Poem of the Day

Mushrooms

Sylvia Plath 

 

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

 

Winter Traveling

Long time no see!

This winter I drove to Indiana with my fellow Hoosier Katie. It's a long drive, and fairly boring after leaving the mountains in Maryland. We spent around 8 long hours driving through dreary weather.
Click on pics to enlarge and see them in all their glory!

Quite a long interstate, 70.

Frost line in MD mountains

Frozen waterfall in MD

States traveled through, plus MD of course :)

Indiana! I got to see my Mom's new house for the first time, which thankfully has a spare bedroom. No more sleeping on a couch ;)

I got to visit Bloomington for a reunion with IU friends, and even got to see a basketball game in Assembly Hall!

Go Hoosiers!

Most of my time was spent catching up sleep, internet-ing, Netflix-ing, and seeing my family for holidays. It's so strange coming home ~twice a year and seeing how much my nieces and nephews have grown!!

This year I managed to secure some funding from STScI to attend the AAS (American Astronomical Society) meeting in Seattle. So, I went to leg 2 of my winter traveling- the Pacific Northwest!

Nice sunset on my flight from Dallas to Seattle.

Seattle was the location of my first AAS back in 2011, so it was fun to go back and visit! Seattle is a fun city with lots of great food and attractions, but dang it, my hair does not appreciate the humidity...

Most of my days were spent conference-ing, which mostly consists of getting up early, attending talks and poster sessions, shmoozing with other astronomers, running into so-and-so from a few years ago (astronomy is a small field, we all know each other...), and generally chatting astronomy and non-astronomy with friends new and old. Of course I did have to do some real work ;) ... I presented a poster about some data reduction methods I tested. I even got to meet the creator of the HST instrument I work on :)

I also got to try some awesome food and drinks at some of Seattle's restaurants and bars. Working for a government contractor has its perks- we get a GSA per diem, which is something like $70/day for food!! Some of my favorites were:

• Bathtub Gin, a very hard to find and easy to miss speakeasy-style bar with a great atmosphere and excellent cocktails
• Pike Brewing Company bar & restaurant, I had an amazing grilled cheese, and they have several yummy in-house brewed beers
• Taphouse Grille, they have 100+ beers on tap from all over
• Elysium Brewing
• Von's 1000 spirits, faaaaabulous scratch-made pasta, and amazing selection of liquor which they use to make delicious cocktails
• La Creperie Voila, a food stand outside the convention center. Looks meh but has perfectly-made sweet and savory crepes prepared by personable employees

Roberto flew from LA to meet me in Seattle 3 days into the conference. There is a tradition that on the 2nd to last day of the conference a large party is held at a local bar. These parties are always sooo much fun! Imagine hundreds of dork astronomers trying to dance... it was no less of a spectacle than usual this year! It's always the highlight of the conference to attend these parties. Bars usually host us pretty well (how often do you get 500+ space nerds in your bar?) by creating space-themed drinks or showing NASA TV/astronomy movies. This year they displayed astronomy paper proceedings and posters on projectors, ha! 

After the conference ended (Thursday), Roberto and I met up with our friend Jeff, who was also attending the conference. Jeff lives across the Puget Sound in Bremerton. So, we headed down to the pier and caught a ferry. 

Roberto, Jeff, and me waiting for the ferry to arrive

It was a rare beautiful and sunny day in Seattle! Perfect weather for enjoying the sight as we trekked across the Sound.

View from the ferry

On the ferry's deck, watching the ferry headed to Bainbridge. Mountains!!

Seattle skyline from the ferry

Mt. Rainier

Sunset as we arrive in Bremerton

Once we landed in Bremerton, it was a short walk to Jeff and his husband Nick's house. They have a nice house with an extra bedroom they let us take. Jeff is a hardcore-brewer who even had a kegarator (keg with refrigerator) in his living room for us to pour freshly brewed beers! Nick occupies the other aspect of gardening, cooking, and canning, so we got to have some of his food products as well. Jeff and Roberto went to grad school together, and two of their other grad school buddies came over (who also attended the conference). We spent a fun night playing cards and sipping Jeff's beers.

