QC mentioned Sonic today! Faye has excellent taste and should clearly pick up a strawberry limeade for me while she’s there.
Archive for April, 2006
In the “yay” department, I was notified today that my research poster tied for second place in the engineering and computer science category at the symposium I presented at last week. In addition to granting a little prestige to my resume, this honor carries a monetary award, though the amount may be rather small as three posters tied for 2nd.
In the “how-the-fuck-did-we-not-notice-this-before” department, I discovered this afternoon that the orbits we had worked out for the Titan Orbiter Project, which we’ll be presenting to NASA Glenn researchers on Monday, were completely and totally unfeasible because they required exorbitant amounts of fuel. After flipping out, rechecking calculations, and spending hours bent over notebooks and my keyboard, I have a solution that, though it doesn’t make me happy, is better than nothing. I suppose that it’s also better than having discovered this mistake right about the time one of the NASA engineers brought it up. I shudder even to think of it. As it is, I feel like I’ve cobbled things back together with duct tape, and I have no idea whether duct tape works at cryogenic temperatures. Nerve-wrecking.
Monday is technically the last day of classes, but I’m basically through with lectures now. I’ve got a couple of days of going to senior project presentations and then it’s nothing but the gigantic load of work hanging over me until I can get it packed away so that I can enjoy graduation. Last Sunday my grandfather called me from Cornell, which, though it made me smile, also reminded me just how much I cannot wait to start that adventure. At the same time, I don’t want my time at Case to end either. There are too many great people here that I fear I’ll lose touch with after we head off into the world. Let’s face it: I’ve done this too many times to delude myself into thinking that things will ever be the same between us again.
Today is a day to congratulate my friends. B and Lindsey finished their final exams for med school today, and Mark received word from Google that they’d like to give him a phone interview. As if that were not enough cause for hearty celebration on both sides of the pond, it’s also B’s birthday. So: happy birthday to B and many, many happy congratulations to all three of you!
And now I, having successfully completed my presentation for senior project, am going to enjoy my copy of The Swell Season, which arrived today before going to work.
A guy that I worked with in the lab last summer is back up visiting from his job with a NASA contractor in Texas. He just told me a story about how he ended up getting a ride to his car from Eileen Collins on a rainy day. I had to glare at him, especially as he still has not gotten me an autograph from one of the chief role models from my childhood. I should have told him that the best I’ve got so far is getting a letter sent to me personally from Kathryn Thornton when applying to graduate schools.
During the encore for our show, Josh came out with an acoustic guitar and sang “Lawrence, KS” completely unplugged. Someone in the audience caught a video of it. The lights were low, so the videos not fantastic, but it’s plenty good enough.
“In its annual survey on the death penalty, Amnesty International said 94% of the 2005 executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US.” #
Um… is this really a list we want to be a part of?
The Josh Ritter concert was fantastic. It was their first night, and both they and the crowd were loving every minute of it. I think it might possibly have been even better than their set last October.
Afterwards I got two hugs and a kiss from Josh. He was just thrilled as could be about the whole night and wore that boyish grin of his as he spoke to everyone. I congratulated him and the rest of his band on the album and a spectacular show, and now my copy of The Animal Years has been signed by all four of them.
Even if I still had my 8:30 class scheduled for tomorrow morning, it would have been worth every minute.
This will not be me in graduate school. I hope.
On that note, I’ve heard from one of the guys I visited Cornell with. He’s decided to go there as well, so that’ll be one person I know starting there with me.
**
I can’t stop listening to Josh Ritter’s The Animal Years and the tracks from The Swell Season that Glen Hansard posted. One tends toward upbeat and catchy; the other is melancholy and heart-achingly haunting. “The Swell Season,” in particular, has stolen my heart.
I feel like I should write some kind of review for The Animal Years before going to the concert on Wednesday, and, since I’m not allowed to listen to any Ritter in the 24 hours preceding the concert, that means I should be writing that now. But whether I’m in the condition for it is another question entirely. A few notes though:
- “Girl in the War” gets my award for the lyrics I can’t help singing. Something about a conversation between St. Peter and St. Paul is just… catching. Starting the album with this was a brilliant decision.
- “Wolves” and “Idaho” are somehow completely entwined for me. I can still remember Josh playing the latter last time at the concert. Both end up reminding me of my suitemate from Idaho.
- Aside from “Thin Blue Flame,” which I’ve loved from the first time I heard it, I think that “Lillian Egypt” is my favorite song on the album. I never would have imagined a love song cast into a silent film would be so much fun: He made her the star of the silent movies / But all she did was mouth the words / all she did was mouth the words, “Oh no!” / And he cast me as the villain as the sheriff’s worst enemy. The keyboard solo ranks up there with the intro to “Baba O’Reilly” in terms of awesome. I’ve got my fingers crossed on this one getting played Wednesday. I suspect that it will be one of those songs that’s as fun to witness and sing along to live as “Snow Is Gone” is.
- In terms of similarities to past songs, “In the Dark” is now tied to “Kathleen” for me. I’m not sure entirely why, except perhaps in that they’re both easy to start singing to without realizing it.
**
I got an e-mail from Glen today after sending him a question about how he got introduced to Werner Herzog films (i.e. Fitzcarraldo). His approachability never ceases to astound or impress me.
**
In two weeks, my team has to present our design for an orbiter to visit Titan. In two days, I’ll be presenting my research poster at the symposium. Yes, the end is near, and it both saddens and frightens me.
This is primarily for the benefit of the Irishwomen because I know that they are too busy at the moment to keep up with such news, but I figure they might be interested in hearing these tidbits.
Glen Hansard’s made a rare appearance on The Frames’ messageboard to let fans know about the new album’s recording session. Apparently, they’ve set themselves the task of recording this album as though it were a live show, not in the sense of Set List, but in the sense that no part of the recording is dubbed over. Everything was performed at once. They’re now in the process of picking which songs to put on the final product.
Secondly, as Glen’s solo album with Marketa Irglova is due out in Ireland within the next couple weeks, he’s set up a MySpace page for The Swell Season where, among other things, one can listen to four of the tracks from the album. They sound terrific, more along the slow, mellow orchestration than most Frames songs, but still very distinctly Glen. I cannot wait for my copy to arrive. Speaking of which, my new Josh Ritter album is supposed to arrive today! Concert next week!
I was just about to start talking about how I’m avoiding finishing up my research poster when the massive banging on my window informed me that that rain they’ve been talking about all day finally showed up. Spring is a wonderful, wonderful time.
Today’s been utterly dedicated to working on the research poster I’ll be presenting at a symposium a week from tomorrow. This year I’m on top of things, what with doing this before the night before. (Honestly, though, it’s because I want to go to a Josh Ritter concert the night before the symposium!) Well, not really. But anyway.
Given that I’ve been making a research poster today, one might expect this means I’ve been writing a lot. Not in the least. Most of the day has been flipping back and forth between PowerPoint and Photoshop with one image after another. In fact, all that’s really left to do is write the conclusion and take care of the references and acknowledgements. So, in writing this post, I am, in fact, avoiding writing. If that’s not ironic enough for you, consider that I will be leaving shortly to spend an evening tutoring students. On writing.
What’s the real reason for this entry, you ask? It’s a test for posting using Deepest Sender.
Latest Comments
RSSWell Behind at Curious Notions
the canadian, Bernadette, Amy, Steph
Nicole, Bernadette, Nicole, Joe, Steph, Bernadette
Greg
Nicole, Bernadette, Nicole, Bernadette, Bernadette
Joe, Nicole, Joe, Nicole, Joe