Hurricane Earl

Today, we experienced our first hurricane:  Earl.

We have been whiplashed with winds of 0.0 mph, doused by rain of 0.0 inches, and blasted by a storm surge of 0.0 feet.  Brutal.  Our UV-index is 5, but we might survive that.

Hurricane?

No problem...

Tornado?

I drove through this, but I didn't see a tornado....

July 20, 2010

Tornado Warning for Ellicott City

The National Weather Service has posted a tornado warning (red zone on map) until 5:30 p.m. for portions of Howard, Baltimore Arundel counties and Baltimore City:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN CARROLL COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL MARYLAND...
  NORTHEASTERN HOWARD COUNTY IN CENTRAL MARYLAND...
  NORTHERN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY IN CENTRAL MARYLAND...
  SOUTHERN BALTIMORE COUNTY IN NORTHERN MARYLAND...
  BALTIMORE CITY IN NORTHERN MARYLAND...

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 456 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR ELLICOTT
  CITY...OR 9 MILES NORTH OF COLUMBIA...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  ELLICOTT CITY...
  MILFORD MILL...
  WOODLAWN...
  LOCHEARN...
  CATONSVILLE...
  ELKRIDGE...
  ARBUTUS...
  BALTIMORE...
  BROOKLYN PARK...
  PUMPHREY...

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A
STURDY BUILDING AND AVOID WINDOWS. IF OUTDOORS OR IN A MOBILE HOME OR
VEHICLE...MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT
YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

MMM

This morning at the breakfast table, I asked Jeremy about what he was doing in his "Math on the Menu" curriculum extension.  At first he said he was doing the same thing as in prior weeks, but then he stopped and corrected himself.

"No.  I'm doing something else.  Average, mean, and... ah... median."

"Really?  You learned about average and median?"

"Yep."

"But the average and mean are the same thing, right?" I asked.

"Ah, yes."

"So, did you learn about mean, median, and mode?"

"Oh!  Yes!  That's what it was."

"So, the mean is just the average, which is the sum of the values, divided by the number of values you have, right?"

"Yep."

"And the median is just the middle value of all the values, right?"

"Yes."

"And the mode.  Do you remember what the mode is?"

"Ah, yeah.  It's the highest number."

"It's the most frequently occurring number.  So, if you had a bunch of grades, and a lot of them were 97%, and only one was 100%, and maybe two were 95%, what is the mode?"

"100%?"

"Well, not quite.  We have lots of 97% grades...."

"Oh!  So that is the mode!"

"Yes!"  I went on to tell him about histograms and the peak of a histogram is the mode.

In nerd-land, we call all of this MMM.  I'm not sure when I learned about MMM.  High school?  College?  It most certainly wasn't in second grade!

I'm doomed.  Maybe not today, but soon, very soon....

Webb Telescope's NIRCam Engineering Test Unit Arrives at NASA Goddard

Over Breakfast

Some people watch the news over breakfast. Some people read the newspaper. Some people read a novel.  

Some people talk.  

Some people talk about planets and moons.  

Some of these people would be my son and me. Like this morning.  

It was just the two of us sitting at the kitchen table, eating. I was asking him about a math program he has been working on the last couple of weeks. Out of the blue, he tells me that the Man in the Moon is just craters and shadows.  

I say, "Yes, and what is the moon made of? Cheese?"  

And he said, "No. Rocks and dirt from the Big Bang."  

Feeling compelled to provide him with complete information, lest he misuse the incomplete version, I responded, "Yes, but more recently than that the Big Bang material was used and expelled by stars and then our solar system and our satellite was made from that material."  

His face contorted. He was quite baffled by this. "You mean rocks and dirt can take pictures?"  

That stopped me in my tracks. Huh? Think, think, think. What did I just say to him?  

Ah ha! I said "satellite". I had to explain the difference between natural satellites and manmade satellites. Then he understood.  

And that is how he started asking me questions about moons. "Is our moon the largest in the solar system?"  

I told him I didn't think so, that maybe Titan is. (Titan is second largest. Ganymede is the largest moon. Ours is the fifth largest.) And we talked about Mars having two moons, Phobos and Deimos. And that Pluto has three satellites. And that Jupiter has lots of satellites and Saturn has both satellites and rings.  

And I said that I wasn't sure about the relative sizes of the moons, since I have a hard time remembering such statistics.  

And he said, "So, you're not a moonologist?"  

No. I'm not a moonologist.  

Where did he come up with that word? Clever boy!

11 May 2010

This morning didn't start out well.  I wasn't feeling great, with some minor stomach pains.  I exercised anyways.  After I was done with the treadmill, I actually did the first few of my Pilates exercises.  This made me feel a bit better.

But it also made me behind schedule.

I tried to rush through the shower, but I forgot that I don't have any conditioner left.  So I added some water, swished it around and used that.

By the time I got dressed I was at least ten minutes later than I usually am.

I headed to the kitchen and tried to make coffee.  This required that I grind some beans.  I spilled them.  They and some errant grounds made a mess on the counter.  I left it so that I could get my breakfast started, which I promised C. would include a small amount of kefir.  J. wasn't up yet, so I went to get him.  By the time I got him back to the couch, it was already 7:10 and I had missed the Local on the 8s.  Late, late, late.  I sat for only a minute or so and then got up to make the rest of my breakfast.

And I hadn't even started making my lunch yet.

I finally got everything done in the kitchen and rinsed by bowl.

Still 10+ minutes behind schedule.

I got myself ready, packed up my stuff, said my goodbyes, gave all my singles to Chris for lunch monies, and left.  No disasters, just nothing going quite smoothly.

Somehow, despite horrid traffic reports on the radio, I arrived in the parking garage at work within 39 minutes of leaving my driveway.  Wow.  That doesn't happen that often.  Not at the time that I've been leaving my house lately.

So, my first order of business this morning was to get Office updated on my computers.  I had an email waiting for me to just let C. R. know when I was available, but after 9am.  Fine.  At 9:05 I emailed him and said I was ready.  Then I logged out.  I switched to using my laptop and began working from there.  I considered logging out of the laptop too, but then decided I would have time to do that while my desktop was being worked on.

