I went out this morning (at 4 AM!) to watch the Leonid meteor shower; ’twas fun, but it paled in comparison to last year’s show, which was simply spectacular.
Even though the gathering was organized by astronomers (from Harvard), there were plenty of inconsiderate people shining their flashlights and car headlights at the people watching the meteors (even people taking flash photographs!), making it pretty difficult to get adjusted to the dark. I did take some pictures (sans flash, of course), and will post them if they come out okay.
posted November 19, 2002 – 8:02 am
I put up some more pictures on the Robot Arm page. I’ve also managed to extract one of the motors and have taken it to the testing lab (a.k.a. my office at work) for analysis – some of the E.E.’s at work have been helping me out, and it looks pretty straightforward to get this thing up and running again – amazing!
I went out climbing again last night – in spite of the soreness that invariably ensues, it’s really good fun. I liked it enough to go out and buy a harness this week, in fact. Strange that I should just trust them to make it well and start using it without testing or anything, but I guess that’s how it goes.
posted November 15, 2002 – 11:11 am
I watched Bowling for Columbine last night, a great film by Michael Moore. Though sometimes lacking subtlety, the film hits home with some startling statistics and candid interviews. Check out the one at the end of the film with Charlton Heston, NRA spokesperson extraordinaire – truly shameful.
I’m signed up to play at Get HoHoHo! with a team called “Bowl Full of Jelly.” Yeah, bring on the December frisbee tournaments!
posted November 13, 2002 – 6:55 am
I put up some pictures from Amanda’s Celebrity Impersonation party (which doubled as Ben & Danielle’s birthday party) – it was good fun. I also added a new project to the projects page: a crepe spreader I recently made. Enjoy.
I ended up (after a visit to the yogurt factory) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It’s really quite a nice, quaint little town filled with good food and nice galleries. We didn’t have tons of time to check it out, so I’m game to go back.
posted November 11, 2002 – 3:12 pm
Surprisingly, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at work lately, as we had a big project to finish up today. It all got done, and now I’m surfing the web all day. Any suggestions for time-wasters?
I finished Seabiscuit a few days ago – what a great book! It’s a very engaging, well-told story. Read it.
I watched Monkey Business (the Marx Brothers film) last night. By far the best scene is when all four brothers, in succession, try to convince an officer that they are actually Maurice Chevalier. For a film made in 1931, it really holds up quite well – check it out.
In my quest to watch some Marx Brothers movies, I discovered that Blockbuster Video sucks, and Hollywood Express is a lot better, assuming you live in Cambridge/Somerville where they have several locations. Whereas Blockbuster had zero Marx Brothers movies in stock (at two stores, mind you!), Hollywood Express had a whole shelf full of them, for the same rental price, and since it was Tuesday, it was two-for-one. I’m cutting my Blockbuster card in half as I type…
Sunday is craft day – c’mon over and play.
posted November 8, 2002 – 6:27 am