Travel FAIL.

Ok people, listen up. It's time for you to learn from my mistake. I was meant to fly to Amsterdam from Boston last night. I'm still in Boston.

The lesson for you is this: double and triple check the passport and entry requirements for whatever country/countries your travel plans may include. Especially if they are countries you intend to arrive in/leave by air. I don't care if it's a friendly country that Americans travel to all the time, if it's a European Union country, hell even if it's one you've already been to with no issues.

When I went to Australia last fall (2009), I needed a visa. Now when I think of visa, I think of when I had to go to the French embassy and apply for a visa to study there for the year. As an American tourist going to Australia, visa actually just means silly-income-generating-scam for the Australian government. It was a super easy, $20, apply-online-and-be-instantly-approved deal that existed in the virtual world only. I didn't get anything beyond the standard entry stamp in my passport. But I never would have known about it if my roommates hadn't gone to Australia the spring previously. When I think of countries for which I might need a visa, I think of mostly Asian countries. Not friendly, English-speaking countries that Americans travel to all the time. I went to New Zealand on the same trip and didn't need anything at all. I had another friend who didn't discover she needed a visa for Australia until she tried to check in for her flight. Fortunately she has a spiffy phone and could get herself one on the spot and continue her trip with no problems.

My problem was not with a visa - I don't need a visa to go to the Netherlands. However, the Netherlands requires visitors to have a passport valid for 3 months past the end of their visit. So even though my passport doesn't expire until January 29th, 3 weeks after the date my itinerary showed I intended to leave, I couldn't go to the Netherlands. (Not by air travel anyways...) A passport that is valid beyond the actual trip isn't something I ever would have thought to worry about. Honestly, what meaning does an expiration date have if the thing in question isn't good up until that point??? I could possibly see if I didn't have booked travel indicating intention to leave prior to the expiration date, but seriously people, I had a plane ticket to leave well before my passport expired.

What further baffles me about this particular instance - neighboring EU countries don't have such a stipulation. In theory (if it wouldn't have cost $4000), I could have flown into Belgium, and then walked, driven, or taken the train to Amsterdam. I've walked and driven over EU borders before. 99.9% of the time, a customs station doesn't even exist anymore. The year I studied abroad, I had my passport checked exactly one time while traveling by bus, and exactly one time by train, both times on the Czech/German border.

Now that I'm stuck (Delta was kind enough to give me credit for my flight to use however I like within the next year), I'm hearing that some countries (Mexico being one) require a buffer period as long as 6 months. So your passport that you think is good for 5 or 10 years, really isn't. DOUBLE CHECK. TRIPLE CHECK. The US State Department, travel guide books, travel agents, and other countries' tourist information sites are all resources that should have entry requirement information. Be paranoid. I wasn't and it cost me. Ugh.

Santa & His Reindeer

I know I've been talking about my sister a lot here lately, but seeing as I've got a few more days at home still, I'm going to warn you now that I'm probably not done.

She hung the stockings this year, and below you'll see a photo of the holders we have (yes, one reindeer is missing its antlers, but that's not the point).

Notice anything off? Isn't it kind of odd that santa's leading the way? And that the reindeer aren't set up to pull his sleigh?

This is what my sister insists is the right order of things. That way, the reindeer don't fart in Santa's face.

From me to you

You may have noticed that my sister is hilarious. And ridiculous. So as a Christmas gift to you, all of my imaginary readers, I'm sharing two huge gems from my sister.

This is the voicemail she left me over a year ago now:



And this is the gem she left me on my birthday:



I made her watch these videos for the first time when I got home last night. She was torn between laughing hysterically and denying that she ever said about half of the content.

When my brother laughed at her over the birthday voicemail, she justified it saying, "What? It's not like I could have jumped out of a cake dressed like a stripper! So I had to leave her that voicemail!"

And with that folks, Merry Christmas!

Eclipse

Here's my best shot from the lunar eclipse the other night:


For no telephoto lens or tripod, not too shabby. Even without those it was a good chance to practice - see what I could get with different shutter speeds and ISOs. I tried to get more shots once the eclipse was closer to totality, but the reduced light meant I needed a longer exposure, especially to capture the red hue...and well...since I'm really awful at standing still, this is about the best I could get:


Unfortunately at the darkest point of the eclipse we had pretty heavy cloud cover (for Tucson), and it was late enough that I wasn't going to stand around hoping for a clearing.

