The View Through my Lens

Some more leftover photos.

2012-01-21T19:25:00.000-05:00

Random photos

2012-01-16T14:26:00.000-05:00

Getting back into daily life so some random photos from the break.

The Science Comedian-Brian Malow

2012-01-09T11:19:00.001-05:00

This last December I was lucky enough to go to a workshop put on by the AGU and meet with Brian Malow, the Science Comedian. He was hilarious and if you haven't heard of him, check out his website!

Random photos from the flight

2012-01-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

After the holidays, I'm trying to get motivated to get back to work. I think I need a vacation from the vacation.

Final Days in Winter Park

2012-01-01T16:49:00.001-05:00

So only a few days left in the vacation and I have mixed feelings about that. It will be nice to be back home and alone, I've been visiting people for the last month (quiet literally). But it does mean that I will have to return to focusing on finishing the thesis (which should have been done about 9 months ago if not sooner). It also means leaving Beautiful Colorado and the Rockies, but going back to wonderful Boston. I might not be able to see a moose in Boston, but there is an albino skunk that likes to go through the back yard of our apartment building. I hope that you all have had a great Holiday Season and will have a wonderful new year.

Happy NewYears Eve

2011-12-31T19:02:00.000-05:00

Happy New Years! So these fireworks were from Christmas Eve, but hopefully there will be another wonderful show tonight. I hope this year was a good one for you, and may the next be even better.

Winter Park at Christmas

2011-12-30T13:43:00.002-05:00

This Christmas we got to stay up in the mountains in Fraser CO. Christmas day was spent snowshoeing and we happened upon a moose and it's kid. It was beautiful even if the snow was a bit slushy.

Some more from the flight

2011-12-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

Since both my flights were relatively short, I got some great photos as we didn't have to travel too high. The first photo was on the way from Dallas to San Francisco. The second photo was traveling from LA to Denver. Sunset is always beautiful from above the clouds. The third photo was from San Francisco to LA. It's always amazing to me how much and how easily it is to see the impact of humans on the landscape.

Flying

2011-12-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

When ever I fly, I always end up looking at all the geographic features and trying to get some photos from out of the plane's windows.

The last from this trip to San Fran.

2011-12-16T16:42:00.000-05:00

Most of these are from nightlife, but then I had to throw in a view from my hotel window. It's such a great skyline.

Some more from San Fran

2011-12-15T16:23:00.000-05:00

There really were way too many fun things to do in San Fran. I need to come back and visit when I'm not at a conference.

At the conference centre there is a great merry-go-round. Some day I'm actually going to go and see it during the day...

Oakland hills had some great little hikes and a beautiful botanical garden. Someday I'm going to go back and actually have time to enjoy the walk through instead of jogging most of my way through it.

Some notes from my time in San Fran

2011-12-14T18:51:00.000-05:00

While I was in San Francisco I got to go to the best thing in the world. Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences. It was all I could have ever hoped for as a kid, and everything I wanted as an adult. The museum was turned into a club for all intents and purposes where you could get all these amazing cocktails and then go see an I-max movie. Here are just a few of the things I got to see

Here is Claude an albino alligator. Apparently he doesn't normally move, so the fact that we got to see him swim all of 6 feet was pretty impressive.

A bit more fast pace were the sting rays and sharks. Always a lot of fun to watch, but they never seem to want to stay still enough for a photo...

This alligator gar was my favourite, mostly because I had just watched River Monsters where they fished for a whole bunch of them.

AGU Conference in San Fran

2011-12-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

Every year I try to go to the AGU conference in San Fran and every year I seem to miss out on taking photo of everything that I would want to... That being said, this year I think I got a few keepers. Let me know what you think. All three of them have the golden gate bridge. The first is from the bay model, the second, well that's obvious, and the third is a painting in a great pizzeria that we went to.

Getting ready for AGU

2011-11-29T11:15:00.001-05:00

In about a weeks time I'm going to San Fran (hopefully I'll get some good pics). There is a huge conference for Earth-Space science going on. Today I finally finally finally got some new and interesting results, or at least I hope they are interesting. I really hate coding, especially in a new code (just starting to learn python). Anyway I need a coding break, so I thought I'd put up a few more pics from this fall. I hope you enjoy!

I think once I get this code working and the plots all out, I might have to take a trip to The Thirsty Scholar, because I'll be one scholar in need of a drink.

I think this is Harvard... but I can't remember

2011-11-28T08:07:00.001-05:00

Okay I know it is, but since I haven't been able to walk through Harvard Yard in a while I thought I might post some photos to remember what it is that we're not being allowed to see.

The wonderful T.

2011-11-26T16:21:00.001-05:00

Having traveled a bit and living in multiple places, I have to say I love the T. I wish that all cities in the US had public transportation like Boston. For us it means that we don't need to have a car, no car insurance, and no parking spaces. This way we also get a bit more exercise as it's easier to walk to most places.

Lazy Black Friday

2011-11-25T19:16:00.001-05:00

So we protested Black Friday in the best way possible. We sat in old clothes and ate left overs, made bread from scratch and read used and or library books... Okay so that is the plan for most days off anyway.

I also spent the day going through some older photos and found a bunch from T's and trains. I hope you had a successful and safe Black Friday and that there were delicious leftovers aplenty.

Photos from America's First Public Beach

2011-11-24T13:52:00.000-05:00

Although the hour long train ride was to try to get health care, I of course brought my camera and got some photos. I did not know this but the T stop at Ocean Beach on the blue line is right next to America's first public beach. It was a cloudy day and not in a good way. The whole sky was overcast and grey, but I think I still got a few good photos out of it.

How to make a Turkey...

2011-11-24T11:28:00.001-05:00

There is some swearing in this... I also thought that it might need more wine.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.

How I eventually got MassHealth

2011-11-23T13:07:00.001-05:00

This story like many others I have come across is one of getting MassHealth sucks, but once you have it, it's amazing.

As you may have read in a previous post I have found myself currently without work and with out the ability to afford health care. Thank goodness I live in Massachusetts! I thus qualify for MassHealth. Getting it though has been a bit of a problem... I went to one of their virtual gateways, filled out my form, read it over, signed it and was told that since I currently have no income, am not married, and have no children this will be easy. I depressing view of my current life, but at least it helps me get healthcare?

