I ordered it and it's big and it's awesome. Wheee!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thug Mug
Actually, it's the Melee Mug I mentioned in an earlier post, but I made up the name Thug Mug instead. I like it better than the alliterative name ThinkGeek uses for it.
I ordered it and it's big and it's awesome. Wheee!!
I ordered it and it's big and it's awesome. Wheee!!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Well, it WAS my favorite mug
Silly me. It had to happen some day. I tucked my orange mug into the crook of my arm as I walked to the kitchenette from the lab, intending to make some hot chocolate (yes, I should know that that's not the right way to carry a mug). My mug promptly popped out of the crook of my arm and landed, handle down, on the carpet, the handle breaking into several pieces and lots of little chips flying around on the carpet, as well as part of the bottom of the handle flying off with part of the bottom of the mug.
I think there's a few too many chips missing for it to be glued back together and still be considered trustworthy. I guess I'll have to find a new favorite mug.
Who knows, maybe this was the event I was waiting for before buying the Melee Mug from ThinkGeek. It's pretty awesome, but I kept telling myself I had too many mugs already.
NightLife
Thursday, February 4th, I went to the California Academy of Sciences for their weekly NightLife.
NightLife consists of this: every Thursday, they have a party from 6-10pm. There is a DJ piping (and pumping) tunes throughout most the place, there is booze and food available for purchase, you must be 21 or older, and there is a special showcase on some scientific topic.
The topic this past week was gems and minerals (brought to you by the San Francisco Gem and Mineral Society as well as the California Academy of Sciences in-house geologist). A game night friend, Marisa, sent me an email about it, and I decided I really wanted to go. I polled a few friends, but no one was able to go with me, so I went solo, which worked out fine. I showed up around 6:45, parked in the garage under the Academy and headed up, paid my $12, then went in.
I've been there once before, in September. There was a SnowLeopard party, but Pete's and my group was not invited; however, we had two friends whose groups were invited, so we got to go as their "plus one"s. Technically, you could say we were their dates, and in fact we didn't see much of each other, only crossing paths twice, I think. Although we were there for several hours that night, we didn't get to see everything.
My goal upon arriving this time was to hit the places I had missed the last time, but I quickly realized that I was hungry, so I went to the food area instead. It was similar to the Apple Caffe, in that there were different areas serving different kinds of food. I hit the Mexican food and grabbed a chicken quesadilla. There were desserts as well, so I grabbed what struck me as a mini It's-It: chocolate shortbread with mint ice cream. I also couldn't resist a ginger molasses cookie.
The quesadilla turned out to be really big (for me) and I was pleased to discover that all of the disposable items in the eating area were compostable, so I grabbed a box and stuffed the two and a half slices in it that I hadn't eaten, then carted it around with me the rest of the evening, intending to take it home to Pete.
I headed towards the areas I had missed last time, which was primarily the Africa exhibit and the penguins, which are in the Africa exhibit. I don't know why they're in the Africa exhibit area, but they are. It strikes me as very strange placement. The DJ was stationed near the Africa exhibit area, so I did some mini-grooving to some tunes as I wandered closer to the area.
It turned out that the gems and minerals exhibit was also set up in the Africa exhibit area, and it was much smaller than I had expected. I thought I'd see tables set up randomly throughout the Academy, but there were only 5 or 6 stations set up near each other, in front of some of the Africa displays (taxidermy animals and faux scenery representing the natural habitat of these animals). I was disappointed for a while and saw the crowd of people in front of the tables, so I wandered on, out of Africa, and back by the Rainforest dome and food area.
I found a trolley cart with some bones on it and Academy of Sciences staff standing nearby talking about the bones. This cart interested me because there was a tote bag padlocked to the handle of the trolley cart. It was made of clear plastic, with clear 2"x2" pockets all along the sides and in these pockets were colored condom packets, with the colors facing out towards passersby, so it was pretty obvious what you were seeing. When one of the staff became available, I stepped up and asked about this bag. The woman told me that it was the bag they carried the bones in. This didn't answer my question at first, obviously, but then she held one of the bones up and told me they were baculum bones: the bones that most critters use to, well, get boners, so it's a penis bone. I didn't even know that some animals had penis bones, but yes, apparently they do, and that explained why they lined the tote bag with condoms: because the bones are all about sex. She told me that they use the acronym PRICC (yes, it sounds like "prick") to know who/what has a baculum: Primates, Reptiles, Insectivores, Canines, and Casfksdgnkgn (okay, that's gibberish, but it was some latin word that means "bats"). As you can guess, there are a few exceptions to almost every category, such as humans in the primates group. The conversation was very interesting: how and why they have one, how it's protected against the body when not needed, all sorts of things. I'd go into more detail, but I don't think I need to. There is a little more information on Wikipedia about it, but I know I learned more from that woman than Wikipedia has.