I worked and worked and worked.  Finally I sent another email to C. R. asking if he had gotten the first.  He replied that he had, but that he had been pulled away and would be here in 15 minutes (~10:20).  I continued to work and work and work.  And then I realized that K. N. was giving a KBO talk at the Nix and Hydra conference downstairs at 10:45.  I figured it would be good for me to go and sit in the back.  In the mean time, I kept working.

At 10:43 I left to go to K. N.'s talk.  I nearly ran into him on the way into the auditorium.  He said, "Oh, you're here!"  I headed for the back row.  As I sat there, his title slide was displayed.  It did not list my name.  S. K. B. saw me, but I was working diligently on my laptop.  Then S. R. came to sit by me and she asked if I was there for "support".  I said no.  And she asked why.  Since S. K. B. was sitting too close for comfort, I leaned way over into S. R.'s ear and explained the lack of ending of working on K. N.'s project.  Then we continued to chat about NICMOS and handbooks and such.  At some point I noticed that K. N.'s title slide was not showing anymore.  She had to leave to support the talks in the control room.  Then K. N. walked up to S. K. B. and chatted with her.  I read my email.  Then K. N. chatted with N. R., who was sitting directly in front of me.  And I started to respond to email.  Then K. N. came up to me and recommended that I watch the webcast of the previous talk that was about detection limits and such.  It would be good background for me.  As he started to walk away to go give his talk, he said over his shoulder that we would finish it up.  I just nodded.

When I looked back at the screen, my name was added the end of the list of collaborators.

The little shit added me after seeing that I was going to be there for the talk.

This irritated the hell out of me, but N. R. was sitting close so I couldn't even cuss under my breath.  Instead, I set my foot to bobbing up and down at a frantic pace.  During the talk, K. N. mentioned my name as helping to look for binaries and not finding any.  I felt my face flush.  I was mad as hell and he was mentioning my name.  He was just doing his best to soothe his guilty conscience.  Good for him.  It didn't make me feel one bit better.  As he continued with the talk, he mentioned S. K. B.'s name a couple of times.  Good for her.  She probably relishes it.

I think my foot bobbed for the entire 30 minutes continuously and quite irritably.  As soon as the talk was done and people were raising their hands with questions, I left.

I'm cured.

I don't want to do solar system science anymore.

28 April 2010

After arriving at The Children's Bureau for Ivan Rosenberg's Management Workshop, Ivan indicated to me that I had some special food waiting for me:  a cup of yogurt and some fresh, cut fruit.  This was a nice surprise!  Unfortunately for me, I had just eaten a big, high protein breakfast at the hotel.  I couldn't bear the idea of eating another bite just then.  So, I saved them.  Apparently, they would also have something separate for me for lunch.

When lunch arrived, I peeked at what everyone else was serving themselves.  It appeared to be plain rice, seafood and shellfish in a tomato sauce and green salad.  I was told that I could eat the green salad and the Italian dressing.  Then the separate dish was brought to me.  It was grilled chicken and steamed asparagus and carrots.  I asked if it was just plain rice and Mike (the building manager) said yes, but that I couldn't have rice.  I just looked at him.  And then I said that I can have rice, I just can't have anything with wheat.

Last I checked, rice is not made of wheat.

Anybody hear differently?

If it was the caterer who decided that I shouldn't be eating rice, then I have absolutely no faith left in them.  Their business is food.  They should know this stuff.  They may have difficulty understanding food allergies, but they should know what rice is made of!  Yikes.  This is a truly scary thought.

Maybe some yogurt and fruit in the morning and one more lunch.  Then I won't have to worry for another month about this.

I'll bet I could have eaten that shellfish!  And there turned out to be two other people who couldn't eat the shellfish!  All this fuss is being made over me, and probably wisely, no one else spoke up about their own allergies.  Ah, well, I'll be the guinea pig.  So be it.

27 April 2010

Yesterday, during our NIRCam weekly meeting, HF discussed three separate ETC topics.

1.  Thermal Backgrounds - VL has already requested a time to discuss this.  HF thought that today's WIT meeting, if time allowed, would be good.  He then asked BB (?!) to confirm with VL that this would be okay.

2.  PPS discussion led to a request for the WIT to weigh in on how targ acqs would be done in the APT and the ETC.  BS sent a message to VL, indicating that in order to "break the ice" we should meet.

3.  The SWIG would like to have some sort of ETC available for the Grand Tetons meeting next spring.  HF does not want to see a duplication of effort and I agree.  This came through MS in the JWMO.

All of this was a bit disconcerting, but I didn't pursue any of it due to time constraints.  I was busy with numerous other things.  I did send a heads up email to VL to expect a message from BB (as directed by HF).

Then VL calls me and says that she is dismayed by this email from BB and is ready to go talk to PG about the WIT/SSB liaison.  I thought about it for half a second and realized that I couldn't let her talk to PG before I could talk to HF.  It wouldn't be right.  Icky.  I don't want to go there.  So, I told her that I needed to speak with HF before she says anything to PG.  So, I emailed HF asking for a chat.  I thought hard about how I would approach HF and what I wanted to say.  I wanted to be very careful and not overturn the cart.  Just get it straightened out.

I decided the communication issue was safest and most immediate.  Information was not flowing, but was being tossed and bantered about in all directions.  BB to VL, VL to me, HF to me to VL.  All mixed up.  Recent emails and the distribution of the ETC info at the NIRCam meeting were the most apparent examples of this.  I mentioned VL's name quite a bit, though I think I was using it as a crutch to avoid discussing what was really bothering me, which I did not want to raise at this time.  HF was receptive and said that it needed to be fixed.  He could just instruct everyone that if their email even mentions the ETC to cc it to me.  I said that I might end up in a deluge of emails and HF responded that that could be fixed if needed later.  I agreed.  At least twice during our discussion HF said he didn't know if an individual knows that they should funnel ETC information through me.  Those would be BS and MS.  Now, I actually think they both might have been aware that I was doing something with the ETC, but if people in general don't know to keep me informed, then I think it is HF's duty to make it apparent to everyone.  I probably should have said so to HF directly, but I didn't.  I need to learn how to do this tactfully AT THE TIME IT OCCURS TO ME, not just later after I've had time to mull it over.