Anyway, ~4 weeks later I got a letter stating that I was declined because I am not a resident, but I am... So I tried calling many a help number given to me and was continually asked if I resided in another state at any point in time and did I receive benefits there. Yes I have lived in other states, but not currently, and no I have never received benefits before. Being asked this questions continually I started to become worried that perhaps some one had stolen my identity, but they would not tell me what state they thought I lived in or what benefits they thought I might be collecting.

I was told that I needed to file an appeal (I think, but some told me that I'd have to do this and others told me that I shouldn't) and that I should send a rental lease (which I don't have because I'm staying with friends), a utilities bill in my name (again staying with friends, not on any of the utilities, and also their rent covers all utilities anyway), or a notarised affidavit but they didn't say from whom.

In the mean time my friend was asking around to see if any one els had encountered these problems and how they got through it. Eventually he found Health care for everyone and called 1-800-272-4232. They were incredibly helpful and told him that since I was staying with him for the foreseeable future he should write an affidavit for me and then I should take it to 300 Ocean Ave, Revere, MA 02151, I believe this is the closest regional centre.

That day he went to the bank and got the affidavit notarised and the next day I took the hour plus train ride out to Ocean Ave. Once there I got a cranky women who asked me once again did I live in another state, and was I receiving benefits. I handed her the affidavit and she baulked at it saying that they couldn't accept on from a roommate, it had to be a land lord. I explained that I was told this would be acceptable and she reiterated it had to be from a landlord and added condescendingly that I should have known better then to think that they would accept one from my roommate. I then stated that in order to bring her the correct documents I needed to be told then what those correct documents where and not given false information. Was there something that I could give her then and there that would be acceptable? I had my Massachusetts drivers license, I had my US passport, and I had my voter registration papers. She then proceeded to tell me that she had no idea why they stated that I wasn't a resident and no it did not say that I was or am a resident in any other state or receiving benefits from another state (thank goodness no identity fraud). She finally went and asked if my roommates affidavit would be acceptable and they said yes, took it away, she came back in a huff and said that I now had health care and I needed to call this phone number the next day, oh and I would need to provide a primary care giver good bye. And that was it according to her. I asked her where I might find a list of primary care givers and she almost exploded "I don't know call some one else". So I left. I did get some good photos though.

Since the MassHealth help lines hadn't been helpful I called the Health Care for everyone to ask where I might find a list of primary care givers. I've never had to do this before as I've been in school for my entire adult life and didn't get a choice, you just got who they gave you. I was then told that I should know better and call my private insurance plan. As far as I knew I didn't have a private insurance plan as I was now in one of the MassHealth programs, but didn't know which one. The lady then lectured me that I should get my organisations right. She did finally give me a number and informed me that I was on MassHealth Essentials, I didn't know that was one of the possible programs let alone the one that I was on. By this time I was in tears, but at least I had a bit more info.

I then called the Customer Service at 1800- 841- 2900. Now that I had an Id number (not that I knew that I had one or what it was) the help was much better. I found out what my options were for the different groups I could go with and where to find a list of primary care givers. This I found out was a bit of a fluke, but how to play the system. Apparently one just has to keep calling, just call the same number and the same extensions over and over again until you find someone who is helpful. I thanked the girl profusely and told her how grateful I was that someone was finally willing to talk me through the entire process. I am new to the state, I didn't expect to find myself in this situation, I have never had to receive benefits before and the process was new and is very convoluted. Even though I have advanced degrees I was made to feel stupid and incompetent throughout the entire process. I don't think it was me, and I understand that the people working in the system are overworked, underpaid, and understaffed. However if you find yourself in a similar situation don't worry you are not stupid, you are not a bad person for needing this help no matter what any one implies or out right says.

My story it ends up is quiet common. According to the Health Care for Everyone employee that my friend talked to, many people are wrongly marked as not a resident. I hope that by reading this you've found some useful info and phone numbers or at least solace in knowing that you are not the only one out there experiencing this.

Yoga Breakdancing, So Cool!

2011-11-18T11:37:00.001-05:00

This is the best thing I've seen I think in years. Enjoy...

The rest from the weekend at Occupy Boston

2011-11-16T21:39:00.001-05:00

These are the last Pics from this weekends trip to Occupy Boston. My partner was sure that all he would want to do is go down there, drop off our donations, walk around and then leave and have a pint of beer at the bar. Instead what happened was that we became captivated by the speakers at the rally, and then we went and got a pint. When we were down there a group from (I thought it was militarysuiside.org or com but I'm having trouble finding their web site) were talking. Anyway, this guy talked for quiet a while about post traumatic stress disorder and military suicides. He reminded everyone that there is no way that any of us can know or fully understand what our soldiers went through, saw, or had to do while deployed. He asked us to make sure that we don't let our friends and family who are returning from war push us away. If they are quiet, if they are sullen, if they are "changed", just accept them, love them, include them, and try to help or get help for them.

After his talk a mother and father of a kid (he was about 22) who committed suicide spoke. That's when I started to tear up. This is what I remember of their shared experience. They talked about how their son had been "aggressively recruited". This was pre-Iraq war. They talked about how he and his troop were one of the first deployed to Iraq and about the first time they felt a bomb go off close to their camp at night. They read from his letters home where he tried to spare them all the pain and misery, but would allude to other letters he had written that they would read if he died. They talked about when he returned home, about how he at first seemed just like their son prior to the war. He changed. After a while they started to notice that he was depressed, they tried to get him to the VA, but he was worried about what the military would think. I believe that they finally got him to go, but one day his son asked him if he could sit in his lap and be rocked. Later that night he killed himself. He was younger than my little brother who is about to become a father for the first time. It is sad to think that this kid, who was willing to go to war for us, and willing to give his life for our country will never be able to experience the life of freedoms that he fought for.