The next day we slept in and explored Bremerton. The USS Turner Joy, a Navy destroyer ship from the 50's that was built in Bremerton is retired there and open for tour. We spent the afternoon exploring the very expansive ship. It is self-guided tour that allows you to access most parts of ship.

USS Turner Joy

Keep Cool; DO'NT GIVE UP THE SHIP.

After that, we walked along the docks enjoying the sunset. It got chilly soon, so we headed home. 

Sunset on the docks

We all went out to dinner to the Silver City Restaurant. They had amazing in-house beers (noticing a pattern?) and I had some amazing Tillamook mac 'n cheese. 

Saturday we got up early and took the ferry back to Seattle. We walked around the infamous Pike Place Market (even saw some flying fish!). We bought some fresh salmon and veggies to grill later. 

All the seafoodz

We headed up to the Space Needle after that to catch a Duck Tour. Well. Our guide was absolutely RIDICULOUS, but it was a fun and convenient way to get a whirlwind tour of Seattle. It was fun to ride the duck into Lake Union. Also, we all got duck calls that I annoyed Roberto, Jeff, and Nick with all day (and the next day).

A foggy/rainy day in Seattle?!?! I'm SHOCKED!

Gas Works, as seen from the duck boat on Lake Union

After that, we took a bus to Pioneer Square to go on the Seattle Underground Tour. This was probably my favorite part of the day. The history of Seattle is fascinating, and the whole "city under a city" thing is mind-blowing. There is wikipedia page for it here. We had a great tour guide to boot.

Underground Tour

The original wooden sewer pipes used in Seattle circa 1854

Afterwards, thoroughly tired, we went back to the ferry station to get back to Bremerton. The ferry is about an hour long, so by the time we got back, we were all too tired to cook or go out. We ordered pizza and watched the NFL playoff games ;)

Sunday, our last day there, was spent relaxing at home, and I got to watch the Colts kick Peyton's butt. For dinner we grilled up the salmon and veggies we bought in Seattle. Then Roberto and I packed up our suitcases and trudged back to the ferry to return to Seattle to catch our flight home to Baltimore. 

Seattle skyline at night from the ferry

Ferris Wheel makes cool reflections, ooooh

We took a red-eye, with a layover in Boston. This was my first red-eye in the US (overnight trans-atlantic flights shouldn't count!). Never. Again. It was awful, I couldn't sleep, was uncomfortable, and grumpy. Boo. Finally I stepped back in my apartment after 3 weeks away to a crazy Moka who my neighbor/co-worker had been cat-sitting.

Phew, what a trip! It was great to go home and then visit Seattle again- it's a great city that is also very vegetarian-friendly considering its reputation for seafood ;) But it's always nice to return to your own bed, own shower, and own kitty :)

Food advice

Hello everyone! Today I am soliciting for help in recipe ideas.

Now that my day-to-day life has a predictable schedule (unlike during school), I find myself running out of good vegetarian lunch ideas that don't get boring. The requirements for lunch have to be that I can bring it to work and eat it cold or reheat in a microwave (no toaster oven).

Here are some of my repeat offenders for lunches I make:
- veggie sandwiches, with chips
- pasta of all sorts
- stir-fry with couscous/quinoa
- veggie tacos
- risotto
- polenta

I usually try to bring greek yogurt & granola and fruit every day, to make sure I'm eating some protein and fruit.

I love tofu and soy-products, and will eat almost any vegetable (don't like beets, zucchini, eggplant or red peppers that much).

Does anyone have any suggestions on lunch-friendly meals I can take to work daily? (preferably something that isn't in my list above, but those are ok too!) I usually make a big meal on Sunday and then bring it in until it runs out, so I'm ok with eating something a few days in a row. I sometimes will make lunch in morning daily (like sandwiches) so that's ok too.

