By lani 18 Jul 2002
the fruits of my labor have finally been rewarded. my sony clie PEG-NR70V, the personal entertainment organizer is here. yura and i are going to spend all afternoon waiting for it to charge and to make it’s first sounds. :)
<p>“the only thing it doesn’t have is a midget to fan me!” </p> By lani 27 Jun 2002
we got this email saying that by a new federal mandate, nobody is allowed to smoke within 20 feet of a door.
<p>i’m looking at it as not a pain in the a**, but as an opportunity to put sonar devices to use.</p> By lani 20 Jun 2002
so i mostly survived the biphysics lecture series…well, considering that i did the equivalent of bumrushing the place. they didn’t accept me for studentship but i talked my boss into helping me fund the train rides and taxi cabs. the organizer gave some kind of comment about how the students who attended were selected and special. i have to say that it was pretty funny that a bum like me worked her way into it. there were definitely a collection of interesting and talented people there. on the train ride to nyc, i talked with a german post-doc with background in statistical mechanics in chaotic systems who is taking on exactly what i am dying to see done. yay! i just hope he gets it done soon.
By lani 12 Jun 2002
do you have a log of what markov generates? b/c some of them are pretty funny and the first thing that comes to my mind is top 10 list.
<p>like today’s </p>
<p>“reading trashy astrology books, connect the dot porn (don’t ask), and Oprah’s magazine (we learned how to find that oddly comforting.” </p> By lani 22 May 2002
first a window into my gross personal habits. namely, throwing all kinds of crap into a bag and then insisting on carrying them around. (yes, someone actually nicknamed me walking gypsy carravan as a second grader…)
<p>anyway, more proof that mixing things up into a bag (or large chemical mixer) can sometimes yield great discoveries because chance is often better at it than i am. (you just have to take the right chances, maximize probability that is, or be willing to wait -> infinity…there’s the rub.) i discovered that a layer of tobacco had crusted over the the lip of my lip gloss. i was going to wipe it off and make a grossed out face…but 180’d and decided that fate was telling me something. [a sweet, sweet whisper] so i decided to rub it into the gloss instead. i don’t know if my aromatic neurotoxin of choice will eventually seep out into the gloss, but at least it got me on the right track. </p>
<p>project #458a2: try to extract nicotine from tobacco leaves or snuff and suspend in reconstituted lip gloss. (it can be a “demonstration” for the summer students…what! it worked for yura and the .25M falcon tube of crystallized caffeine he keeps in his desk)</p>
<p>(oh yeah)</p>
<p>project #459b9: experiment with conductive ink pen available from radio shack to see if we can draw circuitry on our bodies. (i volunteered yura as guinea pig…hmm…wait…another use for summer students!)</p> By lani 03 May 2002
or anyone in the area.
<p>objective #2-a is to invite enough people to subdue the “yura effect” (which usually ends in tango lessons, russian folk songs, and things that shouldn’t happen) to a house party. not that it’s all bad, it’s just been done…a lot. so i am welcoming all stalkers, crack addicts, and “other”. may 11. </p>
<p>(if anyone would actually seriously consider coming, email me. please…)</p> By lani 20 Apr 2002
so i finally made it to the Giant Robot store. my pilgrammage is complete.
<p>i had to walk around in West LA, not knowing if there was a difference between Avenues and Boulevards. My sister told me that the address on their page said Ave. but the one i could find on the scant bus map was Boulevard. I guess people use them interchangeably in LA. You’d be lost in Northern Virginia, but i think they do that on purpose so they can christianize you or use you for target practice</p>
<p>anyway, i finally bought Sleepwalk (Optic Nerve 1-4 collection) after pouring over many a review. Eric (one of the makers of Giant Robot!) noticed me browsing and asked me if i was a fan. i had to admit that i hadn’t read any yet. just the reviews. the guys at GR are were pretty nice and gave me a poster for the new Optic Nerve collection coming out in the summer to fuel my future addiction. i had to leave after insisting on pictures and announcing myself as the paparazzi of GR. good thing i can hide out in DC.</p>
<p>but i read most of Sleepwalk on various forms of transportation from LA to Claremont, and i love it. i’m already a fan. sometimes it strikes a little too close to home though. close to home is good. a little too close to home is creepy.</p> By lani 17 Apr 2002
my sister woke me up at 1:30am last night. (which was actually good, because i found 4 mosquito bites that weren’t there before i went to sleep. this lead me to shut the door (no screen) and turn the thermostat to cool against my stingy roommate’s request.) she had to call me to deliver the story of how she was standing in line for something and randomly started talking to the guy in front of her. as it turns out he goes to bates, which leads to, “oh really! my sister went to bates!” at this point the conversation usually ends when person B has no idea who person A’s sister is, conversation dwindles to the sound of toes-tapping and the occasional sigh “ummm”. but as it turns out, the guy is actually neil who was good friends with my good friend and ex-roommate Parv. i spent a night with him observing midnight madness from the “under age scenic viewpoint”.
<p>weird.</p> By lani 15 Apr 2002
well, chris has pulled through for me again. he has talked one of his friends into teaching me how to skateboard. this same friend also plays Go…which means that i could potentially shake that bug. excited
<p>i was really hyper today and had to spend some time on the elliptical runner to work it off. i said this in my lemming log, but i found an opening for a pHd program in molecular electronics in Delft. according to yura, this is on the train route between Paris and Amsterdam. i don’t even think i’ll get in, but i’m still excited to count it as a possibility. :)</p> By lani 12 Apr 2002
anybody have any idea why eight military choppers flew by the lab this morning? does the president have a meeting or something?