Monday, December 28, 2009

Elizabeth at One Month


Elizabeth is one month old already. She had a doctor's appointment today and weighed 7 lbs 15 ounces. She's growing every day, sleeping better (sometimes as much as 7 hours at at time), and is more alert and interactive.



We have lots of pictures posted on our photo site: http://public.fotki.com/natemarvelle/ and will have more coming soon!


Happy Holidays

For the last few years, we have sent out a holiday card featuring a silly picture:

2008

2007
2006

In years past, Amanda has used Powerpoint to design a postcard, front and back, and had them printed at Kinkos. This year, we upped the ante. With a little help from the internet (thank you, pshero), we designed a holiday card/birth announcement using Photoshop which we uploaded to Costco's photo printing site and then picked up at the store.

2009

The toughest part was getting good pictures of our little girl. Now, I'm looking forward to finding another project that we can tackle with Photoshop.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Baby's first bottle

At 3 weeks and 2 days old, Nathan gave Elizabeth a bottle.  Both Elizabeth and I had finally gotten the hang of nursing, and it seemed like Elizabeth would suck on anything.  I went in the other room just in case, but as we had expected, she took it very well.  Even now she loves the bottle a little too much and tends to drink much more than her little stomach can take and then spits up.

Monday, November 30, 2009

No more silent nights

Elizabeth Cora Marvelle arrived November 27 at 6:52am, 6lbs 4oz and 18 1/4 inches.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Whoa! She's Pregnant!

Another picture we found when cleaning up... Recently we went to Saint Louis for a wedding of a friend of Nathan's. They have a really cool set up where a photographer would take black and white pictures of people. I thought this one was too funny!

Here are the others.





Sunday, November 22, 2009

Seattle Video

So when I "retired" I had to give back my work computer. We ended up purchasing a new computer and this meant moving and organizing all of our files. We stumbled upon some old pics and video. Here is a video from our 4th of July trip to Seattle:


Seattle from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.


You can see it in HD here. And our pictures are here.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Retirement

I have been working/studying since August 2004 and now it was finally over. Friday November 13th was my last day at lab... it felt really weird, but it has been great to take the time to prepare for our baby.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Face


When cleaning off my old computer I found this really cool picture:

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Nursery

Today we put together most of the nursery. Here are some pictures. We still need a twin bed which will go in the corner where the swing is currently, a bookcase which we plan on putting behind the door, and curtains.
This weekend we also got a white side table which is now in the place of the maroon ottoman and we have a pink rocker from my sister, which is downstairs for a little while until she moves upstairs to sleep and will go in the place of the pink chair in the pictures. Finally we got a crib skirt - brown with polka dots.

So really we will need to updates these pictures, but here is a taste.








Friday, November 6, 2009

On our way...

I am feeling more and more pregnant and looking it too. My doctor says on Tuesday that I was 50% effaced, 1cm dilated, and the baby has dropped. However, none of those mean that I will give birth anytime soon... it could easily be another 2 to 3 (or 4 or 5 or 6!) weeks. My pelvic bone aches and sometimes I feel like it will break in half! I am predicting that she will come early, but don't really want to think that because if she comes late, then I will be so anxious, and I'm not sure if I will be able to handle the waiting... (I'm not really good at this not knowing thing). All I know is that she will be born by December 14th. They wont let her go any longer than that.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Baby bangs

This is the worst! While I'd love for our little one to have hair, this has gone too far.

Baby bangs for the girl who has everything except hair.



What's next...baby spanx for those unsightly rolls!

NaBloPoMo

November is NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month, where the goal is to post every day of the month. I learned this from a friend's blog and thought I would try it!

It has been a while and I'm 5 days late, but hey - what the heck why not try posting for the rest of November?

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pregnancy Picture Update


The newest pictures 33.5 weeks and 34 weeks. See the progression and other updates in the slide show.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Monday, August 31, 2009

My 15 milliseconds of fame

The president of my firm was interviewed for a TV news story about hospital expansion in North Carolina and they brought a video camera to my office for some 'b-roll' as they call it. It was casual Friday so my 15 seconds of fame aren't pretty :)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Belly pics update

We've added week 23 and week 25.5 to the slide show. I'm getting bigger! And really starting to notice that my belly is getting in my way. I can only imagine what I will look like in another 15 weeks!

