You know that thing, where you haven't posted to LJ in forever, and then you start feeling like the next post has to recap at least some fraction of what's happened since you last posted, and the more time that goes by the more daunting such a recap seems?

Yeah, that.

Anyway, hi!

I went to the Wooden Boat festival today and ran across an advertisement for a class in which you build an Aleut baidarka--with a lashed cedar frame and resin-impregnated canvas skin, no glue nor metal fastenings. Several examples of the finished product were on display (including one with squid tentacles painted on it omg.) I immediately conceived ( Read more... )

My lack of functional camera is growing frustrating. I'm torn, though--should I wait and save up for the camera I really want (a Canon G10 or G12, which I think hits a nice sweet spot of having lots of manual controls and good image quality while still being portable enough that I'll have it with me when I want a camera) or should I buy a sub-$100 ( Read more... )

I just watched an elderly fellow walk by wearing a snazzy cable sweater and fisherman's cap, and it suddenly struck me: all I have to do is wait for a while, and all my clothes will become quaint and old-timey automatically! I'm not sure why that makes me so happy, but it does.

Yesterday at 0430, I was putting together the final bits and pieces of equipment for a day trip to Rainier to install (well, help install) a GPS sensor on Winthrop Glacier ( Read more... )

The Endurance/Shackleton chantey went over extremely well at the Chantey Sing--a couple of people professed to find it quite moving, and the folks at the afterparty even requested an encore. I am always talking up the chantey sing to people, and it is awesome, but I suppose the afterparty is a big part of why I'm so enamored of it. The same couple ( Read more... )

Now that I am on a real computer and can type out the whole thing. This is a bit longer than would be ideal, I think, but there's so many exciting bits to the story! I noticed while typing it out that I start a lot of lines with "But..."; not sure if that's something I should try to remedy or just a natural result of the format ( Read more... )

OK, so I'm working on this song about Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance and that epic survival tale, but I'm a bit stuck on the chorus. I was going to use ( Read more... )

After two days of ceremonies, my clone-sibling is officially Graduated from Carnegie Mellon and has her BFA degree. There was much more Formal Academic Ritual than I recall experiencing at the Pomona graduation; when I got to meet Anthea's advisor, who is a University of Washington alum, I was able to see firsthand the awesome voluminous purple ( Read more... )

So on Monday I leave for Svalbard, which is a territory of Norway way up in the Arctic--78 degrees North. I'm doing some sea ice optics research with a colleague of mine, who invited me along after I borrowed some artificial sea ice from her cold lab. It's going to be awesome.

( Brief musings about luck etiquette )