I chatted with VL, since I wanted her to know what I did and did not discuss with HF.  I confined it to the communication issue only for now.  Let's get this straight and the other might right itself on its own as time goes on.  VL was fine with that.  But she seemed highly agitated FOR ME and for herself.  She didn't want to do the thermal backgrounds at the WIT meeting without me there, since I think she wanted to be able to draw attention to me and make others identify that I was doing this work and they should interact with me.  I felt like I wanted to soothe her, but wasn't sure how.  I don't want to hold up the schedule and it is already tight.  We need to move ahead on talking with the teams.  I think she resigned herself to having to do the WIT meeting without me, but still wasn't thrilled with it.  She said she would give me a full report after the meeting and that she would be talking with PG about the liaison issue, either before or after the WIT meeting.

I had felt a lot of trepidation about going to HF.  I focused my thoughts on the communication issue.  I tried to distance myself from VL's emotionality about the quantum effect.  I wanted to be calm and clear.  No emotion.  I think I succeeded.  And I think I got what might have been better results than if I had gotten the least bit emotional in HF's office.  It was hard, but I came to realize that I separated the emotion, presented the issue and stayed on a clear track with HF.  That's the way I want it.  It would have been easy to let VL's emotional response infect me.  But I know myself.  And I know it wouldn't benefit me or the discussion with HF.  I need to avoid the tendency to be pulled in by the emotions.  And I think I did this time.  That is a breakthrough.  I am proud of my resolve and the use of my defenses.  Defenses against the easy and usual emotional response.

I need to remember to tell FB about this situation and its apparent resolution.  This isn't exactly the same concern I raised with her regarding individuals who might not be supportive of an RIS as an instrument team lead, but I want to point out to her that the resolution of this situation could lead to better circumstances during WIT meetings and more recognition to RIA/Ss as warranted.  Time will tell.

22 April 2010

Last night, as I was help Chris with dinner, I started talking about how I had come across Rick Hedrick's company that makes expensive telescopes.  This developed into a conversation about what I am doing here and what is lacking here for me.  I said I wanted a PhD, mostly for the respect associated with it.  Chris said that with all the experience I have, I probably know the equivalent of a PhD.  Maybe, but I don't have the piece of paper, and without that, it doesn't change people's notions or actions towards me.  This evolved through him suggesting I get a PhD, me saying no, it wouldn't produce the results I'm really after (and all the justifications for such a statement), and that what I really wanted was to be an instrument team lead, but that it seems very unlikely, given the current environmental climate here.  At some point I stated that it is easier to not want more.  Chris objected to this as not being right.  I quickly clarified by saying that it is easier to not want more, but that isn't me and I do want more.  I wouldn't be me if I didn't.

This morning I came into work as usual.  While working on my desktop, a message from my calendar popped up, reminding me of my midterm appraisal with Francesca.  I had forgotten about this.  I guess that's why I have and use a calendar.  What timing, actually.  I might just mention my thoughts of last night regarding the climate here towards responsibility to RIA/Ss.

I went to my appraisal meeting and Francesca used Harry's words:  "I wish we could clone Elizabeth."  Yes, I get the gist of his meaning.  That's nice to know.  Good.  Harry is happy with my work.  She also specifically mentioned, "good at multitasking", 'reliable', and several other concise words.  Again, this is all good.  We proceeded to discuss my goals as listed in the PAR, noting things that need to be changed and a couple of questions for Harry to clarify.  After all of that was done, Francesca asked if I had any further questions or concerns.  I said yes.

I started by saying that I didn't want to say out loud what I had to say for fear of making it become real.  I don't want it to be real, but it is my perception.  But I also felt that if I didn't tell her, she wouldn't know my concern and she wouldn't be able to watch for it for confirmation and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.  I am concerned that management purposely decides that certain tasks/responsibilities are outside the league of RIA/Ss.  I felt it in the I & T meeting we had on Tuesday.  Nothing explicitly was said or implied, but my contribution to the conversation was sidestepped.  Discussion was directly to Kailash and about Massimo.  Granted, Jay was there and none of it was directed at him either, but that is because he is more specifically WFS than I & T.  But I figured with my participation at LMATC for ETU testing, I might be more readily included in discussions.  Not so much.  This also happened during the previous week's WIT meeting, which was focused on calibration.  Massimo wasn't there, and I when I spoke up, Harry seemed to say, "Yes, but Massimo was working on a document..." Again, sidestepped my comment.   I also indicated to Francesca that during WIT meetings, the discussion happens between the ISs, since they are the one who get assigned the tasks that are then supposed to supply updates, the calibration working group for each instrument, for example.  Then the discussion happens among those at "that" end of the table, while the RIA/Ss sit and listen.  From afar.  Both figuratively and physically, often.  Not exclusively, but the usual is that the RIA/Ss don't own anything that requires in inquiry for status updates.  Francesca asked if this happened when Margaret was lead too.  Yes, most definitely.  It was possibly more distinct then, but I didn't mention that.

Then Francesca shared with me some additional discussions she was privy to for some other purpose.  She said someone else noted what I was pointing out and that he doesn't know he is doing it.  Good, that means I'm not out in left field all alone.  Bad, since that means it is real.  I pointed out that it does mean that is how he thinks.  She caught herself on that and slowly agreed with me.  She said it could be years before the notion of an RIS being an instrument team lead is broached.  Already, the idea of RIS's applying for the parallel track has been discussed among management, but she raised a concern that those on the interview panel may not be open to such an idea, and that is an absolute requirement before it can happen.  She said that things need to start by getting people to ignore labels and classifications of position.  And it needs to start with the management team.  She said that Jerry needs to start by working on the management team's preconceived ideas about these things.