Our daughter's crib

We set up our daughter's crib this weekend in her room. Kermit is enjoying it already. As you can see he's giving it a thumbs up!




Tuesday, August 18, 2009

New Zealand Part II

Here are some of my favorite things that we did in New Zealand:
A cruise around Milford Sound on a gorgeous day!
Kinloch lodge lake
The luge on the side of the mountain in Queenstown
Hiking a Glacier
Getting stuck in a traffic jam of sheep


Click through to the Vimeo website in order to see it in HD - well part of it at least. Our video camera battery died for some portion of the trip and so we used the video function on our digital camera, which turned out ok - just not HD.

New Zealand Part Two from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

Another reason I love our Prius . . .

. . . the gas tank is only 10 gallons. Now, some might see that as a problem. Smaller gas tank means more fillups. But because the Prius gets more than twice as many miles to the gallon as other cars, you are still filling up less often AND the smaller gas tank means that fillups are QUICK! Other reasons to love the Prius: the interior lights come on as you approach the car (it senses the keys), you open the door and start the car without using the keys, and you can lock all the doors with a tap on the handle. All very nice features that you would expect on a luxury car.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Needed: A soundtrack for writing

On this sorta gloomy Sunday afternoon, I have sat down at my computer to begin writing the outline for one of the four chapters that I have to pen for my dissertation. The deadline: October 14th... not only do I have to write these chapters, but I also have to finish the lab work!

While writing, I am finding myself distracted by the silence that is our house. The dryer is humming in the background and the dog's tags jingle as he randomly roams the house looking for something interesting. I have settled on Lisa Hannigan to keep me company. But I am anticipating having endless hours of writing, and although I am not opposed to listening to songs over-and-over I'm going to need a soundtrack to keep me motivated and focused. I'm looking for something upbeat and calming (is that an oxymoron?). Any suggestions?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

495 miles

That is how many miles our Prius got to it's first tank of gas... Pretty good, eh? And when I filled it up I was surprised at how quickly the tank was full - It seems like it might only hold ~10 gallons. I put in 9.9 gallons to be exact, and 495 miles/9.9 gallons = exactly 50 miles per gallon as predicted by the manufacturer.

I can't believe we have driven that much in only a week and a half!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Julie and Julia

On Friday, Michelle and I went to see Julie and Julia. This may have been the first movie I have ever seen on opening night. I was expecting the movie to be good... but it exceeded my expectation - it was great! I could not stop smiling and was giggling the whole time. However, one disappointment - there was a scene towards the end of the movie that left me feeling a little uneasy and was never resolved. I wish the producers had either left that scene out, or provided an explanation for the audience. But other than that - it was great!

A must see!


A felt doppelganger of Ira Glass

I stumbled upon this felt doppelganger of Ira Glass on Etsy. Isn't it adorable? He can go with you anywhere putting your life into multiple insightful acts.


The description off the Etsy site:
I admit it: I have a giant crush on Ira Glass. But, as I open up about my situation, I find that I am far from alone. Bring home a tiny felt version of your favorite NPR voice and stage a carefully crafted radio show (in three acts) anytime you want.

Friday, August 7, 2009

New Zealand Video Part I

We finally put together some of our New Zealand video from February. Here is part I... next week we will have part II posted.

New Zealand Part 1 from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

Monday, August 3, 2009

What is this in my belly?

So I've been feeling the baby moving for quite some time. Last week I was able to put Nathan's hand on my stomach and he was able feel her moving. But this weekend something bizarre, strange, and weird happened. I had the computer sitting on my lap while I was laying in the bed. I was peering over my bump and I was feeling the baby squirming... then out of the bottom of my eyes I start seeing my belly moving up and down. Wow! She was kicking or punching so hard that she was making my stomach move! I stared at my belly for 30 minutes in amazement. I wish I had the video camera to record it, but hopefully I will catch it on tape soon.

Yes! No! Yes! No! PRIUS!

Our car from the future was almost snatched away.

We knew that we needed a new car this year (we had two cars >13 years old and have a new baby on the way), but we were unsure what kind and if it was going to be brand new. We were so excited to learn that our 1994 Blazer that my parents had given us was going to qualify as a "clunker" under the cash for clunkers rebate. It gets 17 miles per gallon and with 190,000 miles and being 15 years old we would probably only be able to trade it in for ~$500, but the governments' program was going to guarantee us $4,500!!