Any suggestions are appreciated :)

Rush

I know I haven't posted here in forever. I promise I will update this soon.

Right now I just got back from a Rush concert and it was so heartbreakingly beautiful that I had to spew my overwhelming happiness to the internet at large. :') That's a smiley face that's crying with joy.

Geddy, Neil, and Alex will forever have my heart.

Quote of the Day (WARNING nerd jokes)

Jesse: :D The question is, are you cool because you are having startrek marathon, or or you having a startrek marathon because you're cool?

 me: both, at once

  I'm commutative!

18:40 Jesse: Baby, I'd like to distribute myself in your parentheses

 me: Bet you'd like to be my commutator?

18:41 sorry, Jesse, we're only Hermitian operators, the two of us

  you'll never be anything but a fermion to me, we just can't occupy the same state

18:42 Jesse: :(

 me: maybe if you try hard enough, you can tunnel through....

18:43 I'm waiting for you, just outside the finite well!

18:44 Jesse: Baby, I know you'd like to know which slit I came through, but you just can't

18:45 me: Oh, Jesse. I have to know! Are you attracted to waves or particles?!

 Jesse: I go both ways, I have a wavicle fetish

18:47 me: Yikes, did someone says Thomas Young? It's getting a bit hot in here...

18:51 I might start emitting soon!   Jesse recently reminded me of this exchange we had on 2012's New Year's Eve. DID SOMEONE SAY DORKS?

Song of the Day

I'm wondering, if you read that story too?
And if we both might
be having
the same
imaginary conversation

Four
three
two
one
I'm letting you go

I
will
let
go
if you will let go

-Ben Folds, Cologne

Laughs from the Past

Before I left Indiana, I pell-mell packed things that were (are) still at my Mom's house and not with me at college. Apparently I brought some old journals here to Baltimore with me. When I say old, I mean from when I was 8/9 years old. This is just absolute gold. Here are some excerpt from my school journal. I remember we had to often write about what we did the previous day or answer prompts that were on the blackboard.

9/11/00
To clean our room, make our beds, do our jobs, and do our homework.
I don't like to clean our room, do our jobs, and doing homework.
They're not fun.

9/25/00
I would go to the year 1. I want to because I want to see what life was like with the dinosaurs and what it's like to be the only person around.

1/4/01
Had a friend spend the night
Opened my new present- shirt
Liked the holidays
I went to a ballet
Dreamed
Ate a christmas dinner
Yelled at my sister

2/21/01
I'm good at piano. I'm good at Spelling. I'm good at school.

4/30/01
Slept in
Ate spaggetie
Told my sister to leave me alone
Used the computer
Read a book
Drew a picture
Ate pizza
Yelled at someone

So, what can we take away from this? Well, first of all I really like acronyms, despite saying I was good at Spelling, I clearly was not, and also that I yell at my sister a lot (we did yell a lot, didn't we Bekah?)
:)

Quote of the Day

We just got a new voice/message/video calling system at work, and I was testing it out with a coworker.

Quote of the Day

Seriously.... Try it.

me: dude

  lay your hand on some surface

  with your pinky on the table

  so that your thumb is closest to the ceiling

  make sense?

19:47 Elaine: yea

 me: now reverse it, so pinky is closest to ceiling

  and your whole thumb is on table

  it's a bit weird position

  then look at your fingers

  don't they look like aliens

  or just weird

  like, wiggle your pinky

19:48 Elaine: wuuut

 me: did any of that make sense

 Elaine: yes!

  that was weird

  it doesnt look right

 me: for real

19:49 i thought maybe there was something in the air here and i was going crazy looking at my fingers

 Elaine: lol

  i'm surprised you even noticed it

  but yea

19:50 it's weird... even with my hand in the air it looks normal

  then on the table it's freaky

 me: exactly  - Elaine and I ponder the complexities of the human hand

A Day (Week) in the Life (of Jo Taylor)

OK, so that Beatles reference was a stretch. I tried.