I understand that we need to have a military, and I understand that our military does do many great deeds overseas that we never really hear about. I once got to talk to a guy who while in the military received a PhD in Civil Eng. He was part of the crew who first went into Bosnia after the war to start rebuilding the towns. He was also part of the crew who got to hand over the keys to the town once the building was complete. I was blessed to hear his story and get to talk to him. Stories like this are uplifting and show how much potential for good our military has. However I do feel at times, to be honest at many times, that we and our representatives forget that our military is made up of people, and many young people at that. Asking them to go to war, to see people die, to kill people, is a huge request and one that I feel is many times taken too lightly. During my lifetime I have never been for a war that we were in. That said I am so thankful for those who choose to enlist and fight in the name of our country. I could not. So thank you to those who do, try to stay safe and if you need anything, just ask.

More from Last weekend at Occupy Boston

2011-11-16T09:48:00.001-05:00

Some more photos from Occupy Boston, Keep up the good work!

It is amazing to me how so many in this nation are willing to speak up for the rights of corporations and the right for people to make an obscene profit on the backs of others, neither of which are in the constitution, but are happy to turn a blind eye when the right to the freedom of assembly is being ignored and trampled on right in front of our eyes. Sure this is the second to last freedom mentioned, but it is in the first amendment to our constitution. It was viewed as one of the most important freedoms we the people of this country have. It is not used often, but when used, it has a great impact.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

More from Occupy Boston this past weekend.

2011-11-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

Some more from this weekend at Occupy Boston.

MassHealth

2011-11-15T08:36:00.001-05:00

Since moving back to the States in the Boston area, I've applied for MassHealth (well really commonwealth care, but they all go through MassHealth or so I'm told). I'm lucky in a sense to be living in a state with something akin to a socialised health care system. I'm still a PhD student, but my funding has run out so I'm no longer getting paid (thus one of the reasons I moved back) and have been looking for work in the area (My partner lives and works here). Since my student loans are about to become due, all my savings is going into paying them off as quickly as possible while still being able to pay for my living expenses... which means that I can't afford health care. Up steps Massachusetts and offers state funding health care, I say "Yes Please". So I've filled out the forms, sent in the application, wait about 4 weeks and get a letter stating that they have refused my application because I'm not a resident. Wait a min... I just voted in this last Tuesday's election, in order to vote you must be a resident. My name was on the ballot roll and all. In order to be a resident, you must live in MA, they sent me the letter to my apartment in (drum roll please) MA?!?!? I have a MA drivers license, I pay taxes in MA, one of the big reasons I need this health care is because I could be fined for living in MA without health care. I guess though that if they think that I'm not a resident, then maybe they'll let that fine slide?

Yesterday I tried to call them and spent from 1:40pm - 5:15pm oscillating from being on hold to having the computer kick me off because they were having a large call volume. So I'm now up early and on the phone with them again. I tried at 8:30 and found out that the call centre doesn't start until 8:45am, so I called at 8:45am. The line was busy, busy as in a busy tone. I called back immediately. Apparently even though it's 8:47am "all agents are busy" because they already have a high call volume.

The next step for me (after I get off of hold) assuming that they can't help me is to call a lawyer with the community legal services. I have 30 days where I can file for an appeal and ask for a "fair hearing" and explain that I think the reasons why I was declined was false. I'm not sure how to show that I'm even more of a resident than I already have. I produced my driver's licence, my pass port, my check book with the address of my current apartment, and I even had some mail with me to also prove my address. I'm not sure what else to do.

I've been on hold now for over 12 mins.

Occupy Boston

2011-11-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

On the way down to Occupy Boston, got this photo of south station and then a few photos from across the street. The camp was larger than I expected and much more densely packed. I was surprised to see the police by the entrances to the camp. Not sure why I was surprised, but I think I figured that they wouldn't be so visible or even there. It was also a lot quieter than I expected. No one shouting, people all acting very respectfully. It was a great experience and I hope that they can make use of the old winter clothes and sheets that we were able to bring down and donate.

Occupy Harvard

2011-11-13T13:36:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we went to occupy Harvard and Boston. My partner is a staff member of Harvard and thus has a staff id, and I have a gym membership id. I wasn't allowed in the second time we tried to get through. We weren't there to protest, we were just passing through on our way to the T to get to occupy Boston, but I did get some photos. There weren't many people there and those that were were very quiet.

I really think that Harvard is overreacting. If they want to keep the size of the tent community down for the safety of their students, then they should be able to do that, but keeping everyone without a Harvard ID out is a bit of a overreaction. There was a group of high school students who had come up for the weekend who wanted to see Harvard and were refused access. Partners, friends and family members of Harvard students, staff, and faculty are refused entrance. The normal busy Harvard lawn was quiet and empty. They don't seem to want to kick the protesters out, but instead have refused to let anyone in, I personally think that this will make Harvard look worse for wear.

Women, War, and Peace

2011-11-12T11:29:00.001-05:00

By virtue of living abroad you tend to miss many of the things that go on in your own country, and months after returning I feel like I am still catching up and learning once again where to look for interesting shows and news. This is a look behind the making of this great series Women, War, and Peace shown on PBS.

It is odd to think that sexual violence during wars has only recently been prosecuted as a crime against humanity. Women make up half of humanity. How has it taken so long for us as a spices to recognise that this is not okay, that this is torture, that this is dehumanising?

Watch Matt Damon: Why Should Men Care? on PBS. See more from WOMEN WAR AND PEACE.

Election Results!

2011-11-09T10:29:00.003-05:00

So in my local elections all but one of my choices got in, so not too bad, but I'm sure not too many people care about the small town politics. But there were some interesting results outside of MA, Ohio overturned the union stripping bill and Mississippi rejected the "personhood"amendment. Main also re-instated the right to register to vote on election day. Not bad over all! Now just a year until the big election, I can't wait.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yeah, I voted today!

2011-11-08T22:09:00.001-05:00

That is all... Here are a few photos from the experience. I hope you had a great day voting as well!

The last from the walk over the weekend

2011-11-08T22:08:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to Vote today!

2011-11-08T13:23:00.000-05:00

I know for most people this is an uninteresting election, and they are looking towards next year's instead, but the people and referendums that you vote on today are about what is going on locally. I'm hoping to vote in people who will help expand public transport in my city and who have an invested interest in keeping it a thriving and safe community as they have businesses and families who live here.

Fall colours around town two

2011-11-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

Some more from the weekend's walk where we ended at the local pub for a couple of drinks and some music.