She thanked me for telling her.  I do think it was good to tell her.  If she doesn't know, she can't watch for it, can't do anything about it.  It was useful for me to tell her, if not useful today, then probably someday.  And I feel better for telling her.  I don't have this to gripe about and I've told someone who might be able to do something about it.  Now, I can let it go.  Not forget it.  Just not let it continue to bother me.  Someone else is now watching for it.

21 April 2010

Today I was thinking about my management training trip to LA next week.  I was thinking about how I would have more time to visit Grandma during the day Tuesday after I get in.  I could drive from the airport to the beach and then on to Grandma's by lunchtime.  I could even stay through dinner.  After that I could check into my hotel, up in downtown.

And then I got to thinking about visiting El Camino and maybe stopping in and surprising Perry.  I poked and found out that he appears to be teaching his telescope making class on Tuesday nights, 6 or 6:30 until 9pm.  So, hypothetically, I could eat dinner with Gram early and then drive back to Torrance, stop in on the telescope makers and then head downtown.  I poked around some more on the El Camino web site and discovered that one of their observing sites is listed as Pinto Valley Observatory.  I dug further and discovered that Rick Hedrick was involved in founding this observatory.  So I dug even further and found that Rick had co-founded a company called PlaneWave Instruments and they make and sell large amateur telescopes, on the order of $10,000-30,000 and up telescopes.  These are not backyard telescopes!  These are only for the serious amateurs.  Serious amateurs with money.

Wow.  I've been out of touch.  I don't like the feeling of being out of touch.  I am happy for Rick.  He's married with three kids now.  And he is still playing guitar.  And Stevie Ray Vaughan.  All of this according to what I have found on the web.  The Pinto Valley Observatory web site seems to be several years out of date, but Rick's family pictures seem to be within the past year or so.  The PlaneWave Instruments web site is current.

And it is raining in Baltimore.

Yes, at this very moment, I see the raining falling outside my window and into the street below.  I have such mixed feelings at this moment.  I'm happy for Rick.  I feel left out of the fun.  I feel jealous of his success.  I feel ignorant of the optics.  I am too far removed from amateur observing.  How many years has it been?  I can't count them.  It's too painful.  I don't even know where the ecliptic is anymore.  A month or two ago I was daydreaming about hosting a micromini-Messier Marathon.  How can I do that without knowing the sky?  And I don't know the sky.  Not anymore.  It makes me sad.

Sad.  Jealous.  Ignorant.  Excluded.  Behind.  Apart.  Sad.

And it is raining.  I can't even go out and observe, even if I were setup to do so.

But now George Hartig comes to my office asking for the ETU test data.  I have it!  I know about it!  I have purpose!  After some extensive discussion of the status of the data on the witserv, George indicated that he didn't think he had access to it.  Then I indicated that the disk on my desk has almost everything.  He said he was most interested in the stuff taken late on Saturday.  So I looked on the witserv disk and found the 04.10 backup directory and read through the directory names that had been created by the analyst.  George identified one directory as the stuff he was looking for.  I traveled down the directory and saw that it was all zip files and then recognized that this was the same set of data that both Randal and John had asked me for.  And even better the fits files were made and zipped, sitting on the ftp server.  So, I forwarded my email to Randal to George so that he could also retrieve the tarball of that data.  Hurray!  I do have a purpose and I do contribute!

George, you have no idea how useful your timing was....  Thanks.  I needed that just then.  A reminder of what I am doing here.

15 April 2010

Yesterday afternoon I was again very tired, but I knew that we would have to work on and finish taxes.  The first question was whether or not Chris had had a chance to work on tabulating any of the receipts and such that I had laid out for him the night before.  He said he had totaled the childcare.  That was good.  He didn't know what to do about the medical.  It is more complicated than most parts.  I asked if he had entered any of the 1099s or anything.  He said he didn't enter anything into the program, just totaled things otherwise.

I finally forced myself downstairs to start working on it all.  I first entered the childcare, since that is one of the first things in the forms.  Then I did the 1099s, which weren't obvious, since some of them were new.  These things went in smoothly and quickly.  Then it was dinner time and a good time for a break.

After dinner, I dragged myself downstairs again.  The medical was still waiting.  I needed Chris's help to do the subtotaling.  So, I put that off until after the kids were in bed.  I finished up everything else I could do.  We put the kids to bed and then tackled the medical expenses.  Everything needed to be subtotaled, and then mileage needed to be calculated.  This is always a royal pain, and there is no guarantee that all your effort will result in any deduction whatsoever.  We slogged through it and I was getting more and more tired.  I started snapping and Chris complained and snapped back that discussing it was delaying our completion even further.  We went back and forth a couple of times and then refocused on the real task at hand.  We finally got through it and called my mom.  I asked for her to run me through her usual list of questions to be sure that we got all of them.  We did.  We had to figure out how to correct the childcare issue that the IRS complained about for 2008.  We rummaged around and finally found it in the worksheet where the W-2 information is entered.  Oddly enough, I specifically remember entering the correct numbers there for the dependent care FSA, but when I looked again, the appropriate line was empty.  Now, I suspect that the software yanked it off the line.  I remember being very careful when I entered all the W-2 information, because of our previous problems with this.  Now the line was blank.  I now have to make a mental note to enter it on this worksheet when entering the W-2 information ***and*** again after everything else is entered!  This really is unacceptable.  The software should be smarter than this.  We still have to straighten out the 2008 childcare issue, which entails giving the IRS more money, plus interest.  

Finally, we paid with Chris's debit card and we were printing.  I begged off and headed for bed.  Chris stayed behind and babysat the printer.  When I got up this morning, the printouts were lying very tidy on his desk.  W-2's were not attached, but everything was neat and tidy.  No extraneous papers, failed printouts, receipts, reports, or anything.  Nice.  I signed both the federal and the state forms after I ate breakfast.  Chris would still have to attach the W-2s from STScI and Hargrove and do the mailing, but I figured he could handle that without me telling him what to do.  He did call me at work during the morning, to ask if we had any 5x7 envelopes.  No.  We've never had a bunch of those.  We've only ever had the standard number 10 business envelopes and the large 10x12 manilla envelopes.  Clearly, he was getting ready to pack up the forms and mail them.  Hurray!