Last Tuesday- I rescued a stray lost kitten that was playing in the street (it's busy too!) and its owner retrieved it. Hung out with my gimpy friend who had ankle surgery.

Wednesday- Went to work as normal. Went home as normal. I was going to pick up some friends to go contra dancing (yay!). Drove 2 blocks from my apartment and whilst being the first car to cross the intersection during the green light promptly got slammed into by another driver who ran a red light. (yes yes I'm fine) Outrageous chaos ensued. When other people are in traumatic/stressful situations I am usually pretty good at remaining calm and rational. Apparently not so when reversed. A very long and annoying story short: other driver claimed HE had a green light, insurance companies duke it out, get in contact with witness to the accident, backpedal and offer me some money. My poor Oldsmobile was totaled.

Let's all just give a moment of silence for that trooper. Drove me the Indiana-Baltimore trip THREE times and never once complained. Anyway, I am of course getting reimbursed for the value of the car, but now I'm just annoyed that I have to go through the process of getting another car. I was going to get one soon anyway, but wanted to save up enough money to buy a nice one.

Sigh.

But wait, it doesn't end there. Friday- I donate blood. Guys, I don't think you understand how momentous an occasion this is for me. I am absolutely terrified of giving blood. Like, really irrationally afraid. Vaccines are bad enough. BUT EXTRACTING 10% OF MY LIFE SOURCE? Uh-uh. Well, I was really curious to see if I could do it (I kept being reassured it wasn't as bad as I was making it out). Well, OK, it turns out it wasn't as bad as I was making it out, but it was still not pleasant. I got a bit nauseous during it but then felt much better after having some juice and resting. My officemate Heather and I did it together, so we headed back up to the office. So yeah, well, no one told me that resting for 5 minutes was an insufficient time to become able to walk up TWO flights of stairs. I want it on the record that I never passed out, contrary to my coworkers who saw fit to coddle me embarrassingly afterwards. I WAS conscious the whole time, just momentarily deaf with blurry eyesight. At least I know to take the elevator now.

BUT WAIT GUYS it gets better. Enter Hurricane Sandy. That's all I need to say. And also that I was totally unprepared for what a hurricane is like. It's windy and rainy and cold and scary because there are at least a dozen trees within sight of the window in my bedroom. Work has been closed for the past 2 days but tomorrow we're back at it. A lot of folks lost power (luckily I didn't) but it's not half as bad as what happened further north. Maryland, and Baltimore, missed the worst of the storm while New Jersey and NYC got slammed.

So yeah, that's my terribly exciting life! Paperwork and hurricanes and blood donations oh my!

Weathering out Hurricane Sandy (pun intended)

Jo's Guide to Hurricane Preparation:

- Stock up on kitty litter (worse comes to worse maybe I can use the litterbox too)
- Have car totaled in previous week to assure no trees/power lines fall on it
- Fill up every water bottle in the house
- Buy all the Hurricane Food Essentials such as canned peas, chips and dip, cranberries, and alcohol
- Do laundry in case you're stuck inside for a while
- Watch every natural disaster movie available to get in the spirit

Quote of the Day (WARNING nerd jokes)

12:53 me: my supply of fudge striped cookies is dwindling

  THAT'S what i need to stock up on for the hurricane

 Roberto: hahaha

  i'm buying stuff to make hurricanes today.

 me: yessss

 Roberto: light rum, dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice.

12:54 me: my friend is a meteorologist and he went to the weather version of AAS and they gave everybody there free hurricanes

 Roberto: nice.

12:55 we need to come up with some kind of astronomy drink.

  like the dark matter shot or something.

12:57 me: yeah, and everyone will always ask each other and the bartender, what is this made of?

  they'll just shrug and say WIMPs?

12:58 Roberto: hahahaha

  machos

12:59 WIMPS = whiskey……melon, patron

 me: hahahahahaha

  legit lol'ing right now

13:00 Roberto: whiskey, ice, melon juice, patron

 me: that actually sounds a bit unpleasant

- Talking about the upcoming Hurricane Sandy due to hit the mid-Atlantic soon.