Aside from more clouds than I would have liked, the weather was great. It was warmer than usual - even in the middle of the night in my pjs and a hoodie I wasn't cold. Based on the amount of chatter I could hear, I think almost half my neighborhood was out to watch. Shortly after the eclipse started I walked around the corner to Sky Bar (in clothes, not my pjs), thinking maybe they'd be broadcasting a telescope feed. Amusingly, but not really surprisingly, it was packed, so I bailed on that idea since I wasn't really feeling like noise or a crowd by myself at 1 am on a Tuesday morning.

I think the most interesting thing I learned about lunar eclipses, thanks to Wikipedia and miscellaneous other stuff on the internet is why the moon looks like it does during an eclipse. It made perfect sense that you can still see the moon during an eclipse because due to refraction of light by the earth's atmosphere. Apparently if we didn't have an atmosphere no light would reach the moon, but if we didn't have an atmosphere we'd have bigger problems than not seeing the moon during an eclipse. The moon looks reddish during eclipses for the same reason that sunsets appear reddish - the longer red wavelengths are more likely to pass through the atmosphere than the shorter blue wavelengths which are more easily scattered. Apparently, the more particles are in the air - say from a volcanic eruption or weather systems (that are conveniently located around the edge of the day/night border?) the more wavelengths will be absorbed and the redder the moon will appear.

P.S. I love campus when the undergrads are all gone. It's so quiet and peaceful.
P.P.S. Why does my motivation always seem to leave for vacation before I do??
P.P.P.S. If anybody's ever wondering what to get me, say for Christmas, I think these are super: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/e684/

Angel Farts

A friend of mine from college is currently teaching high school chemistry. Yesterday marked the first time he had a student cry. Now he's a super, super nice guy, but I'm honestly surprised he'd never had a student cry before. I think most of my classmates here have had students cry. I'm pretty sure that my 99%-chance-of-failing-but-must-get-an-A-for-med-school freshman cried on me my junior year. But whatever, he's one of the nicest guys and best teachers I know. And certainly by the end of the semester his students should know that. Anyways, he's telling me how he'll make you work for your grade and that students (and people in general) need a dramatically better understanding of basic science. His summary of the situation:

I can't handle anymore "CO2 emissions are clearly not a problem because CO2 is made from angel farts which is why we have double-rainbows after the rainstorm" kind of science logic.

Amen.

Battle of Pocket Sized Geekiness

Little Sister: i gotta go clean my room

Me: thanks :) [When I come home and she has to share her room with me is one of few events for which she'll clean her room.]

Little Sister: you're welcome

but

i really

can't focus on research

until

my room is clean

soo

that is a problem

Me: what research?

Little Sister: we the people [history class project]

Me: oh

Little Sister: we're supposed to be emailing [history teacher] over break

Me: ew

Little Sister: yeah

you know what she got us for christmas

it was so cute

i think its my favorite present so far

Me: um, historical figure bobbleheads? i dunno

Little Sister: a wallet sized constitution/declaration of independence

and a wallet sized bill of rights

and she was like

the greatest gift anyone can give you

is the gift of the constitution

Me: but what about a wallet sized periodic table?!

Little Sister: i have that too [um, I know that, I sent it to you]

but i have to say

i like history

a lot better than chemistry

Me: lame

Little Sister: and now

if i get arrested

i will have an immediate reference to my rights [oh good]

ok well i'm going now

bye

National Cupcake Day!

It's National Cupcake Day! Any and all cupcakes. Believe it or not, there is actually a separate National Chocolate Cupcake Day (Oct 18th) and a National Vanilla Cupcake Day (Nov 10th). Considering I have a separate label just for cupcakes, you've probably noticed I love them. So today you have no excuse - go get yourself a cupcake!

How to Kill Time between Spectra Late at Night

• Pull capillaries
• Watch 4 episodes of Eureka
• Finish assembling your little sister's Christmas gift
• Email French host family
• Send labmate birthday someecard (Happy birthday Ashley!!)
• Twiddle thumbs
• Send various friends pointless someecards
• Print reviewers' mostly positive comments for paper that got rejected anyways. Think about revising paper.
• Get a latte from the student union. Have entertaining chat with undergrad student worker involving numerous misconceptions about graduate school.
• Make ridiculous to-do lists
• Do dishes
• Send little sister facebook message
• Stare off into space

Holy Pyrex!

