29 March: Brian and I thew a wedding shindig.

29 April: We visited the Pasadena Courthouse to make the union legal.

29 May: We were backpacking in Zion on our honeymoon/road trip.

Tonight? Just a date at the soda fountain. :)

• 12:28 A little pot of home-brewed Thai tea makes the perfect drink for June Gloom. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 12:41 Stupid ankle needs to quit complaining about being sprained and just deal with the fact that it's going to be danced, tumbled, & bounced on. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 15:41 This is amazing! I'm actually using quantum mechanics to understand something research-related! #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

Back from our 1.5-week honeymoon/camping trip/road trip to Kansas!

miles driven: ~3,044
elevation range: sea level to 12,095'
Southwestern states visited: 8
days it rained/snowed: 7 (and a bit on an 8th)
times struck by lightning: 0
motorcycles transported: 2
national parks visited: 3
backpacking distance: 15.8 miles (10 with packs) round trip
backpacking ascent: 2136' one way
miles mountain-biked: ~9
unprovoked attacks by juniper bushes: only 1

• 16:14 After feeling two earthquakes in the last 48 hours, methinks it might be past time to get our tall furniture properly anchored to the walls. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 10:45 Gold medal, yes . . . but possibly also the highest tumbling score in the entire Region 2 competition! #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 10:21 I'm scheduled to compete my 3 events (each of which takes MAYBE minutes, if you include warm-up turns) over the course of FIVE HOURS! #
• 10:22 What to do during all the waiting time: grading? actual work? reading children's fantasy? We'll see which wins out. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 17:22 @strangeexchange: Best word I learned recently: philosophunculist. If you really want to learn new words, though, try www.freerice.com. #

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• 16:53 Ever look at a word you see every day, and have the spelling suddenly look utterly wrong? Laws of physics exhibit a similar phenomenon. #
• 17:13 F=q*E: F is the force an object (with charge q) experiences when it's at a particular location; E is the field there when the object isn't! #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 23:36 Our first few stops at the JPL Open House: 1.) sausage/corn dog stand, 2.) clean room, 3.) ATM, 4.) sausage/corn dog stand . . . #
• 23:41 Very impressed by the Spacecraft Fabrication Facility. Especially the robots who measure specs (when they're not showing off for visitors). #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 16:28 I spent about a half hour yesterday 20-30 feet up in a tree, uninstalling the swing I put up almost three years ago. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 19:45 @strangeexchange: I tend to feel that if the rate of "to do" list cross-offs can just equal the rate of additions, you're good. #
• 19:48 I was planning to go home early to do things like, say, laundry. But then I got distracted by research. I love it when that happens. :) #
• 19:59 As does the cat, since she prefers the clean clothes to be in a pile she can burrow into. #
• 20:06 @strangeexchange: Alternate solution: live forever! #
• 20:10 @strangeexchange: Somewhat more seriously: I might find running out of things to do in life worse than ending life with things left undone. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 16:49 Wedding? Success! Dance show? Success! Two big T&T meets? Success! "First draft" of paper shown to advisor? Success! Not a bad month. :) #
• 18:45 Fitting everything on my one plate at the international food fair tries my mildly OCD "keep foods separate" tendency ... but is so worth it! #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 20:54 It was at times hectic and challenging and dramatic . . . but I'm quite pleased with the end result of this year's Ceroc formation. #
• 20:54 And glad to be done with washing eyeliner out of my contacts for at least another year. #
• 20:57 Whoa, things are now showing up that start with "@eveofdiscovery"! #
• 21:22 @neilsh: The person at the door asked something like, "Do you have an athlete here today?" and he said yes, he did. But I think that was it. #
• 21:24 @strangeexchange: Neat. Thank you! Both for keeping track and complimenting the dress rehearsal video of the formation. :) #
• 21:42 @strangeexchange: As for the meet: Extremely successful! I scored high enough to qualify for nationals on all three events! #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

• 09:57 I was asked at yesterday's T&T meet which age group I'm in. Keep in mind that the options are "9-10," "11-12," "13-14," and "15 and over." #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