Quote of the Day

Roberto: so you up to anything?

23:32 me: not much

  was reading for a bit. hangin out with the cat

  you know

  big stuff

23:35 you?

 Roberto: nothing exciting. grocery shopping, cleaning.

23:36 me: preparing for the bone chiseling.

23:37 Roberto: yeah.

  thanks for that.

 me: just doing my duty as your friend

  your pragmatic friend haha

23:39 Roberto: when are you donating blood again? have you seen the size of those needles?

 me: hahahaha

  touche  - My friend is having ankle surgery. I am donating blood for the first time ever.

City Life

I'm sitting on my fire escape. I like to sit at the top of my fire escape, on the roof of my row home. I could walk across the roofs and fire escapes of a dozen row homes since they are really one large seamless building broken up into homes and one-floor apartments. I like to sit on my fire escape and gaze up at the 10-15 stars I can see near the heart of Baltimore.

I hear a rustling near the bottom of the fire escape. Too soft to be a person. Rustling in the alleyway = rats. I think, "Can rats climb stairs? Wow I hope not, because they could climb the stairs of my fire escape and be at my back door. They could be clawing at my door and windows from the fire escape." I sit and hope that rats can't climb stairs. I look down and there is no rat. Phew.

I hear a rustling 3 floors below me in the alley that runs behind the large seamless row of row homes. This time, without looking I know it's rats. I look anyway- yes, it's a rat. It scurries out from under my neighbor's car that is parked in the alleyway. It runs across the alley to a dumpster that is overfilling with trash. They pick up the trash on Mondays so it's overfilling by Sunday.

I look back up to the sky again.

A few minutes later, a man steps out into the alley from the large seamless row of shops/restaurants that occupies the side of the alley parallel to the large seamless row of row homes. He empties a mopping bucket. The alley is slightly at an incline- the dirty water runs all the way down the alley. It makes sense now; I have noticed how where the middle of the alleyway street meets is turned an odd shade of pale orange. It must be bleached? by the frequent dumping of cleaning materials in the mopping buckets.

Some time later I hear the caw-ing of a large flock of crows. I hope that maybe they are ravens (I don't really the difference between the two) because of Baltimore's history with ravens (think Edgar Allen Poe).

I sit in relative silence (there is humming of heaters, some quiet honking in the background). Then I hear rustling again, this time at a different dumpster. Rats? I think. I look down.

I see a rat skitter. skitter. skitter. up three steps of a stairwell across the alleyway from my fire escape.

Quote of the Day

Matt: How is your tarantula? Please tell me it is doing better

me: DUDE. I was really scared so the first thing I did when I got home is look at her- she was in a different spot! I tapped the cage a lot but she didn't move. Later I came back and she was in a different place again. She is clearly alive, maybe recovering from molting so won't respond to my polite taps. It is rather tedious to shed your exoskeleton.

Matt: I know that when I have to do it I tend to lounge around for the next couple of days.

- Conversation between myself and friend Matt

(A few days ago Zelda the tarantula molted. I was mortified when I came home from work and saw TWO tarantulas. While this is very cool that she shed her exoskeleton, this morning she was sprawled out very oddly and I tapped on the glass to see if she was ok. She did not move. I tapped harder. Still nothing. I told some of my coworkers about earlier how I was nervous she was dying/ill.)

On a happier note

I made a website for work.

You can see all my lovely coworkers and their... interesting photos here.

My website is here. SO PROFESSIONAL EH?

FYI

How to annoy Jo:

- Tell me all about your mundane problems then act all insecure about them and expect me to care
- Say you don't like cats
- Ignore my attempts to talk to you
- Ignore my attempts to tell you why I'm in a bad mood
- Give me stupid one-word answers
- Don't answer my repeated calls
- Call Indiana a fly-over state (I know it is, just don't say it in front of me)
- Say that Italians didn't invent pizza

Quote of the Day

me: what is he studying exactly?meteorology still??? Weatherology?