A while ago I was doing dishes, when I heard a really strange sound. Kind of like dropping a bunch of beads or something on the floor. I didn't see anything unusual, so I looked in the oven, since K8 had something in there. And this is what I saw:


What the heck? I thought pyrex was supposed to be more or less indestructible?? I mean yeah, you go too fast from hot to cold and it'll do that. But it was just sitting there. I want a new dish pyrex!

Wanna see my fish tank?

On the way back from Albuquerque, I noticed this sign (not my photo, unlike the Continental Divide, I didn't know this was coming to be ready to stop for it, and this really wasn't a very stop-able section of I-25):

Speeding by at 80 mph, I'll admit the only words that really caught my eye were VERY LARGE ARRAY. I'm also going to go ahead and admit that I found and still find this incredibly funny. It turns out that this is a very spiffy (and legitimate) radioastronomy site, but in my super mature mind, it just sounds SO dirty. Similar to how I imagine "protonate" sounds to my college roommate. Hey baby, wanna come and see my VERY LARGE ARRAY?

Which brings me to a couple of sort of related stories that really ought to be shared.

Freshman year of college, during welcome week, they had a seminar all about sexual health and safety - date rape and such. That's where they gave every freshman a rape whistle, which I (and many of my friends) still have actually. I went to this with a bunch of the girls from my floor, and a couple of boys from the 3rd floor of my dorm. One of these guys had gone to an all-boys, Catholic school, and was VERY conservative. Quite possibly the funniest part of the entire experience (except from the part I'm getting to, of course) was watching him squirm through the entire presentation, extraordinarily uncomfortable and embarrassed. I'm pretty sure any mention of anything related to sex would have made this guy uncomfortable, forget when sitting with a handful of girls.

Anyways, the woman giving this presentation, is trying to convince us that guys will say just about anything to get you back to their room, and that their intention is to have sex no matter how unrelated whatever they just said. The example she gave? If a guys asks you if you want to come see his fish tank, he really means, come back to my room and have sex with me. This instantly became a standing joke among the entire freshman class. You could walk through any freshman dorm, and find some variation of, "Hey baby, wanna come in and see my fish tank?" or, "Large fish tank inside," written on the dry erase board on any number of doors.

The other story is from one of my college roommates. She works on a college campus. I don't remember the exact setting, or all the details, but they were looking at sexual health videos for one reason or another. One video was to encourage condom use, and it presented a scenario in which you (a female) have gone home with a guy (whom it seems you've just met at the bar, apparently we're ignoring the poor decision you've already made), and you're trying to figure out how to tell him you want him to wear a condom. What does the video suggest you say? "I think you'd look good in ribbed."

Here's where I take a page out of my sister's book, because I don't know what to say about that besides O.M.G. I laughed hysterically over that with my officemate, and again at home with my roommates.

Why is sex so damn funny??

Sandia Mountains

The day after Thanksgiving I went on a light hike with Brittany and her family in the Sandia mountains, on the east side of Albuquerque. If you recall, we woke up to snow Thanksgiving morning. Most of the snow melted that day, but in the mountains there was still a bit to be found, including around some prickly pear cacti!


I'm still hoping to get a shot of snow on a saguaro, but snow on any cacti is pretty entertaining. Tangent - both the pinkish bulbs and the green pads of the prickly pear are edible. I realize that plant doesn't look so great - summer is when they're really "in season." People make all sorts of jellies, candies, and drink mixes out of the pink fruits, and the pads (de-prickled of course) are delicious grilled and put into fajitas, or chopped up with corn, beans, and tomatoes in a salad. We usually get the pads in our CSA share a couple of times in early summer.

We stayed pretty low - hiking with a baby in the cold is only a good idea for so long. There's a trail all along the ridge line of the range that's probably pretty cool. Here are a couple shots of the Sandias, first the sunny side of the mountains:


And the shady side - you can still see a bit of snow:


Apart from the bit of snow, pretty standard looking southwest, but still good to get out and hike - especially the day after a Thanksgiving feast...