I continued to wander and found my way back to the Africa area, having decided that the gem and mineral exhibit "is what it is, so enjoy it". I joined the small throng of people moving along the tables. The first two stations involved lapidary, cabochon making, and stone carving. This was pretty neat, but I don't know a lot about it and didn't have any questions. I listened to the questions and conversations of others near me, but then I wandered on. The next table was fashion jewelry. She had some neat pieces and they were a nice mix of metal and beads. I talked to her briefly, but then some friends of hers showed up and moved on.
The fourth table was all beads, but the woman did very interesting things with a large variety of beads. She had all sorts of swirly patterns, as if the beads were bunched together like a scarf or bracelet rather than your average strand of beads. I have no idea how she did it all. One of the things she had that I really liked was a triple strand necklace of labradorite beads. She also does her own silver working and I saw some lovely links, spacers, clasps, pendants, bracelets, you name it. It was very impressive. When I stopped by her table, she was stringing some beads and using the method where there is a knot between every bead. She took the time, when I asked, to show me how to do it, so maybe I can get it right the next time I want to try that.
After her table, there was a table with a slideshow about some gems/minerals and the properties people attribute to them. I promptly moved on, and hit the highlight of my evening: minerals in their natural state. These were some very nice specimens and they came from the Academy collection. Most of them were donations and they were absolutely lovely! The first thing that caught my eye were some garnets sticking out of a very sparkly rock. I went with my first impulse and asked the assistant behind the table if the specimen was a garnet schist and she nodded, commenting that I was the first one to guess, and guessed correctly on top of that. I smiled, glad that my instinct was at least correct on that one. Of course, I tend to think that it's hard to mistake schist for anything other than schist, especially when large garnets are sticking out of it:
We were allowed to take pictures, so I set the quesadilla box down, pulled out a handy size indicator (a dime, in this case) and laid it next to the specimens I was photographing. The assistant smiled and said I was the first one to do that as well. I just smiled back and said that I had to have some sort of indicator because otherwise how would I know the scale? It was a pity I only had my phone, but the pictures came out well enough, anyway.
NightLife consists of this: every Thursday, they have a party from 6-10pm. There is a DJ piping (and pumping) tunes throughout most the place, there is booze and food available for purchase, you must be 21 or older, and there is a special showcase on some scientific topic.
The topic this past week was gems and minerals (brought to you by the San Francisco Gem and Mineral Society as well as the California Academy of Sciences in-house geologist). A game night friend, Marisa, sent me an email about it, and I decided I really wanted to go. I polled a few friends, but no one was able to go with me, so I went solo, which worked out fine. I showed up around 6:45, parked in the garage under the Academy and headed up, paid my $12, then went in.
I've been there once before, in September. There was a SnowLeopard party, but Pete's and my group was not invited; however, we had two friends whose groups were invited, so we got to go as their "plus one"s. Technically, you could say we were their dates, and in fact we didn't see much of each other, only crossing paths twice, I think. Although we were there for several hours that night, we didn't get to see everything.
My goal upon arriving this time was to hit the places I had missed the last time, but I quickly realized that I was hungry, so I went to the food area instead. It was similar to the Apple Caffe, in that there were different areas serving different kinds of food. I hit the Mexican food and grabbed a chicken quesadilla. There were desserts as well, so I grabbed what struck me as a mini It's-It: chocolate shortbread with mint ice cream. I also couldn't resist a ginger molasses cookie.
The quesadilla turned out to be really big (for me) and I was pleased to discover that all of the disposable items in the eating area were compostable, so I grabbed a box and stuffed the two and a half slices in it that I hadn't eaten, then carted it around with me the rest of the evening, intending to take it home to Pete.