Fall Around Town

2011-11-06T22:02:00.004-05:00

We went for a great walk today around town, and the fall colours were out in force.

Voting this Tuesday!

2011-11-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to be able to once again vote in person! Growing up I remember in my civics classes always being told that your most important job as a citizen was to vote, and was something I missed the most while living abroad. Sure I was able to and did vote for elections back in the US, but I wasn't able to vote in elections where I was living, and on measures that had more of a daily impact of my life, like the fact that international students were not allowed student concessions on busses because ya know we were foreigners. I understand why I couldn't vote, and that by moving there I had agreed to it, but I didn't like it. I once complained that I felt like a second class citizen and was reminded that I wasn't a citizen first, second or any class. This next week I once again get to use this liberty. I've read the bios of the aldermen at large and have chosen those whom I wish to vote for (all the other races only have one choice)

Bill White - whom was once a Republican, but is now a democrat endorsed by the progressive democrats and added a T-station to the orange line in Somerville.
Dennis Sullivan - Also endorsed by the progressive democrats and who according to the Somerville Journal

asked city lawyers to draft a domestic violence policy at City Hall, booting offenders from city jobs and giving employees who have been victimized time to go to court. After a year of inaction from City Hall, Sullivan once again called for a policy to be written at the last aldermen meeting.

Sean Fitzgerald - who supports gay marriage and a state wide progressive income tax
and Jack Connolly - who has supported the expansion of the t-lines throughout Sommerville.

Yea voting! Yea democratic process! Yea America!

Ah I love fall

2011-11-04T10:56:00.001-04:00

Some more photos, I hope you enjoy...

And more Fall, this time from Cambridge

2011-11-03T09:37:00.001-04:00

I really need to take more notes on where I take each of these photos. But these are pretty obvious, it's Harvard.

Solar wind from Gizmodo

2011-11-02T14:32:00.000-04:00

If you don't already know, I work in the field of space physics/ space weather. It's not every day that this field makes the news, but today I found this great video from Gizmodo but I couldn't get the embedded form there, so I went to the creators project.

20 Hz from Semiconductor on Vimeo.
From the creators project

More Fall from Somerville

2011-11-02T12:35:00.000-04:00

I just love the colours of Fall. My absolute favourite time of year.

The Day the Mountains Move

2011-11-01T15:56:00.003-04:00

I just found this pome and I want to share it with you

"The Day the Mountains Move" by Yosano Akiko

The day the mountains move has come.

I speak, but no one believes me.

For a time the mountains have been asleep,

But long ago they all danced with fire.

It doesn't matter if you believe this,

My friends, as long as you believe:

All the sleeping women

Are now awake and moving.

(Published in the women's magazine Seitô, 1911)

Really, are we still having this discussion on women clothing?

2011-11-01T13:08:00.000-04:00

Once again I was stumbling around the web and happened upon Ta-nehisi's blog where one of the stories on the front page was a response to an article written about how stupid women are... Turns out this was an article in the Washington Post by Charlotte Allen from 2008. Why it was still up as a top story I don't know. Anyway, this led me to google her and see what she has done more recently and led me to an article on Jezzabell about Halloween costumes. Turns out this Charlotte Allen thinks that women who are raped, or at least some of them, are asking for it by dressing "Sluty". I agree that there are steps one can take to reduce your chances of being mugged, but I also think that we should not give into the terrorist or rapist and change the way we dress and live in fear that someone might find what I'm wearing provocative. When I first posted on women's rights I really didn't think that there were too many out there who were against women's rights. Then I guess I started looking, not even looking, just paying attention.

Of course there are the crazies like Pat Buchanan who think that women aren't as capable as men and if you google anti feminist you come up with a bunch of site agreeing with Pat. I think it's the number of these sites, and the comments on these sites that frustrate me. I would hate to bring any more traffic to them, and I'm sure you are capable of googling them yourselves if you so desire, so instead I am going to post links that have a more positive view on feminist.

Democracy Now has a great interview with Nobel Laureate Tawakkul Karman

Slate.com has a great post on the evolution (or intelligent design) of the anti-feminist

There is always the wonderful skepchick

An interesting piece in the Gaurdian about the state oaf feminism in the UK

And I'll end with this piece from Snow White Doesn't Live Here Any More on Psychology Today. Dr. Barreca has a great bit about what she first thought of the word feminist.

But even understanding that the world identified me first as a woman and only secondly as anything else didn't stop me from being horrified the first time somebody called me a "feminist." I thought being a feminist meant I couldn't wear lipstick or crave men with small behinds. I thought that "feminist" meant I couldn't send "Peanuts" cards to guys who I was afraid wouldn't call back, or buy stockings with seams. I thought "feminist" meant no more steamy flirtations or prolonged shopping trips. I thought it meant braided hair and short nails, maybe mandatory tofu. I certainly associated feminism with humorless, dour, and--worst of all--unblinkingly earnest women. That was because I was accepting the male version of things, which was sort of like believing the mouse's version of the cat, since it entailed being given access to a vision that could see nothing besides teeth and claws.

I use to not call myself a feminist, in fact now that I think about it, I know more men whom are willing and proud to call themselves feminist than women. It seems that, and I may be wrong, for a man to call himself a feminist he is showing that he is supportive, understanding, progressive and fair. For a women to call herself a feminist, well normally she is thought of as angry, a b*@$t, and asking for too much or for double standards. Granted, I've been told I'm all those things for pointing out that I was better qualified for a job and completely passed over, that I didn't appreciate being told that I probably spent my pay check on shoes and bags, angry at being told that since they were going to take photos the next day I might want to put on make up and do my hair... I guess I might as well embrace calling myself a feminist since I already live with the stigma it brings.

Happy Halloween and a pumpkin stew.

2011-10-31T12:23:00.001-04:00

I have missed this holiday for the past 3 years. Last year I finally found some Jack o' lantern pumpkins and made some stew with one, and a Jack O' lantern with the other and of course roasted pumpkin seeds from them both. The pumpkin stew was really more using the pumpkin as a stew pot, an idea that a friend from boulder had used and I have to say is a whole lot of fun, as long as you don't accidentally poke a hole in the bottom of it. Since I couldn't find the recipe, and my friend only ever goes off of "once I think I read that" I'm not sure what to call it, but I did find a few things that look familiar.
Shrimp stuffed Pumpkin from Cantina di dom Fuas. This recipe looks familiar, but I didn't use tomato cause and I also added Chorizo.
The Creamy shrimp and pumpkin stew from Mainstream Masala also looks close to what I made, and knowing me, I'll add as much alcohol as I can to any dish (have I ever told you about my guacamole with tequila???) but you get the idea.