Highlights:
* Hit (i.e., successfully completed) six out of six routines/passes!
* Pretty much nailed the landing for my first double mini pass (back layout on, front full off).  Not sure if I've done that before.
* Definitely connected my second double mini pass (back full on, layout Barani off) for the first time ever, and did so when being judged no less!  (Previously, the closest I'd come was when, in the touch warm-up, I did a back full on, front-3/4-flop-onto-my-back off).
* The scores for my compulsory trampoline routine were up by a few tenths.
* Both tumbling passes were solid, and the judges complimented me on being the only person to take off and land in the appropriate areas.  (I'd noticed this myself, and had begun to suspect they'd relaxed the rules about such things, which apparently isn't actually the case.)
* April and I tied for first on double-mini against a fair number of other competitors!  Joanne, of course, was thrilled.
* I took gold on the other events, too, though in both cases only against one other person.

All in all, a very successful morning, even worth having gotten up at 5 a.m. for.  And they even managed to finish early, wrapping up everything (including awards) in about two hours.

For reference, scores so far this season:

1st prelim:
Tramp: 46.5 (degree of difficulty: 4.0; place: 1/3)
Double mini: 27.8 (dd: 1.5; place: 2/2)
On the second pass, I twisted my Barani practically before I hurdled, landed half on the frame pad, then continued into a back layout that landed me back on DM.  Needless to say, I didn't get credit for that one.
Tumbling: 51.4 (dd: 2.1, 2.2; place: 2/4)
The warm-up for the meet was, literally, my first time tumbling in a good year and a half.  My wrists didn't like it at first, and I almost scratched the event.  But I decided to give it one more try and they settled down.  I went on to compete, making it through the bounding whip pass despite having not warmed it up at all, and despite nearly coming to a stop after the second whip.  The judges complimented my strength and perseverance, and I ended up second by only .3.

3rd prelim
Tramp: 36.5 (optional: 7.1, 7.2, 7.3; dd: 3.90; place: 2/2)
I probably would have scored better on the compulsory routine had I not launched the back tuck from the frame pad.
Double mini: 56.6 (8.9, 8.8, 9.0, dd: 1.5; avg: 9.07, dd 1.2; place: 2/3)
I did a back layout on, front full off; then a front tuck on, Barani off.  I completed both passes successfully, though neither was stellar (run-away landing on the first, lack of height on the dismount of the second).
Tumbling: 51.9 (7.9, 7.9, 8.0, dd: 2.1; 7.9, 7.8, 8.0, dd: 2.2; place: 2/3)

4th prelim (unofficial)
Tramp: 47.1 (compulsory: 7.2, 7.1, 7.4; optional: 7.2, 7.0, 7.1; dd: 4.00)
Double mini: 58.6 (9.3, 9.3, 9.4, dd: 1.5; 9.1, 9.2, 9.2, dd 1.6)
Tumbling: 52.5 (7.9, 8.2, 8.1, dd: 2.1; 8.0, 8.0, 8.0, dd: 2.2)

• 04:25 Because I wasn't harried enough (paper writing, shindig planning) BEFORE Alcyone stopped being a tablet and Xerion commenced sneezing fits. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

I finished reading it early Wednesday morning, and still, just as I'm being pulled awake by the radio, half expect the news to be about masked vigilantes, nuclear warfare, and alien invasions.  It was certainly an engaging read, if a somewhat traumatic one.

(As for the movie, I probably won't get around to seeing it until it comes to the Academy.)

The United States Postal Service:

WE CARE

Dear Postal Customer:

We sincerely regret the damage to your mail during handling by the Postal Service. We hope this incident did not inconvenience you. We realize that your mail is important to you and that you have every right to expect it to be delivered in good condition.

Although every effort is made to prevent damage to the mail, occasionally this will occur because of the great volume handled and the rapid processing methods which must be employed to assure the most expeditious distribution possible.

We hope you understand. We assure you that we are constantly striving to improve our processing methods in order that even a rare occurrence may be eliminated.

Please accept our apologies.

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Me: Where's the other half?

Apparently, they expeditiously distributed half of my tutoring pay stub -- envelope and all -- to . . . somewhere else?  I guess?  Good thing I use direct deposit.