I headed towards the areas I had missed last time, which was primarily the Africa exhibit and the penguins, which are in the Africa exhibit. I don't know why they're in the Africa exhibit area, but they are. It strikes me as very strange placement. The DJ was stationed near the Africa exhibit area, so I did some mini-grooving to some tunes as I wandered closer to the area.
It turned out that the gems and minerals exhibit was also set up in the Africa exhibit area, and it was much smaller than I had expected. I thought I'd see tables set up randomly throughout the Academy, but there were only 5 or 6 stations set up near each other, in front of some of the Africa displays (taxidermy animals and faux scenery representing the natural habitat of these animals). I was disappointed for a while and saw the crowd of people in front of the tables, so I wandered on, out of Africa, and back by the Rainforest dome and food area.
I found a trolley cart with some bones on it and Academy of Sciences staff standing nearby talking about the bones. This cart interested me because there was a tote bag padlocked to the handle of the trolley cart. It was made of clear plastic, with clear 2"x2" pockets all along the sides and in these pockets were colored condom packets, with the colors facing out towards passersby, so it was pretty obvious what you were seeing. When one of the staff became available, I stepped up and asked about this bag. The woman told me that it was the bag they carried the bones in. This didn't answer my question at first, obviously, but then she held one of the bones up and told me they were baculum bones: the bones that most critters use to, well, get boners, so it's a penis bone. I didn't even know that some animals had penis bones, but yes, apparently they do, and that explained why they lined the tote bag with condoms: because the bones are all about sex. She told me that they use the acronym PRICC (yes, it sounds like "prick") to know who/what has a baculum: Primates, Reptiles, Insectivores, Canines, and Casfksdgnkgn (okay, that's gibberish, but it was some latin word that means "bats"). As you can guess, there are a few exceptions to almost every category, such as humans in the primates group. The conversation was very interesting: how and why they have one, how it's protected against the body when not needed, all sorts of things. I'd go into more detail, but I don't think I need to. There is a little more information on Wikipedia about it, but I know I learned more from that woman than Wikipedia has.
I continued to wander and found my way back to the Africa area, having decided that the gem and mineral exhibit "is what it is, so enjoy it". I joined the small throng of people moving along the tables. The first two stations involved lapidary, cabochon making, and stone carving. This was pretty neat, but I don't know a lot about it and didn't have any questions. I listened to the questions and conversations of others near me, but then I wandered on. The next table was fashion jewelry. She had some neat pieces and they were a nice mix of metal and beads. I talked to her briefly, but then some friends of hers showed up and moved on.
The fourth table was all beads, but the woman did very interesting things with a large variety of beads. She had all sorts of swirly patterns, as if the beads were bunched together like a scarf or bracelet rather than your average strand of beads. I have no idea how she did it all. One of the things she had that I really liked was a triple strand necklace of labradorite beads. She also does her own silver working and I saw some lovely links, spacers, clasps, pendants, bracelets, you name it. It was very impressive. When I stopped by her table, she was stringing some beads and using the method where there is a knot between every bead. She took the time, when I asked, to show me how to do it, so maybe I can get it right the next time I want to try that.
After her table, there was a table with a slideshow about some gems/minerals and the properties people attribute to them. I promptly moved on, and hit the highlight of my evening: minerals in their natural state. These were some very nice specimens and they came from the Academy collection. Most of them were donations and they were absolutely lovely! The first thing that caught my eye were some garnets sticking out of a very sparkly rock. I went with my first impulse and asked the assistant behind the table if the specimen was a garnet schist and she nodded, commenting that I was the first one to guess, and guessed correctly on top of that. I smiled, glad that my instinct was at least correct on that one. Of course, I tend to think that it's hard to mistake schist for anything other than schist, especially when large garnets are sticking out of it:
We were allowed to take pictures, so I set the quesadilla box down, pulled out a handy size indicator (a dime, in this case) and laid it next to the specimens I was photographing. The assistant smiled and said I was the first one to do that as well. I just smiled back and said that I had to have some sort of indicator because otherwise how would I know the scale? It was a pity I only had my phone, but the pictures came out well enough, anyway.