The program kicked in on July 24th. So being the planners that we are, we started looking at cars early. We finally decided on the Toyota Prius, a hybrid with 50 miles per gallon, that is just as big as a full-size Camry. We ordered the car on July 16th - a silver Prius with tinted windows and floor mats.

The car was supposed to arrive Wednesday July 29th... it was delayed and potentially was going to arrive Friday, July 31st. However, Nathan was leaving town on Friday for Boston so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get it.

Friday morning we awoke to a nightmare: This article in the New York Times broke the bad news that we may have just lost $4,500! We were devastated, and were immediately in contact with our salesman as soon as the showroom opened. The dealership had received the news the night before and were trying to figure out what to do for all the people in our shoes... Nathan was back and forth on the phone with him and learned that our car had actually arrived, but still were not sure what the deal was.

At 11am we received a call that the deal was back on and we needed to hurry in and buy our car. CRAZY! We went from devastated to joyful! Both of us rushed from work and began the 2 and 1/2 hour ordeal of buying a new car. Nathan had to catch his flight so Amanda finished up the paperwork and drove the car back to work! What a crazy morning, but we finally had our new car.

Here are some pictures of the newest addition to our family:


Monday, July 27, 2009

Baby Names

So we are having a difficult time picking out a name for our little baby girl. But while we were looking at all the options for names we came upon some real jewels.

Here are my favorites:
Unknown
Asma
Emagine
Damhnait (is that pronounced dominate?)

These are right up there with my favorites told to us by our friend who is a pediatric doctor.
ABCD (prounounced obesity of a- bee-cee-dee)
Erotica Morehead (even after learning the meaning of the first name the mother still went with it)
La-a (pronounced Ladasha; "the dash don't be silent") With that technique maybe my name should be Am&a

Sorry, to those of you who thought that we were going to list our real favorite names... No hints on what we are going to name our little Strawberry Marvelle until she is born.

Monday, July 20, 2009

We're having a girl


Today at our ultrasound we were able to see that we have a healthy baby girl. She is developing normally. We even got to see an 3D image of her face. We are so excited, but now we have to start thinking of girl names.


The 3D image of her face.


Side profile with her hand up around her face.


A foot with 5 toes

Monday, July 13, 2009

What will it be?

On Monday the 20th we go in for our midway ultrasound. During the ultrasound we will get to see if the baby is developing well; we will also get to find out the sex (if the baby is in the correct position).

Any guesses?

Half-way

I am 20 weeks pregnant today - half-way through the pregnancy. It seems so weird to be half way through, and I can't believe how much more I have to do before he/she gets here!

We have been looking into buying a new car because our 15 year old Blazer with 190,000 miles (while it runs great) maybe a little too unreliable for a new born.
We've been looking into day cares. The plan is that I will stay at home for 6 months or so and look to start a job next summer... but we still need to start putting our names on waiting lists so we can have a good spot at a place where we feel comfortable.
We still need to set up the baby's room! We need to register, buy furniture and start getting the house ready!
And finally I need to graduate. Wow. I can't believe I've been in school for over 5 years, and I am still not done. 2 papers under my belt with so much more to do! I was looking at the calendar today made me realize that if I want to graduate before the baby comes then I need to to get some major work done in the next 3 months!


As far as how I've been feeling. My back was aching a little last week, but that seemed to have tapered off after going to the pool twice. I have been sneezing a lot and wake up a stuffy nose. I've started to forget a few things. For instance today I couldn't remember my social security number or a website I visit all the time... But after reading horror stories, I've been very thankful at my lack of symptoms. Hopefully the second half of my pregnancy will be just as smooth as the first.

Belly Pics!

So, I'm a little embarrassed to show these, but oh well, this is what I look like. We went to the pool yesterday and I just felt fat, not round and beautifully pregnant. Even though I've only gained 9 pounds, I feel like I look 30lbs heavier!

Here it is in all its glory for all of those who have asked. Pictures from the beginning.

Friday, June 26, 2009

It's alive!

Where have we been? Well, I've been baking a baby, is that enough of an excuse? Hopefully I'll be more consistent, but no promises!

I am currently 17 weeks 4 days and yes, we are having a baby! Above is an outdated picture, but it's the best I have so far. This was taken at 12 weeks 4 days when the baby was only 2 inches... It's now almost 6 inches and I have started to feel it moving this last week. It's like popcorn in my stomach!

