The Cat is Back

Dean came back to NJ this weekend. He spent Fall 2004 in the Chicagoland area with my parents. I was in DC and Rich had been traveling to Austin and back, so having him with my parents made sense. We drove down to DC after work on Friday, and picked my mom up from Dulles. Before her flight, we stopped in Silver Spring, MD, for some dinner at Thai Derm.

The next morning, we packed the cat back up and drove back to New Jersey. We dropped the cat off, hoped that he wasn't too angry at us, and hopped on a train to NYC. We met up with Xcott at the Port Authority Bus terminal where he'd just arrived from Binghamton. Jeffrey, and the rest of us headed over to the Queen of Sheba to meet up with Cynthia and Ed for some Ethiopian food. (Happy Birthday, Ed!)

We hit NYC on a great day to walk through the Gates in Central Park. (I'll post a picture or 2.) (My idea of a good time is walking around the city with friends and seeing the sites. It may seem to others that I have no plan, and that we're just running around, but really, that's what I think fun is.) Cynthia recommended MarieBelle for hot chocolate. I can't believe how good it is. I recommend the Spicy and the Dark. We spent the early afternoon walking all over the place, starting at MarieBell to Katz's Deli for some pastrami sandwiches. Cynthia had recommended MarieBelle for having the best hot chocolate ever, and she was right! I can't believe how good it is. I recommend the Spicy and the Dark. Mike had seen a news story on the pastrami at Katz's Deli (of Harry met Sally fame) and had wanted to go there. Afterwards, we walked to Chinatown and Little Italy to try to find Efstradios and some red bean buns to bring to Ed's birthday party in the Village. (That's a lot of walking!) Ed's party was a big hit, with lots of people.

Google Maps

Google Maps is awesome. It just put Mapquest and Yahoo Maps out of business. You can move the map around by clicking and dragging, you can find "sushi near Trenton, NJ." You can even get the URL of the business, if they have one, it's great!

AAAS Annual Meeting

I spent this past weekend in Washington, D.C. for the AAAS Annual Meeting: "The Nexus: Where Science Meets Society". I went for the science and technology policy aspects of it. Unfortunately, I was sick, so, that took a bit of the fun out of it. I did meet a few of the current NAS Fellows, and they were really great. They sound like they are a more social group than the fall group (they go out to Happy Hours 3 times a week); but the increased numbers, ~20, is probably a contributing factor. I attended several sessions dealing with intellectual property. I also hit a reception for Scientists and Society, pertaining to the responsible use of science at the Lebanese Taverna. It was packed and several people, ones who had written the original letter to the President concerning scientific integrity in policy-making from the Union of Concerned Scientists, spoke.

This year is also the World Year of Physics. It's been a century since Einstein made his breakthrough into the field of relativity. We celebrated at the conference with the International Einstein Gala!

Anxiety: 1 down

I found out on Mon. Feb. 14th that I'd been accepted into the 2 year Master's program for Public Policy at the Heinz School. I've been given some scholarship money too, which is good. I'm happy that I've gotten into one place, but it's making me anxious to hear back from everywhere else. Other dates: Princeton, March 15. EPP, end of March. Harvard, early April!

Power and Money

Wed. night I attended a fundraiser for PAM's List in New Jersey. It was a young professional event, where you paid your age. PAM (Power and Money) List's was started to support pro-choice, democratic women running for statewide office. I met lots of new people and saw some others that I'd already known through Eagleton. If I stay in New Jersey, I'd want to get more involved. I had fun at the event, but it was a bit like what I'd picture sorority rush to be. That is, a bunch of women standing around talking and drinking, but noone touching the cheese, crackers, chips, etc, that were set up for the occasion.

Librarian Pick up lines

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Dispatches from a Public Librarian

Orlando

I headed to sunny Orlando this past weekend to meet Rich. He was down there to present a poster "Multiple Time Scale Numerical Methods for Oscillatory ODE" for the SIAM Conference on Computational Science. I left from the Allentown, PA airport. It was a cheap fair (~$150 to Orlando) and mostly easy to get too, even though it involved driving and long term parking. We both got down there on Friday night and stayed at the Disney Coronado Spring Resort, and Tapan and Amy picked us up for dinner at a local Giordano's for dinner after the conference welcome reception. The next day, Amy picked me up again and we went back to Downtown Orlando to walk around Lake Eola. We got lunch from a stand by the lake and then gelato from iL GelatOne. I had the pineapple mango with coconut. Amy had the pineapple mango with cream. It made me realize how much I missed having good gelato. (Hooray for the Bent Spoon in Princeton!)