13 April 2010

Last night as Vanessa was getting ready to take a shower, she happened to look in the mirror and saw something on her back.  She called to me to look at it while she was standing in her robe in her room.  I glanced down and spotted something dark in the middle of her back and asked her to turn more towards the light so that I could see better.

There, in the middle of her back was a tick.  I told her to lie face down on her bed and called in Chris.  I had him look at it too.  Then I told him to bring the olive oil and asked Jeremy to get a paper towel.  We started to drip oil onto the tick, drop by drop, to try and get it to back out.  Chris eventually took the oil, put some into a small cup and brought a spoon.  Then I was able to dribble the oil onto the tick easily, using the paper towel to catch what ran off to the side.  We did this for some time, maybe 20 minutes.  The tick alternated between wiggling its legs and moving so that its entire body was sticking straight up out of the skin.  Vanessa was alternating between crying, sobbing, and screaming.  I asked if it was real pain or if she was just freaked out.  She squeaked that it was both.  

I thought it would eventually back itself out of her skin.  When this still didn't happen, I told Chris to go read the medical encyclopedia.  He came back with rubbing alcohol and tweezers.  The encyclopedia instructed to pull the tick out by the head, as close to the skin as possible.  So, Chris rubbed the tweezers down with alcohol, and then he reached over and got the tick by the head and pulled.  And pulled.  And pulled!  Vanessa was screaming by now.  Her skin stretched and stretched and still that tick held on!  Snap.  Finally the tick let go.  Vanessa cried.  I looked carefully at her back.  All that was left was a tiny pink dot.  I looked for, but couldn't see, any parts of the tick remaining in her skin.  Chris said that he could see the tick's mandibles still on it, so that was a very good sign that we didn't leave any parts in Vanessa.  I cleaned her skin with rubbing alcohol.  After she calmed down, she went in and we both combed through her hair very carefully and completely.  No additional ticks.  Then she took a shower.

Wanting to be cautious, we emailed the school nurses and informed them of the tick bite.  We also called the pediatrician's office, after hours.  We quickly got a call back from the pediatrician's nurse.  She asked if we knew how long the tick had been biting her.  We had no idea.  She told us to watch for a red, bulls eye rash, minimum of two inches in diameter, that could appear anywhere between 3 and 30 days after the bite.  The rash could last for 2 months.  We should also watch for flu like symptoms over the same time.  If either happens, we are to take her in to the pediatrician's office and they will do blood work.  If it is positive for Lyme disease, they will start an extensive round of antibiotics.  I have heard of other cases of Lyme disease that is treated with six weeks of antibiotics.  No fun, but better than ignoring it and having worse problems later.

We don't know where she picked up the tick and will likely never know.  Sunday, she was playing outside at both the Tralka's house and next door at the Hanson's.  Yesterday she was also running around the middle school field and woods.  It could have been any of those places.

12 April 2010

I arrived back in Baltimore and Chris and the kids picked me up outside baggage claim.  It was so good to see them!  This really was a long time to be away.  They had just left Hannah's 12th birthday party and were eager to show me everything the make and got while there.  It was a bit overwhelming at first, but I was patient.  I knew they were excited.  After driving a bit, they were able to get the most urgent matters out and they settled down a bit.  I was exhausted, so settling down was a good thing.  

As we drove in the driveway, I got my first glimpse of the kids' "fort".  It was a large piece of leftover bamboo fencing between some trees and held up by wires and string.  It wasn't the prettiest of things, but I was sure not to say anything, at least not right away.  I knew that they had been having fun in it with the Hanson kids, and I didn't want to deflate that.  I figured I could be patient and over time, gently make suggestions that it should come down.  We unloaded my luggage from the car and headed inside.  The kids were ready to disappear over to the Hanson's, but they were eating dinner out back and we still had to make our own dinner.  So, playing was nixed.  I was exhausted enough to want to lie down for a bit.  My back side was sore and sitting wasn't so good.   Finally, I felt like getting up and getting unpacked.  The kids were down on the computer and Chris was barbecuing chicken for chicken caesar salad for dinner.  I wanted to have my suitcases unpacked and laundry started before going to bed.  At least I was successful in that.

11 April 2010

Kailash called me about 15 minutes before I was ready to leave my room this morning.  He left the disk at the front desk for me.  When I got down to the front desk, the office was locked up.  I rang the service bell and waited.  The night attendant waved me around to the little window.  I said I needed to checkout, but that I also thought I would be able to come in and print.  She seemed to hesitate.  I also mentioned that I was to pickup the disk that Kailash had left for me.  She pointed, "This?" I guess so.  I think I was expecting a different disk box, but this was the same box that had been sitting on our table during testing.  She printed out my statement, I printed my email with my itinerary on it, took the disk and headed to my car.  I put the disk in my carryon bag, which was in the trunk.  Then I got in and started for the airport.

Of course there was no traffic.  No cars.  No one on the roads.  It would have been too easy to speed down the empty streets, but I checked myself.  Good thing.  There was a police car driving slowly and pulling around in a parking lot.  I figured he was watching to see if I would speed off once the light turned green.  I didn't and he didn't follow me.  I found 237 fine, but then I saw the north bound exit for 101, but no south bound exit.  I assumed that the instructions Kailash had were wrong and took the next exit.  As I was driving off the exit, thinking I was going to turn around and retrace, I saw a sign off to the left indicating south 101.  So, instead of turning around, I drove straight and parallel to 237 and within a couple of blocks, I found the south 101 exit.  I lost a minute or two, but I didn't have to retrace any of my path.  I found the Chevron gas station near the airport without a problem, but there were very few lights on.  I wasn't convinced that the pumps would work, even though I called the station yesterday to verify that they were open 24 hours.  The pump worked fine and I was on my way quickly.