Despite being one to two generations younger than the typical Kingston Trio fan, I have inherited an appreciation of their songs from my parents, so I was disappointed when I found out the show was sold out.  I asked the guy at Public Events if any more tickets would become available the evening of the performance, and he said he didn't expect there to be many cancellations, if any.  But if there were, whoever was first in line at the box office when it opened at 7 would have dibs.

Never one to be easily dissuaded, I got to the box office at 6 and was relieved to see I was the first one there.  I needn't have worried; the second person in line arrived at 7 sharp.  The line grew quickly between then and 7:15, though, when they were scheduled to start giving out numbers for the waiting list.  I chatted with the other folks in line, one of whom exclaimed, when I referred to having a fiancé, "You're engaged?  You look like you're 13!"  I acknowledged that that was a common misconception.

Meanwhile, another lady came to the window to turn in a pair of extra tickets, commenting when she saw those of us standing there in line that she was glad someone would enjoy them.  Hence, I knew that Brian and I were in!  We ended up in row L, in the center of the auditorium.  Adam (whom I'd given a call and then gotten a waiting list stub for) got a good seat, too, on row up and to our right.

While waiting for the show to start, I learned from the program that this is something like the ninth version of the Kingston Trio, what with various members coming and going over the years.  They seem to love the music just the same, though -- judging by how much fun the show was for the audience, and appeared to be for the performers as well -- and I imagine that it makes for a better show that if we got the original three up there.  Especially since only one is still alive.

Brian had been asking me if they would do "The Tijuana Jail."  That was his favorite of their repertoire, despite having had to endure me singing it en route to/from the Rosarito-Ensenada.  It was the second thing they played, much to our satisfaction.

George (the banjoist) commented between songs early on, "If you feel the urge to sing along . . . please do.  That's what this music is for."  Fortunately, they were amplified enough that I don't think I bothered anyone the one time I took his advice, which was during "MTA."

I wasn't the only one who's fond of that particular number, either.  When they started with the ominous, "These are the times that try men's souls . . ." the crowd responded with approval, inspiring George to break off with, "Looks like they've heard it already.  I guess we should do something else."  It was an empty threat, of course.  Brian was disappointed to hear, though, that Charlie's wife now hands him a Starbucks instead of a sandwich.  Brian's a sandwich fan.

I'd never heard "Ballad of the Shape of Things to Come" before, and found that one quite amusing.  So was the group's confession that the original book for "Raspberries, Strawberries" had, where the words for the beginning of the chorus were supposed to be, "(Fake the French.)"  Fortunately, their newest member Rick speaks seven languages, including that one, which I'd never heard sound as lovely as it did when he sang that part.

There's actually a fourth musician with the Kingston Trio, and has pretty much since the beginning: the bassist.  The current guy, Paul, has had the role for more than 20 years.  He stands in the shadows behind the headliners, doesn't sing, and gets sent outside into the cold to sell merchandise during the intermission.  His bass solo during "Scotch and Soda" was pretty kick-ass, though.

He also invited us, while chatting in the lobby after the show, to join them subsequently at the hotel bar.  Brian and I had just been waiting to get signatures -- I'd brought the CD I already owned, then we bought another that actually has on it the people whose signatures we were soliciting.  We ended up talking science with Paul, though, whose dad was also a research scientist, and George briefly borrowed the tassel of hair at the end of my braid to fill in the gap on his own crown.

The invitation seemed genuine, too -- not just a courtesy because we happened to be in the vicinity when they were heading out -- so we accepted.  We weren't sure at first what we'd be able to contribute to the gathering, but it ended up not being a problem.  The conversation was wide-ranging, from some of the gigs their more affluent patrons had sponsored to a fairly in-depth discussion of Brian's research -- which Paul and Bill seemed to really be interested in.  The bar closed at 1 and we headed home, having had a very enjoyable evening.