After a mixup with the bus shuttle company, we went and picked Rich up from the resort. One of the Disney workers had told us that we could get a shuttle from the resort to downtown and even looked up the price for us, but the shuttle company disagreed. Downtown Orlando is ready to become the thriving urban center it wants to be. Once they finish building the grocery store downtown, people (and housing prices) will rise to the occasion. Luxury condo buildings are popping up all over the place. There are plenty of restaurants, bars, and an increasing number of cultural things for people to do. We hit a sushi restaurant for dinner and then a wine bar afterwards. Hanging out downtown was much better than spending all of our time in a neon, over-priced, theme-park restaurant area.

We even got free entertainment at the sushi restaurant. Someone had parked their white Lexus in front of the restaurant, in a clearly marked "No Parking from 6 PM to 3 AM" zone. He'd come back to his car to find the ticket, and smarted off at the officer leaving the ticket. The gentleman stormed off, leaving his car, probably to go to whatever bar was the IT bar for the night. The police officer (on bike) called another bike officer, and they called a 3rd officer in a police car. They called the towing company and towed the guy's car. What is interesting is that all 3 of them stood out on the street chatting and laughing it up, while they waited for the tow car. It is wise never to talk back to a police officer, also cheaper to go park your car for the $10 it'll cost you in a garage than to pay a $250 towing fee plus $50 parking ticket.

Plasma Physics

Last night, I made that Farfalle w/ Cherry Tomatoes, Arugula, and Goat Cheese for some people at Katy's place. It was still as good as the first time, except that I think I added too many hot spices. Afterwards, I headed to the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab with Dave Smith for a tour. They make plasma for 12 weeks a year, and it is hotter than the sun. Dave is looking at figuring out the turbulence of plasma by shooting microwaves at it and looking at how they are bounced off the plasma. For more information on fusion, click here! Dave is the second person I know who is doing what their dream is. He did a book report about fusion in high school and decided, "That's what I want to do!" And he is.

California boy to Texan...

Rich has just accepted a job at University of Texas, Austin! He'll be a Mathematics Instructor and ICES Postdoctoral Fellow. He'll have to teach 2 classes a year.

Farfalle w/ Cherry Tomatoes, Arugula, and Goat Cheese

This recipe is out of Cooks Illustrated. They test all the recipes to perfection so you don't have to. I'm on a tomato and goat cheese kick, so when I saw this recipe, I had to try it! I made this Sat. night when I went to visit Scott in Binghamton. We substituted grape tomatoes instead of cherry. It's delicious!

1 medium shallots, sliced thin
1/4 c. olive oil
3 pints (2 lbs) cherry tomatoes, each tomato halved pole to pole
Table salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1.5 tsp. sugar, or to taste
1 Tbl. sherry or red wine vinegar
3 large garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 lb farfalle
1 large bunch arugula, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces (4 c. loosely packed)
4 oz. goats cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 c.)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In small bowl, toss shallots with 2 tsp. oil; set aside. In medium bowl, gently toss tomatoes with remaining oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, pepper flakes, black pepper, sugar, vinegar, and garlic. Spread in even layer on rimmed baking sheet (about 17 by 12 in.), scatter shallots over tomatoes; roast until edges of shallots begin to brown and tomato skins are slightly shriveled (tomatoes should retain their shape), 35 - 40 min. (Do no stir tomatoes during roasting.) Remove tomatoes from oven and cool 5 to 10 min.

2. While tomatoes cook, bring 4 qts. water to boil in large stockpot. Just before removing tomatoes from oven, stir 1 Tbl. salt and pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and return to pot; add arugula and toss until wilted. Using rubber spatula, scrape tomato mixture into pot on top of pasta and toss to combine. Serve immediately, sprinkling cheese over individual bowls.

Done!

As of 12:20 pm ET, I am done with all the essays, applications forms, and other such things that have occupied my time and attention for the past 3 or 4 months. Wheee!

So, now what? Homework!

I'm Free! (almost)

I finished off the last of my public policy grad school applications today. What a wonderful feeling to have all of those sent off. I was really getting sick of figuring out all the different ways I could say "research." Unfortunately, on my drive to school, I remembered that I had to fill out financial aid stuff for Harvard. Luckily, they are due Feb. 4th and not tonight.