Seminar Notes

Yesterday I went to a seminar from a faculty candidate - we're trying to hire a biochemist and a biophysical chemist (I think there might be a third position, but I'm not sure). I'm assuming this was a candidate for the biophysical position, as he is a theoretical chemist. Not gonna lie, I don't have a whole lot of use/patience/interest for/in theoretical "chemistry." If you combine it with experimental data, ok. It has some value as support or motivation for experimental work, but in my mind means just about squat on it's own, especially when you say stuff like this:

"...transition states only a theorist could love."

"...the theory works really nifty swell."

"...which goes to show that in our country money can buy you anything, including an article in Science." [Apparently some company R&D division had an article in Science that I gather contradicted his conclusions.]

"If somebody held a gun to my head and told me to pick out the important vibrations by looking at a structure, I'd make sure my affairs were in order." [Ok, so this isn't completely absurd scientifically, but who says that?? Especially during a job talk. Actually, I'll tell you who. Somebody with a Napoleon complex who thinks he's a lot funnier than he is.]

And my favorite:

"I'm way too shy to show you these [experimental] results, but let me assure you it's working."

Seriously?? Right there you've just lost any credibility. You know it's bad news when I spend the seminar writing down the completely ridiculous stuff you say. It's like I'm back in gen chem writing down Chuck gems like, "now give yourselves a temporary partial lobotomy..."

Continental Divide

On the way to Albuquerque Wednesday afternoon, I passed this, just west of Deming, NM:


I first noticed this when I drove the opposite direction on I-10, when my Dad helped me moved to Tucson in 2007. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think about a continental divide, I picture the ridge line of a mountain range, or at the very least, the crest of a hill. However, in southern New Mexico, it looks like this:


Pretty frickin flat. Does anybody else think that's at least a bit funny? Maybe next time I'll stand by the sign and pour out a bottle of water to see what happens.

P.S. Blogger tells me this is my 100th post! Woohoo!

The Cat's Meow

Actually the cat's lap. In assembling a literature presentation for yesterday's group meeting, I came across pretty much the greatest paper I've ever seen in Science: "How Cats Lap: Water Uptake by Felis catus." I have no idea how this got into Science, but it's brilliant (in a completely hilarious way).

The reference:
Reis, P.M., Jung, S., Aristoff, J.M., Stocker, R.; Science, 330, 1231-1234, 2010.

Did you know that there's a scientific definition for licking and lapping? And that they're not the same thing? And that the frequency of lapping can be predicted based on the mass of the cat?? Fascinating stuff I tell you.

You need to read this. If you don't have access and want to read it, let me know.

I'm a dime.

I haven't talked about my sister here in a while, so you might be wondering what she's been up to. She's mostly been freaking out about school. Here's our latest conversation (via facebook chat, of course):

Me: hi

Little Sister: hey

Me: how're you?

Little Sister: mehh

i suck at french

legit

Me: anything I can help with?

Little Sister: nope

unless you can make me remember

french

in general

Me: nope, sorry

Little Sister: soo many verb tenses

regular future conditional imparfait subjonctif condition plast plus que parfairt or w/e

TOOO MUCH

my brain is exploding

i just embarrassed myself for a solid hour with her [Duf, the same French teacher I had for 4 years] after school

Me: i'm sorry

Little Sister: yeah well

whatever

she still loves me

ish

i was like i feel bad you have to put up with me

and she was like i don't mind you

you actually try

which i'm glad she still thinks [this is key in school...]

Me: hahahahaha

i'm kinda amused that your teachers find you so lovable

Little Sister: whaaat

you don't think i'm lovable?

why wouldn't my teachers love me

Me: sure i do, but i'm your sister

Little Sister: i'm a dime

Me: you're a dime? what's that supposed to mean? [Here's where I realize (again) that I'm old, when my labmate has to explain to me that "dime" is some new slang term from some hip hop song.]

Little Sister: i'm a 10

in every aspect

i'm just awesome [Never lacking in self-esteem, this one...]

Me: oh. i thought maybe you meant to say you're a gem

Little Sister: whatever i said i meant

i do everything with intent

Me: even if it didn't make sense?

Little Sister: umm yes

because it obviously did make sense

you know...innovation...that's why my teachers love me

or they just pity me

like my current f in pre-calc