I'm afraid this blog might become more of a kvetching board (kvetch: v. [Yiddish] to complain). But oh well... that seems like that is what everyone is interested in. I have never had so many people asking me "how are you feeling?"

Coming soon - Belly Pics and how I've been feeling.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Amanda is quoted in an Indy article

The Monti revives the lost art of oral storytelling
Stand and deliver

22 April 2009 * By Jessica Fuller * Link to Story

Once upon a time, there was no television or Twitter to aid in the creation and dissemination of stories. In those days, if one wanted a story, someone would have to tell it.
Storytelling may be a nearly lost art, but on a recent Tuesday, there were glimmers of its revival. Sure, there was no blind guy named Homer or inventive girl named Scheherazade; instead, visitors to Alivia's Bistro in Durham listened to New York comic Sara Barron talk about snogging an old crush and heard other tales, including one from a man who awoke one night as a child and found a bat on his chest.

This gathering, founded one year ago by Cary Academy science teacher Jeff Polish, is called The Monti. A showcase for raconteurs, it brings personal narratives and old-fashioned storytelling to a live audience. Polish started the group, named for an old college friend, after seeing an advertisement in The New Yorker for a New York-based storytelling organization called The Moth. The group encouraged people from all walks of life to stand on stage and tell a story—no notes, no script, no fiction.

Polish, who has a doctorate in genetics from Washington University, said that the experience "sounded like everything I'd always wanted to do but didn't have the guts to try."

"I had no idea it would become the phenomenon it has become," he said.

In April of last year, Polish opened the first Monti show at Spice Street in Chapel Hill. So far the group has sold out all 12 of its shows, with tickets going in as quickly as 30 minutes.

"The stories are compelling. They turn life experiences into a story, the banal into something interesting," said one attendee, Amanda Marvelle from Durham, a graduate student in genetics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

This particular evening was the second Monti StorySlam, an event best described as a combination of karaoke and a poetry reading. Audience members submit their names into a hat (or, in this case, a Samuel Adams pitcher) and are chosen at random to come to the mike and tell a five-minute story. Audience members also serve as judges, giving each a score from 1-10 based on how well the story flows, stays within the time limit and fits the night's theme.

The evening's theme, "Animal Instincts," seemed perfect for Barron, its guest host. A delightful combination of Saturday Night Live's Kristin Wiig and a frizzier-haired Lucille Ball, Barron took the stage (a 3-foot-by-3-foot wooden box) in a flurry of skinny jeans and purple fingernails.

"Since tonight's theme, Animal Instincts, is sort of sexual," she said with a growl, "I thought I'd read a little something to get us in the mood." She pulled out a gift from her dear Jewish grandmother, a copy of How to Talk So Men Will Listen, and set the crowd rolling on a night of touching, hilarious, gritty, real stories.

But there was far more to the event than the polish of a professional like Barron. The success of the evening would ride on the amateurs who, in a fit of bravery or foolhardiness, signed up to talk. "I can't eat my meal I'm so nervous," said Mark Solomon, a clinical neuropsychologist from Durham, before he was called to the stage. But he captivated the crowd with his tale of discovering bacon after 12 years in a strict vegetarian home. "

"Where did you get this?" he asked, mimicking his mother when she found him sneaking bacon home in his jeans pockets after a sleepover. "Is this responsible for your drop in grades at school?"

Only after Solomon told his story could he eat his dinner peacefully. His meal? A bacon cheeseburger, of course.

There were tales of taking on Florida panthers wearing only a towel, fighting off hippos in the Zambezi River, and eating goat in Kyrgyzstan under the threat of explosive diarrhea. Someone with a double-lung transplant shared the story of fleeing her apartment when she thought she was being robbed, and a man told how his life was changed by the Coalition to Unchain Dogs.

As judges assessed each story, Barron kept up the room's energy with tales of growing up dorky in suburban Chicago and by flirting with the dude from The Regulator who was there with copies of her book, People Are Unappealing.

"I'm staying at the Days Inn, people," she said. "What is the point of staying at the Days Inn if you can't have weird sex with a stranger?"

Montek Singh, an assistant professor of computer science at UNC, shared his story of choosing graduate schools and coming to this country from India. He was told that schools in California have beautiful weather and women, and schools in New York were surrounded by grit and crime but many restaurants.