Pumpkins from the local flower store... I hope you have yours ready for tonight

Beware of lost souls roaming the streets!

See Australia isn't the only place where one can find giant spiders.

I would avoid this door if I was you!

Have a spooky safe halloween! Make sure to get/give lots of candy, but don't eat so much that you are sick in the morning!

Some thoughts on Mississippi - No on 26.

2011-10-30T14:41:00.003-04:00

A few posts ago I rambled on a bit about Mitt Romney and how he stated that he would have endorsed a bill on personhood (as defined as starting at conception) if it had been brought to him while gov. in Mass. This seemed inconceivable to me, and what I thought would have been science fiction not even 5 years ago, but the unthinkable my happen in a little over a week in Mississippi. I know this clip is a bit long, but it is well worth watching. Towards the beginning of the interview with Cristen Hemmins she states that it appears that since Mississippi teaches mostly abstinence only in their school systems, people do not understand how babies are made, and how contraception works. Perhaps an unintended consequence of abstinence only eduction. I've always wondered where those against sex ed class expect people to learn about contraception if not in school, but that's another topic.

What I think this video does is show how easy it is for an ill thought out law to take away rights of others. Here we have a proposal written with good intentions to try to help children (although I don't agree that a fertilised egg is a child as I stated in a previous post) but has damning ramifications for women and their health. This is what happens when people with good intentions but with little knowledge about how the body works try to write laws affecting medical conditions. This is an example of why we need better science education/appreciation. This would allow us as the general public better understand these laws that we are asked to vote on.

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First snow, but some more photos of Fall

2011-10-30T10:37:00.002-04:00

We just woke up to the first snow... but haven't gotten photos yet, so more photos of fall in Boston.

Fall in New England... Well Boston and Somerville

2011-10-29T09:02:00.001-04:00

One thing that I have missed while living in Oz was the northern fall! I love the colours, the crisp air, the apples, the carmel... well the whole darn season. So I've tried to make up for three fall less years with lots of photos this year.

White House Encourages Women in Science

2011-10-27T12:04:00.002-04:00

This morning I woke up to a great e-mail sending me to the White House website where they had posted a video titled Advice for Young Women Interested in the Sciences

This topic, women in science and women's rights, seems to be following me around lately. I suppose when you get to be of a certain age and a certain education status people start asking you these questions. Or maybe it's a snowball effect, one person asked, then I asked someone else, then I started noticing it in the news, then someone thought I might find this interesting.... Either way it' been on my mind a bit.

If someone were to ask me what advice I would give to girls wanting to go into science I'm not sure what I would say. I would suggest working on having thick skin, learn how to not be intimidated by aggressive body posturing (the guys don't mean to do it, but when they think they are right they sometimes just fall into it), become confident in what you know, and don't let anyone tell you differently. Really I think it comes down to confidence, you will be continuously tested, Profs, colleagues, and students will always question your handle on the subject matter and you have to stay strong. You won't always be right, but that does't mean you are not capable, it just means that you had a hole in your knowledge base which is now filled. Everyone has holes in their knowledge even if they don't want to admit it. If you go into Physics or engineering and many of the mathematic fields you will be one of the few if not only women in your class. This can sometimes be hard and lonely, but know that there are others of us out there cheering you on. Just look, the President of the United States of America is encouraging you!

And more from the Regatta

2011-10-25T18:03:00.000-04:00

So many great views.

Some more from the 2011 Boston Regatta

2011-10-24T18:00:00.000-04:00

So many photos... so little time.

Boston Regatta 2011 cont.

2011-10-23T17:55:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful crisp fall day for watching the regatta.

More from the Weekend Regatta

2011-10-23T13:45:00.001-04:00

And more from the weekend... Absolutely beautiful day, and wonderful clouds to add a bit of drama to all the photos.

The Boston Regatta 2011

2011-10-22T17:50:00.001-04:00

It was a beautiful day at the Regatta, got a few good shots in.

Are women's rights eroding in the US

2011-10-22T10:02:00.000-04:00

So after yesterday's post I decided to look up women's rights in google News and see what came up. I was astonished to see this article from the New York Times about how on a bus which goes through a Jewish neighbourhood women were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus, in some instances such as if the bus was crowded they were asked to pay the driver then enter the bus through the back door. I understand that some of this stems from the religious ideals of some in that community, but they are forcing their religious views on other patrons. To some extent I want to say we should respect others' religious freedoms, but at what point do we allow religious freedoms inhibit others personal rights? For me it's when they start to inhibit others rights. For example any one should be able to wear what ever religious dress they like as this guy won the right to, but if it allows you to force me to have to wear your religious dress then you've gone too far. You can eat what ever you want, or don't want, but I'll have my bacon and lobsters and cheese burgers thank you. Where I can sit on a bus, that I think has gone too far as well.

I found another blog post on Mitt Romney's misunderstanding of how the pill works on Jezzabel. The comments are awesome. I love how they point out that at conception yes there is life, but the egg and sperm cells as all cells are alive as well, so if life is equivalent to personhood, washing your hands is murder because you are killing bacterial cells. I realise that this argument is a bit sensational, but I don't think many who take this position actually understand what is happening at this point in the process of the making of a baby. I understand the whole religious nature of their argument, but I think that they have sensationalised this to the extreme as well. Do they really think that God would want to punish a women who needed an abortion to save her life? Maybe they do, maybe they really believe that the women's life isn't worth as much as the unborn child's. At what point does the zygote become a person? Personally I think I would define it as either when it can feel pain, or more probably, when it can survive outside of the mother, then it is an individual human. Then after this is decided, when the rights of the women and the child clash, how does one choose whose rights should prevail, especially if each of their lives are at stake? Not easy questions, and I'm sure there will always be conflict with any answers given, but I think the more important question is do we as a country want politicians to make hard and fast laws on topics that a) they might not understand completely, and b) on topics that are incredibly personal and the answers probably vary based on your religious beliefs.