I pulled into the Enterprise car rental return lane and stopped the car.  There was no one to be seen anywhere.  No signs providing instructions, nothing.  I left the car unlocked, but took the keys.  Looking around and seeing no instructions, I headed to the bus pick up area.  Another car renter described where the Enterprise key return box was.  I headed off with all my baggage to find it.  It was nearly invisible.  Without such specific directions on where it was, I might never have found it, and then I wouldn't have known what to do with the keys.  I put the keys in the box and then waited for the bus.  My flight was out of terminal C, the old one.  Things are completely different at the San Jose Airport now, with all the construction added to the new security regulations.  It was a maze.

When I boarded the plane, I had to exit the building on the ground floor, walk through a secured "tunnel" and then up a ramp to the front of the plane.  It's a good thing I didn't dillydally at the gate when they started boarding everyone.  The plane was full and the last several people had to check their bags through to their final destination, since there was no space left in the overheads.  I knew this could be an issue and that is why I was quick to move when they announced general boarding.  It happened again in Minneapolis.  A full flight with too much carryon baggage.  Again, I was quick and easily found a spot for my bag.

While in the Minneapolis airport, I stopped in a restaurant close to my gate to get a salad that I could take on board the plane.  I asked about wheat in the dressings.  I wasn't convinced that I was getting reliable information, so I suggested just oil and vinegar.  Balsalmic vinegar would be fine.  I was dealing with the bar tender and when she heard me say balsalmic, she asked if there was any wheat in that.  I had to restate several times that I was interested in balsalmic *vinegar*, not *vinegrette*.  She just looked at me.  Then she deferred to the waitresses and asked them.  They didn't know and they asked me a couple of times if I just wanted to read the label.  No, I figure someone back there can read the label for me.  I waited patiently and when the bar tender finally came out with the box, she opened it for me to see.  Right there in the corner was a fluffy white dinner roll.  She was saying there was no wheat in the dressing, and I pointed.  She took the roll out and I insisted that I couldn't eat that.  She took the cup of dressing out, left it on the bar and took the box away.  I finally got what appeared to be a new salad, but my confidence in it being GF was shaken.

10 April 2010

Yesterday, I was able to leave the testing around 3:40 or so.  I dropped off my things at my hotel room, freshened up a bit and then called Rosie to let her know that I was just leaving.  She had just gotten out of the shower and was worried that she wouldn't have enough time to get ready before I arrived.  When I got to Scotts Valley, I got off at Granite Creek and drove down Scotts Valley Drive.  The Denny's is not the Scotts Valley Diner and Zanotto's is now the Scotts Valley Market.  Otherwise, things looked pretty much the same, but with different businesses in the buildings I remember.  I drove across Mt. Hermon Road, up Whispering Pines to Estrella.  I drove to our old house and parked just down the street.  I walked back with my camera and took several pictures.  They put up a white picket fence around the front yard, which now had nice, clean cement steps going up to the front door.  They also put two pillars in front of the front door, supporting a small extension of the roof.  They changed the front door and added shutters to the new windows.  It looked like they kept the interior wood blinds in the living room.  They put  a free-standing, Victorian-styled mailbox at the bottom of the concrete steps.  The driveway was very pitted and buckled, with a few asphalt patches and was in desperate need of a complete reworking.  In general, the house looked fine, but with a very different facade, given the white picket fence.

I then drove out to Lockwood Lane, back to Mt. Hermon Road, to Kings Village Drive.  The shopping centers along Mt. Hermon had been updated and painted and they looked nice.  The bus depot, with its turquoise and pick decor looked out of place among the green and sage and browns of the California styled shopping centers.  Bean Creek was getting a new sidewalk, as evidenced by the open trench along the edge of the street.  Oak Lane hasn't changed.  Teenagers stared at me as I drove by the driveway off to the left of the lower part of the street.  Both Rosie's place and our old place looked pretty much the same.  McDermott's old house still has purple trim.

Rosie greeted me warmly at the door.  Her face seemed fuller than I remember.  I think that is a good sign that she is eating better than she once did.  I met her cats, one of her housemates, looked at and discussed her plants and just generally caught up for a few minutes.  Then we headed to the Santa Cruz Wharf.  She wanted to eat Carniglias, but they had redecorated.  Rosie asked about it and they said that the restaurant had just changed owners about two months ago.  Their menu was much smaller than I seem to recall and it seemed the clientele was more casual than I remember.  The prices certainly seemed cheaper, as well.  We had a very nice chat.  Rosie told me all about her communications with the Domains and the falling out with the McDermotts.  She also filled me in on her right ankle, which is something that has been going on for about two years now.  It sounds like her orthopedic surgeon for the ankle is not the right doctor for her.  He keeps insisting on surgery after surgery.  Apparently he comes highly recommended from many different people, all of whom seem to be in Santa Cruz.  I think they are all just passing the business around to each other.  Someone told her that this guy is "the best in town."  Precisely.  "In town."  I told her that she needs to find someone over the hill that is better in line with her own philosophies.  She seemed to hear me.

She asked me about Vanessa and how her calcium issue came about.  I told her the highlights.  She was mild in asking about the Tums.  I told her that it has only been three weeks ago now that Vanessa's calcium level and medication is finally stable.  Now that it is, we can finally start asking the questions about alternatives to Tums.  We did, in fact, ask at our appointment in March.  The doctors need to look into it.  I think they prescribe Tums simply because they know it  and it is widely available.  They are not nutritionists, after all.  They aren't necessarily knowledgeable about health food stores and alternative supplements.  So, we need to keep pursuing this with them and get the exact specification of what it is that Vanessa' needs.  Then we can do some research ourselves to find good supplements that meet those needs.