• 23:12 I probably could have gotten by with one fewer piece of luggage, if not for my willingness to support my mother's ginger tea habit. #
• 23:18 Not amused that Cleveland decided to warm up upon my arrival. If I'd wanted my precipitation in liquid form, I could've stayed in Pasadena! #
• 23:26 I passed 10 spun-out cars, but didn't follow suit! ($50 voucher < expense of crashing van en route to/from CLE to pick up late luggage) #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

Wednesday morning: "Mini Conference on the Plasma Physics of the Solar Wind: From Parker (1958) to the Present"
The first speaker was Eugene Parker himself ("in the present," as the session chair pointed out), explaining how scientists today are perpetuating all sorts of misconceptions in the field (i.e., approaches that don't agree with Parker's ideas).  I suggested to Auna, who was sitting next to me, that his thesis might be best expressed by one of the songs from Bye Bye Birdie: "What's the matter with kids today?"

The second speaker was a well-known observer in the field who showed some data that looked gratifyingly similar to the magnetic traces I get from the probe we use in our experiment.

The third talk was "Stationary spherically symmetric supersonic winds and accretion: from Parker to Bondi and back."  It was a fascinating analytic treatment of the topic derived from first principles: spherical symmetry, relative pressures at the source and "infinity" (yes, there is a finite pressure at infinity: the interstellar medium), and so on.  He had found that for some cases there exist two solutions: a slow-moving solar "breeze" and a wind with a shock.  Since the existence of two solutions often is a sign that there's an instability in the system, that raised the question of whether the breeze was, in fact, unstable.  (Turns out it was.)

That wasn't everything, of course, and I certainly didn't follow everything he addressed, but I got a lot out of it and definitely enjoyed his talk.

Wednesday evening: Annual Banquet, Awards, and Speaker
After a fabulous dinner (my favorite parts were the soup and the steak), the coffee had been served and everyone had quieted down to listen to the speaker*.  Paul had added cream to his coffee and was reaching to put the creamer down when either it or his hand collided with his nearly-full wine glass, sending its contents flying in my direction.

SPLOOSH!

Fortunately, I was wearing a brown long-sleeve t-shirt and my dark purple fleece, so there wasn't any permanent damage.  (Had I instead been wearing my nice suede jacket I got for Christmas last year, it would have been a different story.)  Paul apologized profusely, and I assured him that it wasn't a big deal.

Then he commented, "There are two solutions here: either I had too much wine, or I didn't have enough."

I responded, "Yes, and either way, it's unstable."





* He gave an amazing speech, by the way.  He's a particle physicist at Purdue, but was speaking -- with a great deal of personal experience -- about cochlear implants.  After he had gone deaf from the hard-core antibiotics required to treat his leukemia, getting a cochlear implant allowed him to hear the voice of his wife for the first time in 13 years, and the voice of his 11-year-old daughter for the first time ever.  So he's a fan.

His presentation took us on a tour of natural hearing (a truly incredible process); discussed causes of deafness; explained how cochlear implants work (bandpass filters and electrodes that directly stimulate the auditory nerve are involved); included audio samples of 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-channel systems; demonstrated the interplay between "bottom up" and "top down" processing; showed graphs tracking the increased learning rate experienced by deaf children who've been implanted; and much more.

• 10:26 Trampoline practice after I hadn't bounced in over a year and with new routines I'd never done before? Amazingly successful! Whee! #
• 10:40 You know you're a physics grad student when: Baking cookies = pondering how boundaries affect the efficiency of various lattice structures. #

Courtesy of LoudTwitter.

Last Tuesday, I tried electioneering for the first time.

As the "captain" for our location, I started the day at 7 a.m. by finding out who was in charge of the polling place (which was harder than you might think), and asking where the 100-foot line was, to make sure we know where we could stand without breaking the law.  She didn't know offhand, so we got out her official 100-foot piece of yellow twine and after a fair amount of difficulty unraveling said twine, measured it out.

My first unpleasant encounter was with a blond lady who, as soon as she parked, told me that I was breaking the law and that I should stop handing out palm cards immediately.  I tried to explain pleasantly that I had made sure not to be too close, but she wouldn't listen and, when I looked around for the next person to talk to, accused me of inspecting her car.  I swore I wasn't and she stalked off still in a temper, but a few minutes later came back and apologized.  Though her big thing was "Yes on 4," apparently she'd had a bad experience with vandalism of a "No on 8" variety; and is usually a polling place volunteer; so when she saw me inside what she thought was the 100-foot line, she just lost it.  She kept apologizing, and thanked me for having been so pleasant despite her tirade.