11:32 an analysis of the movie Twister?

 Elaine: haha... i think it's technically earth/atmospheric science

  basically Twisterology

 me: hahaha

11:33 "and in this scene we see Bill Paxton's character going through a transition from dichotomy of the two women in his life to a state of infatuation for Helen Hunt"

11:34 "in the background an F5 tornado rages from the ionochromostratosphere into the warm front collision path of a dual-toned shelf cloud"

11:37 Elaine: hahahahaha

  this should be how all meteorology papers are published  -conversation between Elaine and myself about meteorology journal papers

Biscuits To Die For

I found a photocopied recipe while cleaning up some stuff in my bookshelf today: "Just like Red Lobster's cheese garlic biscuits". I am going to a party/bonfire tonight so thought I may make them. I'm not sure where the recipe came from- I probably copied it from a newspaper clipping recipe my mom had.

The recipe is very easy and good, but I think it can be improved. Here is my (BETTER) version:

- 2 cups biscuit baking mix
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better, you can grate your own or buy it shredded)
- 1 or 2 TB melted margarine/butter
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Stir baking mix, milk and cheese until combined. Then beat vigorously with wooden spoon for about 30 seconds.
- Drop dough onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake ~10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Meanwhile, stir together melted butter and garlic powder. Brush over biscuits as soon as they are done.
- ENJOY cheesy garlic deliciousness!

This recipe only makes about 9/10 biscuits (the original recipe quotes it as 10-12 which is definitely not true). Double or triple for lots of biscuit love. :)

Various Updates

Ok, I'm going to preface this whole thing with the fact that I AM SEEING RUSH TOMORROW, EVERYONE. I've seen them twice before and am just as giddy this time too. Not only are they my favorite all time band ever, they are absolutely amazing live performers. I'm going with a few of my coworkers (I know I'm working at the right place). I'll stop while I'm ahead and just say that I'm immensely excited to go.

So, where have I been? I would say busy, but also unmotivated. Work is going great and I'm really happy in Baltimore. I've just been assigned to an instrument team for the spectrographs on Hubble, COS+STIS. I'm looking forward to starting my work with that. Besides work though, I have been lots of obnoxious adult things like setting up health insurance, car insurance, car repairs, furniture shopping, and RETIREMENT planning! I've made some really fun and diverse friends at work too- there is one of every kind of person at a company of 500+ employees! It makes for a great selection of friends :)

Last Saturday a few friends and I went on a winery trail on the eastern shore of MD. PS- that means eastern shore of the bay, not the ocean! We went to 4 different wineries, and 1 was alright, 2 were downright bad, and 1 was excellent. Maryland does not have a good reputation with wines- maybe it's the climate or soil, but let's just say they're not known for the wines (beer though, yes!). The real winner of the trip was a visit to the Sandbar, a bar on the shore of bay, in a borderline trashy but definitely redneck part of the state. A woman at the last winery we visited suggested we visit there. We got to sit on the edge of the water drinking mojitos and listening to a so-so cover band. On the way home we got drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge while a beautiful lightning storm lit up the distance. Not a bad day.

Sunday some people and I went to the MD State Fair. I've never even been to the IN state fair, so I'm not sure how it compares. It was fun though- we got fried food and rode some rides so I'm calling it a success. Mostly we went to show a new postdoc from England what America is all about- fried snickers and livestock.

Thursday I went laser tagging with people from work and, let me say- IT. WAS. SO. FUN. I've been laser tagging before and this was on a whole different level. Maybe because I'm not 8 years old anymore, or my aim has improved, or that I now take sniping more seriously. Regardless, it was the most fun I've had in a while. 

Last night a group of people celebrated said English woman's birthday by taking her out on town. It was a ton of fun! Tomorrow I go to Bristow, VA (just outside DC) for the Rush concert!!!