He shared the question he pondered before making his choice: "Food? Or sex?"

After a well-timed pause, he continued, "So I landed at JFK airport...."

"I'm really impressed with the people willing to get up there," said Briana Brough of Durham, a photographer for Durham Magazine and Chapel Hill Magazine. "The stories are great and very entertaining. It's way better than TV."

Barron, a New York comedy veteran, deemed the performances even stronger than ones she has seen up north. "I was impressed with the caliber and how the community is so supportive."

Along with putting together next month's StorySlam, Polish hopes to gain nonprofit status for The Monti to explore the possibilities of storytelling workshops to spread the art form. Currently, the group uses donated space and spends most of each show's $600 ticket revenue on sound equipment and technicians to preserve the stories shared.

Brian Crawford, a resident of Greensboro and a 20th-century American literature professor at Elon University, summed up the importance of The Monti shows.

"Telling a story for five to 10 minutes is a lost art. People don't have the patience, and people don't know how to listen," he said. "I teach in front a classroom all day long, and it's nothing like this."

The next StorySlam is set for May 19 at Carrboro's DSI Comedy Theater. For information on Monti events, visit www.themonti.org.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Obama is a Ninja


Something to note... the Y axis has pirates in increments of 1/2!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Why we love Durham

We were recently asked by a friend of ours to write a few sentences about why we love Durham for a class that she is taking. Here is our response:

We love Durham.
We love the diversity, creativity, and intelligence of the Durhamites. Durhamites are all not here for a university or for a particular company, but rather there is a broad spectrum of folks with large numbers of educated people interested in the arts, food, culture, etc. But there's also a realness about Durham - blue collar, Durham-born and bred for generations folks that grounds it and gives it character. Its not a hippie, yuppie island of people trying to isolate themselves in a paradise of their own making.

We love the friendliness (perhaps it comes from being in the South) of Durham's people. People are open and welcoming to each other, smile when they pass in the street, and willing to lend a hand. There isn't a natural suspicion of others' motives that we've felt in other cities.

We love the energy the community has for the revitalization of Downtown. So many are genuinely excited about this process. Some create new businesses and the community is so eager to support them. And its created a positive cycle that seems to gain momentum everyday. We feel that we can participate and can be integral part of it because it's so community-driven. This might be due to the small size of Durham which means that everyone has to play a role. Everyone is talking or blogging or emailing about the new restaurants, activities, etc (and so are we) and so we hear about the new things and can participate.

And the community is energized for good reasons - there are great things to do in Durham and nearby. Universities and their academic and athletic events, restaurants/bars, the Farmer's Market, the Durham Bulls, music (DPAC, Pinhook, and Cat's Cradle, etc), and much more. Its location near Raleigh and Chapel Hill gives us access to those places while still enjoying everything we love about Durham.

There is real history to Durham and its discussed and celebrated. Its buildings are being revitalized and repurposed. While there are dark parts of Durham's history, those aren't being ignored, and the great parts of its history are being celebrated.

Friday, March 20, 2009

UNC vs. Duke - My last basketball game as a student


UNC vs Duke from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

Even though the image is black there is a movie if you press play :)

New Zealand photos


We've posted some of our pictures from New Zealand on our photo site.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Marvelle Musings' 101st post!! & Facebook 25 things

Why do I note that this is our 101st post? Well, just to point out that last night the Tar Heels scored 101 points against Duke to continue their domination at Cameron for yet another year... GO HEELS!

In other news...

In the past few weeks, a chain letter called "25 Random Things About Me" has wormed its way through Facebook at an alarming speed and Slate wrote an interesting article about it (as well as The Post and The Times and many others) trying to track its origin and why THIS trend has spread so quickly. If you've been involved in this "25 things" craze go to their website: http://www.slate.com/id/2210697/ and fill out their survey.

I've decided to post my 25 things for those of you who aren't on facebook:
1. I wrote 20 random things then my Firefox shut down and I lost them...

2. I am a procrastinator, so I am writing them again.

3. We adopted a dog named Pancake. Could he have come with a better name?

4. I met Nathan at a free CAKE concert on 8th and G in DC.

5. I will NOT eat mayonnaise, American cheese, or drink milk. I believe I can trace this back to a traumatic experience in day-care, but who would want to eat those nasty things anyways?