An amethyst specimen. Not as purple as some I saw when I was in Tucson, but still large and lovely:
Not a very good picture (couldn't get a good shot without the lamp in the reflection), but this is a rutilated quartz. Apparently it used to be called hairstone, because it looked like hair trapped in the rock:
A very large topaz specimen:
A very large aquamarine specimen:
A sizable pyrite specimen:
Last, but not least, a large, globular, hematite specimen (yes, this is its natural state):
After perusing all these specimens, I was able to speak to the Academy geologist, Jean Demouthe, for a little bit. I exclaimed over the specimens and she said that it was, of course, only a small sampling of what they had. She said that someday she'd love to display the smaller, dirtier, specimens and see if they were enjoyed as well. I told her that she'd at least find a fan of it all if I were there. I asked if she knew Jenni Meyer, a family friend that told me she had done a collection management internship at the Academy several years ago, but although Jean has been with the academy for 30 years, she didn't recall Jenni. I thought it was a bummer that she didn't recall Jenni, but it was worth asking. There was a little more chit-chat and then I went on my way, still grinning over the great specimens I had seen.
Grabbing my quesadilla box, I wandered to the roof (they had telescopes out this time) and around the rest of the Academy. Around 9:30, I decided to make a cup of tea, since I could feel myself getting tired and I didn't want to drift off at the wheel when driving home later. I headed back to the food area and pulled out one of the bags of tea that I usually keep in my purse or jacket pocket. Preparing the tea was going to take more than the one hand I had free. I set the quesadilla box and a half-glass of water down on a table right outside the food area doors and went in to make my tea. A minute later, I turned around to head back to the table and sit while the tea steeped, but the table was empty. It seems that some overly efficient cleanup-crew member had apparently decided my food and water were garbage and had chucked them. What... the... heck?! This irked me greatly, putting quite a damper on my mood. I felt as if I had slaved over a hot stove all evening just to have someone proclaim my food garbage, even though all it was was a leftovers box that I had toted around for about two hours.
I eventually regained my equilibrium as I drank my tea and played some Flight Control. Andrew and I keep trying to beat each other's scores on that game, but right now he is the reigning champion on all four levels. I did, recently, get within 20 points of his high score on the default level, but I haven't gotten close since then.
Around ten to 10 I headed out, down into the garage, and off towards home. I did not droop at the wheel (yay for tea) and arrived home safe and sound, with no quesadilla to share with Pete. That part still bothers me. It was a great quesadilla. I really wanted to share it with him. He'd have loved it. I'm such a dork for getting so upset over some random leftovers getting chucked when I wasn't looking, but hey, that's me.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
New Glasses
I had my yearly checkup with the optometrist in January. My prescription hasn't changed since the last time I went, but it turned out that I was eligible for new frames and lenses (yay insurance!). My frames that I've worn for two years are great, except for the fact that the cool orange and purple colors have started flaking, but that was the whole reason I liked those glasses, so it was definitely time to look for new frames.
The people in my optometrist's office know of my fascination (addiction? need?) for the color orange, so they've kept an eye out for frames with orange to them. They showed me several, I nixed a few straight off, usually because the sides (arms?) were too thick for my liking. I know they can look neat, but I can tell that they block my side vision, and that's not okay with me. I ended up narrowing my selection down to 3 or 4 frames. One pair (the ones I ended up choosing) were half-frames, and I didn't like them as much as the others at first, but then after trying all the frames on over and over, I realized that I actually liked the half-frames best. I guess you could say they hid less of my face. I think they stick out a little bit further along the sides than my old frames did, so they'll take a little adjusting, but I really dig them.
One of my favorite things about these glasses is that they seem fairly normal at first glance. The front is a gunmetal grey, and I do like the understated nature of gunmetal grey, but as soon as you look to the sides, you see the whole arm is orange. It's great!
The people in my optometrist's office know of my fascination (addiction? need?) for the color orange, so they've kept an eye out for frames with orange to them. They showed me several, I nixed a few straight off, usually because the sides (arms?) were too thick for my liking. I know they can look neat, but I can tell that they block my side vision, and that's not okay with me. I ended up narrowing my selection down to 3 or 4 frames. One pair (the ones I ended up choosing) were half-frames, and I didn't like them as much as the others at first, but then after trying all the frames on over and over, I realized that I actually liked the half-frames best. I guess you could say they hid less of my face. I think they stick out a little bit further along the sides than my old frames did, so they'll take a little adjusting, but I really dig them.
One of my favorite things about these glasses is that they seem fairly normal at first glance. The front is a gunmetal grey, and I do like the understated nature of gunmetal grey, but as soon as you look to the sides, you see the whole arm is orange. It's great!
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