Halloween and Icabod Crane

2011-10-22T09:45:00.000-04:00

One thing I missed a lot in Australia was Halloween... I know it doesn't seem like one of those big holidays so why should I care, but it was something more because it's very much apart of the American folk lore. It seemed like every fall in Elementary school we would go to the apple orchards and have Macintosh apples, watch a film strip of Night on Top of Bald Mountain, and either read about Ichabod Crane or local ghost stories. Of course there was also apple cider, pumpkin bread, spiced wine when I got older and pumpkin seeds... All much harder to find in Oz than one would think, especially the pumpkin bread. But if you are in the mood for a scare, check out some of the ghost stories from American Folklore. Who doesn't like a good ghost story sitting around a fire with some hot cider and s'mores?

I can't believe Mitt.

2011-10-21T12:40:00.002-04:00

I've been fairly quiet as to my long therapeutic (at least for me) posts on politics and my world views, but Mitt has just really gotten my goat. Well many on the GOP side of things have, but he might actually have a chance at winning the presidency and to have this extreme view on women's rights is just scary. When I was living in Oz I saw how horrible it was to live in a country where women are considered to be fairly equal, but less so than what I've experienced here in the US. Now many might disagree with that last statement, but that's purely based on my and my friends experiences, completely personal experience, yours might be different. Now some in the US government are suggesting that we as a country push women's rights even further back than what they are in Oz or any other first world country. Mitt has stated that he wants to ban all abortions (what about when the mother's life is in danger?) and would support an amendment that defines life as starting at conception, not implantation, but conception. So not only is he denying the mother's right to choose and right to life in some cases, but he would also be banning many forms of birth control. Rachel Maddow did a wonderful piece on this in her "virtual man-cave" explaining how a baby is made, and how many forms of the pill and other methods of birth control work.

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Many political commentators against defining life at conception state that it's then a slippery slope where a miscarriage could then be stated as man slaughter, maybe a bit dramatic, but who in my generation would ever think the pill might be banned someday? However, according to Wikipedia... I know it's wikipedia but they got the figures from a school in London... only about 40 -70% of fertilised eggs will ever make it to implantation and of those about 25% will be lost within the first 6 weeks. So would those 40 - 70% which naturally wouldn't get to the implantation stage also be considered to be aborted? This doesn't even then look at miscarriages. From everything I've read and heard about miscarriages they are more common than we generally think and absolutely horrible to go through, I can't imagine then adding the pressure a law state that by having a miscarriage you have committed murder when all you wanted to do was to be a mother and have just lost this potential child. Not just lost this child, but according to the law murdered it. What sick people would want to do that to someone. I'm sure that Mitt or the other supporters wouldn't, at least I hope that they wouldn't, but I don't think that they are really thinking through their actions.

Besides the world is already becoming overpopulated, we do not need to increase the population by accidental births because we don't support women being able to use the pill, one of the safest and most effective forms of birth control. I know that many of the conservatives teach that one should wait until marriage to have sex, and fair enough if that is their believe, but what about after one is married? Are they really expecting that a married couple will only want to have sex to reproduce? I don't think they should be forcing their religious believes on others by saying that we should all wait for marriage, but what about after that? Is the women suppose to live in fear that every time she and her husband make love, there is the potential for a love child? I can't even fathom a marriage without sex, but without birth control how is the women ever going to be able to plan her career, or is it just a given to them that after she is married she is not suppose to work? Michelle Bachmann insinuated as much when she stated that women were loosing their homes because their husbands were loosing their jobs, but that's a whole other issue....

Okay I've probably ranted enough, but it's something that I think should be ranted more about. In undergrad I once had a feminist tell me that I needed to be more of a feminist because at any moment the government could vote on bills and pass them saying that I had to stay at home and be married, that work was only for men. I told her that I thought that was a load of baloney and that there was no way the women's movement could be taken back that far... I now think that maybe she was right. It won't happen in one vote, not even this one would do that, but it will and is happening over a series of votes. It's happening by letting people like Mitt and Michelle say these anti-women's rights and some times down right anti-women statements without crying out against them, or at least making them laughing stocks for wanting to go back to their rosy coloured view of history.

Some old photos 6

2011-10-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

A couple of photos from Jesmond, a suburb of Newcastle Australia.

Old photos 5

2011-10-17T12:00:00.002-04:00

The Farmer's Market in Boulder CO

A random house on the side of the road on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park... It looks like it sunk into the ground!

The Beach in Acapulco Mexico

Some old photos 4

2011-10-17T09:26:00.000-04:00

Some trees near the University of Newcastle Australia. Those trees always made such interesting shapes, or maybe I think that since they are so different from those that I grew up around.

Some old photos 3

2011-10-16T09:23:00.000-04:00

This first photo is again from Melbourne and then the final three are from the beaches in Newcastle Australia.

Some old photos 2

2011-10-15T09:20:00.000-04:00

The first two are again from Blackbutt in Newcastle Australia, and then the bottom two from Melbourne Australia. Good times...

Some old pics 1

2011-10-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a chance to go out and take photos lately, but have been going through some older folders, so I thought I'd share what I found. Some of these I posted before, but I really liked them and thought they deserved a re-post. The three I'm posting today are some of my favourites! I especially love the last one, it reminds me of old National Geographic photos... although taken by an amateur.

And the last from UNH trip.

2011-10-13T14:32:00.000-04:00

I swear this is the last of the photos from the trip up to the University of New Hampshire. The leaves were starting to change colour, but I can't wait till it makes there way down to Boston.

And some more...UNH edition

2011-10-12T14:29:00.000-04:00

So there was quiet a bit of free time, and the leaves were starting to turn, so there are a few more photos...

Some more from the trip to New Hampshire

2011-10-11T14:23:00.000-04:00

Some more photos from the trip to UNH.

A clear snail?

2011-10-10T15:27:00.001-04:00

So the other day I saw this snail while walking. What first caught my eye was the colours on the shell. Then I saw that the bit sticking out looked clear. Maybe this i common among snails, or something that happens while they sleep, for example maybe hide their body and excrete some sticky clear stuff... I suppose I should wikipedia or google this.