6. Thank God for the red underlines in Word and Firefox, because I can't for the life of me spell.

7. I have been focusing on Genetics for over 7 years (grad school + pre-grad school), but I still don't know what the heck I want to do with my life. Maybe open a tea shop? Maybe I'm afraid of making a decision? Maybe I will always be looking?

8. There is nothing better than a brunch of tamales, eggs (with cheese, cilantro, and jalapenos of course), tortillas, beans, rice, and coffee at Don Jaime's in Mt. Pleasant.

9. I am in love with This American Life and more specifically Ira Glass. I have joked that I would marry Ira if we were both single (and he wanted to, of course). My "joke" was broadcasted on the NPR station for over a year on their My Source soundbites.

10. While studying abroad in Denmark, I went to a crazy week long rock festival, The Roskilde Festival. In order to pay for my ticket I drove a cherry picker and took down the electrical wiring afterward. You evidently don't need a permit to drive one of those things in Denmark.

11. I will be going to New Zealand in February. I hope to do an extreme sport - maybe skydiving? bungee jumping? or luge down the side of a mountain? Only if Nathan is up to it and well, let's just say, he's not too enthused by my eagerness.

12. I love documenting events with pictures and posting them on the web for everyone to see - I wish everyone did the same so I could see all the pictures from events where I didn't have my camera!

13. My legs are disproportionally long, and I have a hard time buying pants. I went through the first few years of adolescence wearing high-waters.

14. I have always dreamt of running 400 meters in less than 60 seconds. I once ran it in 60.1 (seriously! ) and have now resolved that I will never be able to obtain this dream. At 27 years old, I am way past my prime...

15. I cannot resist a sliced fresh picked tomato with a dash of salt and pepper. The best is if it is from my parent's garden.

16. I am a nerd, and I'm proud of it.

17. I had a belly button ring for almost 10 years... to top it off my mom was the one to initially pierced it - I had it redone a few years later with my friend Kim at a computer science conference in Pigeon Forge, TN. I'm a nerd as established in #16.

18. I have never broken a bone, but I have dislocated my shoulder on multiple occasions and tore my ACL to shreds. I think I would have much rather broken a bone than had two surgeries with extremely long recoveries.

19. I am addicted to the internet. I know that an iPhone or Blackberry would be detrimental to my health.

20. As a freshman in college, I drop-kicked a guy who was trying to pick me up and broke his nose. I could have killed him with my ninja moves.

21. When I find a song I like for the first time, I will listen to it over and over on repeat (up to several hours at a time). Is this crazy?

22. I am the handy-(wo)man around the house.

23. I thrive on doing things with other people and could easily do something every night of the week if given the opportunity. So if you are doing something, let me know. If I'm free, I'll join you!

24. I've swam with penguins and sharks in the Galapagos Islands.

25. I love Durham, and want to live here for a long time! My dream is to buy a historic home in downtown and renovate it.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

This week's edition of MarvelleHD

We've gotten to babysit Camden every other Monday for the past few weeks. During this time we have been able to see him progress from a little scooting to a full on crawl. Here is our documentation of him learning to crawl.


Camden Learning to Crawl from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Poor Mr. Pooch

This weekend Pancake had an accident and cut himself on his snout. He had to have multiple stitches and is wearing an Elizabethan collar. He is not at all excited by this and we think that he actually might have doggie depression. Here is a pitiful picture of him with his collar on.

Friday, February 6, 2009

How do I leave my individuality on the world?

As I was listening to Radio Lab, an NPR podcast that delves into a variety of scientific topics in an interesting way, I was exposed to an insight about science that I had never really thought about. Everyday I’m reading papers, doing research, and learning about science in general. However, this was above and beyond the actual day-to-day science; it was more of a philosophical take on science.

The set-up:
Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich are interviewing Alan Lightman, an ex-theoretical physicist. Alan was working on the problem of how globular clusters (a glob of stars) hang together - the gravity that links them. He thought he had found something so unique, but as he was in the process of writing up his research, he began to look at papers of other people who did simlar work. He was flipping thorugh some current journals and stumbled upon a title that look alarmingly like it could have been the title to the paper he was working on. After reading the paper, Alan realized that two guys from Japan had found exactly what he had found...

