I asked the attendant to slice me 0.4 lb. of turkey. She seemed to have significant difficulty interpreting my request, nearly slicing me 4lbs! I explained that I wanted the scale to read 0.4, which is a little less than a half a pound and a little more than a third of a pound. One would have thought Kroger employees would be a little more comfortable with fractions and decimals, especially those working in the deli! Does Harris Teeter have more educated employees? Should I have ordered in ounces or kilograms? (That would have been especially enjoyable.)

My rationale: In the past, I have found that 1 lb is usually good for about 5 sandwiches. I wanted enough for 2 this week, hence the order for 2/5 lb. Anticipating my fraction’s unconventional denominator, I tried to make everyone’s life easier by converting to decimal. Apparently I thought wrong.

My first example of what has been, is, and will become "Classic Portnoy".