On the first leg of my plane trip I was seated next to a guy named Kerry Edwards. Someone alert Jeffrey Rowland that he may have a primary challenge from someone else who is trying to save money on bumper stickers.
Ted Leo
Originally uploaded by arcanegazebo.
Got up close for an excellent show by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Now I'm going to find some shade.
Coachella, Day 2
Originally uploaded by arcanegazebo.
Coachella: awesome. Today we are starting with Mates of State, then Ted Leo, at the Outdoor Theater. Hopefully I can post this before the network gets flaky--the cell phone infrastructure here isn't quite equipped for this many people.
Greetings from Coachella
Originally uploaded by arcanegazebo.
Greetings from Coachella, currently the ironic t-shirt capital of the world. After spending two hours between the freeway and the gates, I have arrived in time to catch The Duke Spirit on the main stage.
my apocalyptic tenor has not been dispelled
Originally uploaded by arcanegazebo.
I don't know if this will show up, but it's the T. Rex skeleton at the National Museum of Natural History. I spent the day in Washington DC, and possibly saw Rick Santorum. (I inadvertently walked into one of his campaign events.) Better pictures (of the city, not the senator) to follow when I'm on a connection better than my phone.
Finished! Our team took about thirty hours overall. My last leg was great, running through the redwood forest in the hills above Santa Cruz, and then opening up to a view of the ocean. It was a bit hot, but mostly downhill, so I was able to maintain a good pace.
Second leg was awesome. Descending into Silicon Valley next to a moonlit lake... Running at 4 am is not nearly as bad an idea as it might seem.
Our window took a lot of stress while crossing the bridge. We were repairing breaches with more duct tape while the driver did his Scotty impression. Fortunately it's holding up. Meanwhile, my phone is putting weird timestamps on these posts so it looks like I'm posting into the future.
Getting ready for our van's second leg. We have twenty-four kills tallied on the side of the van; sadly none are mine, but I'll try to pick some up on my next run.
We're headed to the midpoint of the race, at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge, in a van with a window composed of saran wrap and duct tape. One hundred miles to go, once our runners catch up to this point...
grand canyon
Originally uploaded by arcanegazebo.
We drove a long way to see a big hole in the ground...
painted desert
Originally uploaded by arcanegazebo.
We are in the Petrified Forest National Park, overlooking Arizona's Painted Desert, taking pictures every few steps...
I'm back on American soil, having just arrived in Chicago in the nursery section of a United flight from Munich. One more flight and a BART ride to go, then I can get some sleep.
So I've been sitting on this plane for more than an hour, on the runway in Oakland. They worked on a mechanical problem until they decided a panel needed replacing. Unfortunately there's no replacement here, so they are sending one from San Francisco. In a taxi. Meanwhile, they are showing a movie, The Pacifier, to, uh, pacify us. I got up at 3:45 for this?
I had thought my talk was too long, so I streamlined it a lot the last few days. I ended up using eight minutes instead of the intended ten, so I could have gone more slowly. Other than that it went well, and unlike last year the question period was not a disaster. To celebrate, I plan lots of gaming.
A distressing fraction of bald physicists are wearing hideous combovers. I was tempted to surreptitiously take pictures to post later, but without a camera phone it's tough to be inconspicuous.
Waiting for Life of Brian to start... They are handing out prayer cards at concessions; must be left over from The Passion. Also, in the lobby you can get your picture taken in front of a crucifixion backdrop under the words "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life". I assume that's not left over from The Passion.
This is an experiment. I haven't actually had any beer, so it shouldn't be too weird. Insipid pre-show ads. Spooky ghost movie by Sixth Sense guy. Metal, leather - Catwoman! Car chase, Matt Damon in Bourne sequel. Weird-ass Riddick preview. Could actually be cool.
The award presenters are introduced in the form of a mystery, i.e. various facts about the presenters are revealed as clues before their names are stated. (Incidentally, the flow of bad puns shows no sign of ceasing.)
I am at the Edgars. The ceremony opened with some ridiculous song on acoustic guitar. They have now moved on to bad puns. More updates as events warrant.
At about 8:30 this evening I started to feel a rather intense need to see Kill Bill vol 2, and it occurred to me that midnight showings might exist, even though my chances of getting a ticket seemed rather slim. Two hours later, having watched the first volume on DVD, I was driving across the Bay Bridge with Battle Without Honor or Humanity playing on the stereo. Now I'm updating by phone from the (very long) line at the theater. Spoiler-free review to follow later.
This morning: more qubit talks, mostly less relevant than yesterday's. Then, the Nobel session. Unfortunately I couldn't see or hear the Nobel talks very well, the floor not being sloped and the mike not turned up enough. Still, I got some of it. Abrikosov noted that something like half of all physics Nobelists had their initial work on the subject rejected. Don't follow the fashion, he said; if you do, your career will blossom, but you can forget about a Nobel Prize. Right now I'm not thinking much about prizes and more about taking a nap. Sadly, there aren't many good places to lie down here, and there's another quantum computing session in a few minutes. Maybe I'll get out of it early enough to go running before dinner. (On a treadmill; I'm not equipped to go running in this Hoth-like weather.)
I was so proud of myself for mastering the predictive text function, and then I lost the post I had painstakingly composed. Anyway, I'm updating by phone from the March Meeting, having recently given my talk. The good part: I finished on time. However, I delivered it as if language were a new concept to me. During the question period I contemplated hiding under the table. Afterwards I got the adrenaline crash and fought to stay awake for two and a half hours, with mixed results. At least it's done. On to the next screen.