Below is my attempt at a transcript from the interview:
Jad Abumrad: So what they had found was exactly what you had found?
Alan: Well they would have had to find exactly what I had found, because this is the world of science. And the world of science has this terrible precision.
I was crest-fallen. I was so disappointed. I felt humiliated. I felt stupid.
And then another sensation went through me and that was a felling of amazement. That these two guys on the other side of the planet with no communication with me, sitting at their desk, worked on the same problem, and had gotten the same results.
Jad: The exact same results ...
Alan: Any scientist anywhere in the universe solving this problem would have gotten that answer. There really IS something outside of our bodies and independent of our minds. This is both a wonderful thing and a terrible thing.
It’s a wonderful thing because there is a beauty to it, there is a feeling of power and control.
But the tragedy of this, which I felt at the same time, is that, what is the relevance of me as an individual person if anybody else could have solved the same problem? Then why was I needed? What was the meaning of my life? How do I leave my individuality on the world? Certainly not through - science.
Jad: Here is what happened. Alan gave up the practice of bench science and became a novelist. Einstein’s Dreams won the Pulitzer Prize. (great book) That’s his work. It couldn’t have happened without him.
Alan: And that is a profound difference between the sciences and the arts.
Jad: If the Ode to Joy had not been in Beethoven's head it might not necessarily been come around.
Alan: The Tempest would not have been written by anyone but Shakespeare.

You can listen to a stream of the podcast "here" under Thrill of Discovery.



So here's the question... When a scientist makes a discovery, is it their brilliant work, the product of a beautiful mind, or is it just out there in the world, waiting for whomever happens to get there first?

This whole concept is weird to think about. It's not that I am not fulfilled in making discoveries that others could make if they were working on the same problem. It is just something that I have never thought about before.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

CNN Map Insanity

The folks at CNN clearly have not seen the parody SNL did of their map fetish. Its about a minute into the clip.

Monday, January 19, 2009

A love affair with my slow cooker

For Christmas my mom got us a slow cooker. Admittedly, I never bought one or put it on our wedding registry because I could never imagine using it often.

With a perfect storm of a left-over ham bone from our New Year's Fest weekend at the beach and a brand new slow cooker, I christened it by making split pea soup. It was the easiest thing I have ever done. 1 bag split peas, 1 Ham bone with lots of delicious ham still on it, 1 clove minced garlic, 2 quarts chicken broth, 2 bay leaves, some celery. Put it all in the pot for 8 hours on low. And Voila! liquid gold! It was so so yummy!

The next week I decided to try my hand at another dish, corned beef. Again some potatoes and onions on the bottom of the pot, a bay leaf, a juicy corned beef brisket on top of the veggies and a little water. 8 hours later we had a wonderful meal.

Well, I was on a roll so when I offered to make dinner for Michelle and Mark I decided the slow cooker was the best bet. I Googled the ingredients we had on hand - chicken and sweet potatoes and came up with this wonderful dish:

Slow Cooker Latin Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Black Beans

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Sprinkle chicken thighs with 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
  2. Heat 12-inch skillet over med-high heat until hot;add chicken and cook until browned on all sides.
  3. While chicken is cooking put beans and sweet potatoes in slow-cooker.
  4. Place chicken on bean mix in slow-cooker.
  5. In skillet, mix paprika, allspice, broth, remaining cumin, salsa, and garlic.
  6. Pour this over chicken in crock pot.
  7. Cover with lid and cook on low 8 hrs or 4 hrs on high.
  8. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

There is no end to what the slow cooker can do!

Yes, we did.

Wow! it is almost here...

...Future generations of Americans will look back at this moment of crisis and opportunity and they will judge us -- but not by our words. They will measure us -- but not by the promises we make. For langua
ge has the power to move us to action, but it is never a substitute for it.

Our children's children will ask only this: What did they DO, back then? Did they rise to the challenges providence had set before them? Did they unite as one people, with a common destiny? Did they set aside the old partisan rancor in order to protect our great nation, to strengthen democracy and human rights at home and abroad and to safeguard the blessings of the natural world for all time? Did they live up to the great promise cradled in that name: Am
erica? What will these future generations say?

They will say, "Yes, they did."

Because, my fellow Americans, yes, we will. We embrace these challenges, all of them. Because that is where we find meaning in our lives...


This is an excerpt taken from the collaboratively written inauguration speech done on our friend's site: MixInk. This site allows large groups to democratically create a single collaborative document. This speech was created by 454 members of Slate using the democratic, collaborative writing tools at MixedInk.com.

Monday, January 12, 2009