We'd been prepared for the possibility of "Yes on 8" supporters, but the only guy we saw all morning wasn't so much from the campaign as just a religiously-inspired heckler.  The first time he saw me, he got pretty excited, said, "Oh no!" made a dramatic gesture to the sky, and said something that ended in a very emphatic "THE LORD!"  And for awhile when ever I'd be talking to someone, he'd be 40 feet away advising them to stay away from me.  He settled down after that, though, once even tried to explain how he'd been taught all his life that it's wrong for a man to be with a man.  Eventually, he wandered off.

I struggled all day trying to figure out best thing to say.

"Do you have any questions about Proposition 8?" seemed like a good choice, but usually didn't give me a chance to urge people to vote "No" (potentially clearing up confusion about how a "No" vote was PRO gay right and a "Yes" vote was anti).

I didn't like opening with "Vote no on 8!" because it seemed like that would only get a positive response from people who already were doing so, while those on the fence might feel overly pressured.

"Are you familiar with Proposition 8?" ended up being my favorite, with the follow-up of, "We're asking everyone to vote "No" on 8 because it's discrimination and it's unfair for the government to treat anyone as second-class citizens."

I was surprised when a few people who said they weren't familiar seemed convinced to vote "No" with fairly little argument.

A couple people who were voting "Yes" actually took the time to explain that they felt it would be morally wrong not to do so.  One guy said he thinks the country needs to go back to having sodomy laws.  Another mentioned how he doesn't like seeing her sister and her partner display affection toward another.

It was pleasantly surprising when people who seemed standoffish going into the polls came out to request stickers or thank me for being there.  And it was really refreshing to see people of all ethnicities and ages voting "No," some who were more strongly supportive and others who were more just "live and let live."

Our most vehement opponent was an angry lady in purple who, like a few other middle-aged white ladies, told us we were breaking the law (which we weren't) and even brought out the poll official to try to get her to chase us away.  But the poll official informed her that we were weren't doing anything wrong.  Someone else called the police with the same accusation, and we were again supported for staying far enough away and being pleasant.

Toward the end of the evening, a "Yes on 8" guy showed up, and was straying well within the 100-foot boundary.  I ended up going in to inform the poll official (after removing my sticker and putting away my palm cards), but other people had already done so.  She came out and announced very firmly where the boundaries that we'd measured off were, adding about the one on my side that "That little girl can show you." The son of the "Yes on 8" guy had also come along -- to keep his dad out of trouble, he confessed.  He was an easy-going high-schooler with whom we ended up having a fairly nice discussion about religion and the evolution of society, though we disagreed about most things.  He and his dad didn't stay long, though.

Things trailed off toward 8 p.m., and one of the other two "Yes on 8" volunteers who'd been there since midday (I'd had three different people volunteering in the morning) was telling us about all the states that had already gone for Obama.

As I was driving back to Pasadena, I heard McCain's concession speech, then Obama's acceptance speech, and was impressed by both (though less so the booing of McCain's supporters).  I especially enjoyed the part where Obama thanked his family with such a loving description of wife, and the promise of puppy for his daughters.  According to NPR's commentary afterward, Obama wrote his speech himself.  As I've seen others comment in the week since, it would be nice if his presidency marks a departure from the "education is elitist" argument, and a move toward carefully-reasoned and well-researched decisions and away from the "I just follow my gut" mentality.

Of course, the sad ending to all this is that Prop 8 passed.  I thought I'd have a good, long cry if that happened, but I don't feel quite as despondent as I thought I would.  I did everything I could to oppose it, it was really heartening to see all the support for "No on 8," and people are learning, if slowly.

I wonder what the next steps will be.  It doesn't seem right that the majority should be able to deprive the minority of the same legal opportunities that they themselves enjoy, but the "this is a revision, not an amendment argument" seems like a long shot, and didn't work in OR.  Will it be a "freedom of religion" matter, since some churches bless same-sex marriages, while others don't?  Will it go to the Supreme Court?  Will it take as long to get there as the D.C. gun ban?

For now, of course, it's disappointing, especially since I will be getting married in CA at the end of March.  I'd really been hoping that when I did, the fact that the love of my life is a man would be incidental rather than essential.