Not sure but it looks like at least on this website they also got pictures of snails that have clear parts on their bodies.... I'll have to do more research.

A new cafe.

2011-10-06T10:06:00.000-04:00

I've started working at another cafe as well, this one use to be a bank, Block 11. It's really kinda neat inside as they seemed to have tried to keep the structure in tack. You can even work inside of the vault!

A different walk to work...

2011-10-05T10:00:00.001-04:00

Since I'm still writing up, so don't have a "job", but am in the states instead of Oz, I've started using the cafe as my office. The only rent that they charge is a pot of tea and a scone from time to time. On my last walk to work post I think I showed lots of spiders. I no longer see quiet so many strange and at least to me large spiders, but I do get to see lots of flowers.

more from the train

2011-10-04T21:12:00.001-04:00

Not bad for the little phone.

2011-10-04T13:19:00.000-04:00

Some photos from the road, or rail, that I took while on the train... I have no idea where we were on the route when I took these, but I thought they were pretty good for using my phone, and not just shooting through glass, but while the train was moving... You can really tell in the top photo where there is a bit of reflection from the lights inside the train. Oh well, it was a beautiful journey and now that the fall colours are slowly starting to show, it's becoming absolutely beautiful!

Egg on face.

2011-10-03T12:01:00.000-04:00

Today I feel like I have a whole cartoon of eggs on my face. I went up to Durham to give a talk at UNH only to discover that some how I had gotten the wrong date, they had me scheduled for Wed.... At least I was early, but two days early? That's maybe pushing it. I had wanted to do a "dry run" of finding my way around up here and see the area, but not like this. It is a very nice town, and a cute university. It looks like they've taken it straight out of a picture book on what universities are suppose to look like. The town itself seems quite small and filled with university students. It very much reminds me of Northfield MN with St. Olaf and Carlton, except with out the smell from the cream of wheat factory. Anyway, not much I can do now except hope that no one minds too much.

Trip try 1...

It was a rainy day in Boston and I figured that I shouldn't have gotten out of bed, maybe next time I'll listen to my inner voice.

Tom's Shoes

2011-10-01T18:59:00.000-04:00

Just in case you've missed this company...

New library... at least to me

2011-10-01T13:58:00.000-04:00

So today we went and got Library cards at the local public library. I have to say I'm disappointed. The library has very few books that are on my current reading list. The libraries in the network have very few of the books I have on my reading list, and none of them are in e-book format. On top of this, the library website is incredibly difficult to search in. I wanted to find a humorous book, so I searched for the key word humour, and nothing came up.

Finally I found in the pull down menu for subject I was able to find humour fiction and non fiction which came up with a total of ~20 books. Not a great selection, and I know that I saw a few others that I've already read and should be in those categories. In this age of google searches, I've gotten use to the idea of an easy search. I can type in funny books to read and come up with pages and pages of suggestions. Why can't the library tap into this? Why not have a google search of their web site which just has lists and lists of books and the descriptions from the publisher? They really seem antiquated and need help entering the digital age.

Anyway, there is my angst against the library. Maybe some day I'll grow to love it.

Coffee shop work.

2011-09-29T14:45:00.000-04:00

So not much new in my world, but I did find a great place to work and they have all my favourite teas!

Just a few more from NY

2011-09-27T12:04:00.000-04:00

This was from the Subway I have to say, I love public transport and wish that more places in the US had it widely available.

Once again the planetarium. It was just the coolest place, even if we didn't get to see Neil degrasse Tyson. There were four of us there, three physicist and me a space physicist with a degree in astro physics and planetary sciences, he is one of the biggest rock stars we know and we were giggling all the way to the planetarium dreaming about meeting him and did we know anyone who might know him so that we could ask him to lunch without it being too weird. We might need to get a life.

A random empty street in NY. I realise that NY Was much quieter than normal, but it was the quietest city that I had ever seen. It was very odd.

Curvy procrastination

2011-09-26T10:40:00.000-04:00

I found a new site that is filled with frustration, mindlessness, but everyone in a while you end up having to really think. It's Cury from Flaming Lunch Box. It's kinda like a jigsaw puzzle, but a bit different, you already know where the pieces go, just not what orientation they should be in. I've found it as usefully as a procrastination tool as angry birds (those stupid pigs just won't fall over!!!) Any way, back to work... or just maybe one more game of curvy.

Geeks hit Broadway

2011-09-23T08:56:00.000-04:00

Who would have thought that science grad students could make it to the stage on Broadway... Well maybe predictably the NY times reviewer found it tedious and started with saying who cares about word problems and who cares about the play and then seemed to try to use as many GRE words to show that he is smart. You can tell he also never really hung out with us science grads

Elliot and Molly meet uncute at the university computer lab, and soon he is offering to work up a data-mining algorithm to help her with her experiment about the binding of yeast proteins. (I know, pretty hot, right?)

That is pretty hot! I met my partner in the physics TA office and he tried to help me learn to love Green's functions, and now tries to help me on a daily basis with determining the correct statistical methods that I should use to analyse my data. I think the main thing that the reviewer missed about the culture of grad school and academia is that your research is your life, and someone coming in and not only being interested in what you do, but wants to help you (without the likely hood of getting an authorship on a paper), shows that they care for you... or at least think you're really cute, or happen to be the only girl they see outside of the course for non-majoirs that they have to TA. Grad school love is similar to any other love, but instead of quoting Shakespeare, they quote XKCD, instead of writing a sonnet they write a data analysis program, instead of reading Daniel Steel novels, they read PhD comics. A romantic dinner in Grad school is when someone brings you a pre-heated cup of ramen noodles or makes sure to grab you some of the leftovers from the seminar because they saw you weren't there. I haven't yet seen the play, and I hope I get the chance too, but I have a feeling that the audience for this might not include the reviewer, and may be limited to people who probably can't afford to trip to Broadway, the graduate student. I wonder if NSF has a grant that might fund a field trip...

New York New York...

2011-09-21T10:13:00.000-04:00

Some more photos from the other weekend, I'm still getting back into typing and it seems to keep slipping my mind.