09 April 2010

Yesterday I left testing around 4:15 PM and headed to the drug store.  I bought a couple of things and then headed for my room.  Unfortunately, my keycard didn't let me into the 4th floor hall, after I had climbed three flights of stairs, of course.  Hauling all of my bags and stuff, I went to the front desk and they said that the cards stop working sometimes for unknown reasons.  The clerk offered me a wine ticket to be used in the restaurant and setup a wake up call for me.  I went to my room, dropped my stuff and called and talked to Chris and the kids.  They were watching a movie, so we didn't talk long. Then I went down to the bar.  Almost no one was there.  The bartender asked if I wanted to take my wine back to my room.  I hadn't thought that was an option, but it sounded better than sitting in a bar by myself, writing in my daybook.  On my way back to my room, I stopped in the market and bought a small carton of milk to have with my dinner.

I had leftovers from the previous night's dinner at the Faultline Brewery.  It was a salad with blackened salmon, so I figured it would be just fine straight from my refrigerator.  And it was.  Salad, wine, smoked gouda, crackers, strawberries, and then milk and a bit of chocolate.  Very nice.  I talked with Rosie and made plans to pick her up for dinner in Santa Cruz tonight.  She was happy and excited.  I'm sure it will be nice.  I will leave testing as soon as I can get out, maybe as early as 3:30.  This will help me minimize traffic getting to Santa Cruz on a Friday afternoon.  Minimize, but not avoid.

After that, I poked around on the internet for awhile and stumbled upon the MIRA newsletters.  One of them had brief bios for Russ, Martin, Sumita, and I.  I sent it to Scott Friedman and he found it interesting.  Time flies when you aren't paying attention.

When I got into testing this morning, Chad had already made a backup of yesterday's data and moved it to the networked terminal.  He copied it from the external disk to the internal disk.  Then I connected my laptop to the network and our external drive and started an rsync of yesterday's backup.  It finished without incident.  By midmorning, Chad asked if I wanted to take a turn doing the processing.  

08 April 2010

Yesterday, Kailash came in with the second disk and admin privileges for his laptop so that writing to the disk will work fine.  Then Scott of the WFS group discovered that pixels with values of 20000 were being marked as saturated.  After a bit of investigation, it was found that a gain level of 4 was hard coded into the DHAS.  It was fixed and all subsequent data was processed properly.  This left all the previous data to be reprocessed with the proper gain.  We created a list of the zip files and I edited it to give the exposure number of the first exposure in the series of three.  The first is supposed to be the background and it should be subtracted from the second and third exposures.  John wrote a wrapper to read this list file and process the data according to the "first" exposure I identified in the list file.  I handed off the list to John and then left for dinner with Karl and Chad.

Karl wanted to go to the Faultline Brewery in Sunnyvale.  Chad and I were game, since we both wanted to leave for the day and those that were staying to work had ordered in Thai food.  We convinced Karl to disassemble his bicycle and drive, since both Chad and I have dinky little Hyundai Accent rental cars.  Karl was accommodating.  It took probably 20 minutes or more to get there at 7 PM, since traffic on the 101 was not moving very quickly.  When we arrived, we had a wait of 45 minutes for a table, so we decided to sit in the bar.   It turned out to be ladies' night and my margarita was only $3.  The bar was slow in making our drinks and apparently Karl was given the wrong beer.  We got called to a table in what seemed more like 20 minutes.  We ordered and Karl's and my dinners came in a reasonable time, but Chad's dinner got forgotten.  Karl and I waited for Chad to get his food, even though he had said we could start.  It took all three of us to stare down the waitress to get her attention.  She finally showed up with Chad's food, after some time.  We must have waited 15 minutes after Karl's and my food arrived.  The place was busy, but this was a bit much.  When we got the check, we noticed that Karl's incorrect beer was charged and my second margarita was $7.  Apparently, Ladies' Night is only available in the bar.  If she would have told me that, I would have gotten up and walked the 20 feet to the bar area to get my second one.  Karl drove us back to Lockheed, since our rental cars were there.  I headed straight back to my hotel.

When I got to the hotel, I noticed a lot of noise in the street.  It sounded like jack hammering.  I put things away and went right to bed.  The noise continued.  I must have dosed off, but at 11:25 I woke up to continued noise.  I got up and called the front desk.  I asked if the city of Palo Alto had a curfew for noise.  The desk clerk said yes, it did.  I complained about the noise and the clerk apologized and offered to have me switch rooms to one further away from the street.  Not at that hour!  He continued to tell me that the city was fixing a broken water pipe, since half of the city didn't have water.  I thanked him for the information and he apologized again for the disruption.  I went back to bed.  It seemed not too long after that that the noise stopped.  I wonder if the hotel called the city or the police to complain or if they just finished their work.  When I got up this morning, I noticed the faucet sputtered several times.  I was happy to see that the water was at least clear and not muddy or dirty.

When I came in this morning, John said that it had run fine, but we needed to edit a few lines.  Some of the images identified weren't actually the best choices for processing.  Christopher and John had marked up a printed copy of the list.  John packed up to leave and Christopher made the necessary changes to the list file.  We started it running.  When it was done, we copied the data to Scott's bigger disk and gave them the data.  After that was complete, Chad and I used the backup instructions that I copied into my notebook to make a copy of all of yesterday's data on the external disk.  That backup directory was copied to the external drive, the drive moved to the networked terminal, the backup directory copied to the networked terminal's internal drive, and then copied across the network to our own external drive connected to my laptop.

07 April 2010

Yesterday morning, I met Kailash for coffee in the hotel lobby and he took me to the airport to get me a rental car. Thrifty, which is preferred by the Institute, only had vans and SUVs, so I went to the Enterprise counter. They had a compact car available, so I got it. Now, we were enabled to take shifts in supporting the data collection. I immediately headed to Whole Foods and bought a bunch of GF non-perishable and a few GF perishable foods. My hotel room has a refrigerator, but no microwave. So I bought some fresh fruit, breakfast bars, cheese, hummus, sparkling water, and crackers. I really tried not to buy too much, knowing that I didn't want to waste food or carry the non-perishables home. I did go overboard on the GF snack bars. They had several flavors of Lara Bars that I had never seen before, so I wanted to try them. And since they won't go bad anytime soon, I bought one of each of the ones I was interested in. Those and a few other brands, like Bumble Bee Bar. Some of these seem easier to find in California. I had first tried the Bumble Bee Bar in Downey last summer, when staying with Grandma. Her Ralph's store had them and I liked them.