Trip to NY over the 9/11 weekend

2011-09-13T11:28:00.000-04:00

When we first decided to meet up with friends in NY this last weekend, it didn't dawn on us that Sunday was 9/11. The city however was incredibly quiet, and we had a blast. We walked across the G.W. Bridge, we went to the planetarium, we walked through central park, saw the Guggenheim, ate at Katzs deli, went to a blues club, and had desert at a friend's friends's place in Manhattan. It was a busy weekend, but I can't wait to go back and do it all again.

Sailboats

2011-09-09T12:59:00.000-04:00

Ah how I love sail boats. THey are always so much fun.

A whale, a turtle, and a sailboat.

2011-09-08T15:54:00.000-04:00

Not the beginning of a bad joke, just some photos.

Some more of the whales

2011-09-07T12:51:00.000-04:00

Here are some more of the photos from this weekend. It was a beautiful day even if I got maybe a smidgeon of too much sun.

The photo of the tail is my favourite from the whole trip.

Boston Whale Watching

2011-09-06T10:16:00.000-04:00

This weekend we went Whale watching out of Boston Harbour. We got to see three whales and a turtle.... lots of fun!

New computer...

2011-09-05T20:12:00.000-04:00

I just got my new and improved, computer. I went with the macbook air and I have to say that for the last hour or so of playing with it, I love it. The battery life isn't as good as they stated, but I have also been running quiet a few things on it. When I first started it up I transferred my old computer to this one, and although it meant that I wasn't able to play with it for about 4 hours or so, it was so worth it. Almost everything worked straight off the bat. Papers and my Microsoft Office are the only things that didn't transfer successfully... well papers transferred, but not with the registration for it, but that should hopefully be fixed soon enough. Anyway, in the not so distant future I should have some photos from the whale watching trip that we took while I had to wait for the new computer, at least I got some good pics!

Time for a new computer?

2011-09-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

So my computer screen is starting to go. About 1/5 of the screen is showing weird pixilation, but only when there are images or fonts in this region. You can sort of make out most of what is written or what is there, but not all of it. So the big question, with a 3.5 year old computer do I go and get it fixed, if it can be fixed, or do I just buy a new computer. This computer and I have a lot of history together and have traveled about half of the world, (okay maybe only by distance and not by countries visited) together, but it might be time to part ways. I definitely can't work on photos with this screen... And a new computer with better resolution would be quiet nice, but they are very expensive... I'll go to the mac store this afternoon and see what can be done.

In the mean time here are just a few places that I've gone with the mac... oh the memories.

Some more flowers

2011-08-29T16:25:00.000-04:00

They are just too pretty.

Flowers

2011-08-29T15:06:00.000-04:00

Some beautiful flowers around the neighborhood.

Artichoke dip and Crackers

2011-08-26T10:05:00.000-04:00

So my next attempt in the kitchen went I think well, but Seth thinks I went lemon crazy. The artichoke dip I made consisted of 1 can of artichoke hearts, the juice and zest of half a lemon, one packet of Neufchâtel cheese (cream cheese) and half a chili pepper. The "crakers" or flat bread was almost 2 cups flour, about a third of a cup of olive oil and a half a cup of water. I tried making crackers with cream and butter the other day, and they were nice, but a bit thick and flakey. The oil seems to have made it much easier to roll out into a thin square and was much easier to work with. They also came out much more cracker like. I did however forget to score the dough so instead of breaking into nice little squares, you get the odd shapes.

Who knows what I'll try next.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

2011-08-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

So I found this amazing recipe at Smitten Kitchen for their Rich Homemade Ricotta. It was amazingly simple and soooo good! I used the 3.5 cups of milk and half cup of heavy cream. I let it sit in the cheese cloth for about two hours, and noticed that it seemed that there were a lot of curds left in the whey so I'm currently running the left overs through the cheese cloth for a second time. I'll let you know how that batch comes out. The original batch came out so smooth. I was worried about using the lemon, but there is only a small hint of lemon flavor, and it's amazing.

Anyway, here is the finish result. Back in Oz a favorite breakfast of mine was banana bread with ricotta and honey. When I first saw it on a menu I thought it would be horrible, but I was so very wrong. Just try it for yourself some day and you'll see.

The walk to work

2010-08-31T21:49:00.000-04:00

The trees are in bloom and spring is officially here (at least in Oz).

Me on the radio

2010-08-17T00:36:00.000-04:00

So I got to go on the radio the other day to talk about my research, but then didn't talk much about it at all. Anyway here it is.
So I couldn't figure out how to easily upload just the sound, so here is the interview with some random photos that I have taken.

back to Blue mountain photos

2010-08-05T21:50:00.000-04:00

Some fun Pics

2010-08-02T20:44:00.000-04:00

Another Day in Sunny Cairns

2010-07-31T22:21:00.001-04:00

2010-07-31T06:55:00.000-04:00

Although Cairns is an incredibly packed full of tourist, it still is a beautiful area. If coming here though, I would suggest going a bit north or south of town and go to some amazing beaches.

Some of the local wild life.

2010-07-30T06:42:00.000-04:00

We saw some more mud skippers and had a tiny tiny lizard visit us in the hotel.

It's gone to the birds

2010-07-30T01:45:00.000-04:00

Crabs, Crabs, Crabs

2010-07-28T23:51:00.000-04:00

Three different types of crabs...

Boats and sky

2010-07-27T23:35:00.000-04:00

The clouds finally lifted in Cairns, nice weather, but more of a sunburn risk.

Run, Run, Run, Far away from Hides in Cairns

2010-07-25T03:14:00.000-04:00

The hotel that we stayed at this last night (and unfortunately tonight, but at least this way we wont get docked any money) is the Hides in Cairns. It was possibly the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. The knobs for the shower were out side of the shower, and not within arms reach, at least not for me... But with our sob story in hand, we were able to get a room at the Hilton, and not just any room, but an upgraded room to the second highest floor, with a spa bath! So all is good.

Okay, I think I might love the camera

2010-07-22T00:42:00.000-04:00

On the way to uni today I saw two kookaburras and I was able to grab my bag and get the camera and get some photos. I still really miss the raw file system, but the small size is great.

2010-07-20T21:25:00.000-04:00

I really miss the raw mode...