After putting away the food in my room, I collected my laundry and headed to the hotel laundry room. I also need quarters, but right next to the laundry room is a market. I got quarters there. In the laundry room, I put quarters in for the laundry detergent, but the machine ate my quarters and didn't produce any detergent. I asked at the front desk and they sold me the single size boxes of detergent. Finally, I was able to start the washing. I waited outside at the tables provided for diners at the market/grill. I moved my clothes to the dryer and headed back up to my room. I talked to Chris, but the kids were out playing with the Hansons, while Chris was talking to John next door. Then I folded my clothes and put them away just in time to get into the testing to relieve Kailash. He didn't leave right away. Testing continued, with sporadic training sessions and updates on the latest scripts and wrapper scripts. He finally did leave, and came back in time for a late dinner at Rice Thai Restaurant. It was good. Kailash and I agreed that I would come in for the morning shift today, arriving around 8 AM.

I did my usual morning routine and was out of my room by 7:30 AM. I wanted to find a drug store to get toiletries and a coffee shop for a large coffee I could take into testing with me. Every drug store or grocery store was still closed. Nothing opens before 8 AM. I knew there was a Peet's down on El Camino, but I missed it in my haste looking for a drug store. I never saw a Starbucks, despite knowing that there was one somewhere. I finally found a little cafe and got my coffee. On the way back up El Camino, I finally spotted the Starbucks, right next to the Tofu House. Now I know. I still have to get to the drug store later. Kailash is supposed to be coming in sometime between 2 and 3 PM. Today for lunch we walked to the larger cafeteria, which has many more choices and a great salad bar. It is in a separate building, but still on the Lockheed campus. It was nice, the weather was nice, and we sat outside to eat. Very nice.

Posted to Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef

I became a fan of the Pioneer Woman after just one recipe on Christmas morning. I became curious about the Pioneer Woman many, many months earlier.

My sister-in-law (aka sister) has been a non-food blogger for years and maintains a long list of blogs she reads. I've been curious, but have never had time to investigate many of the blogs listed. The Pioneer Woman is on her list.

Then some time last year I think, my sister blogged about Monkey Bread. I had never heard of such a thing. I have since come to find out that I might be the only person in this country who hasn't heard of and had Monkey Bread. I grew up on the west coast. Apparently, people here on the east coast and those from the midwest know of it. How did I miss this?

In any case, my sister made some Monkey Bread using the Pioneer Woman's recipe and she posted pictures. It sounded and looked so good! My mouth started watering. Drooling really. But by that time I was already gluten-free. The Pioneer Woman's recipe called for cans of ready-to-bake biscuits. I have yet to find any such thing in the Land of Gluten Freeness.

I used to love baking. And I used to believe I was a good baker. Not only did my taste buds tell me that, but others told me. I believed them. Then, a few years ago, I was forced to become gluten-free. I was devastated. I put all of my effort and energy into things that came out of the oven tasting less than yummy. I even whined to a friend, "I used to be a good baker!"

I do miss the ease of just following a shared recipe and basking in the joy of warm, yummy goods straight from the oven. I have since learned to substitute with a wide variety of gluten-free flours. Texture still challenges me, but I'm working on that. And I have started to gather gluten-free baking cookbooks. And I began reading your blog. Your willingness to try and adjust and tweak the recipes has inspired me to keep my hopes up for my baking.

This is how I found your Buttermilk Biscuits. That was it. I could now try the Pioneer Woman's Monkey Bread for the first time.

It looked so good.

So, with the Pioneer Woman's Monkey Bread recipe and your Buttermilk Biscuit recipe to substitute for the cans of the ready-made variety, I was all set. I decided I would take the plunge on Christmas morning. Somehow, it didn't occur to me that this might be a bit ambitious for such a high-profile day. I had complete confidence that the biscuits would be yummy and the Monkey Bread delectable. I knew it. I just knew it.

My daughter worked with me make three batches of your buttermilk biscuit recipe on Christmas morning. She even delayed opening her gifts, because she wanted to help make something yummy that I could enjoy too. I stirred the sugar and butter on the stove. We tossed the biscuit balls around in the cinnamon and sugar and then into the tube pan. It took awhile, but every minute was full of anticipation and fun. It was Christmas morning after all! Finally it was ready for the oven. We slid it in and then we opened some gifts. We were there in front of the oven when the timer beeped. That Monkey Bread filled the house with the best smell for a holiday morning. It was the smell of love and family and happiness and warmth. And it was the smell of something incredibly tasty!

And it was! Absolutely delicious! We huffed and puffed on those gooey, sugary balls to get them cool enough to eat. My husband is a man of few words, but I've never seen him go back for so many seconds! And he is not gluten-free. That was the best endorsement I could have had, outside of my very happy and satisfied belly!

My belief in my baking was renewed. I am a good baker. And it just so happens that I am a good gluten-free baker! I still face challenges with texture and balance, but I know many good things will come of my attempts. Many, many thanks to you and the Pioneer Woman for making it possible and renewing that belief!

Gem from the Dinner Table

Last night at the dinner table, Dude was trying to ask me something. Finally, he got it out.

"Mom, were you born before or after the Civil War?"

Oh, I feel so young....

I stifled my laughter and said, "After. And after World War I and after World War II and after the Korean War and after the Vietnam War (mostly). But I was in college during the first Iraqi war."

Is this why we have kids? To help us feel young?

Maybe I felt that way this time. But I am not completely delusional.

I know all too well that, right around the corner, there will be something coming our of their mouths to make me feel old.

I guess that's better than not feeling at all. And I'm sure I'll manage to laugh with them about it then too.

And just remember that you, too, were born after the Civil War. Feeling better already, right?!