Climate Reality Project

So I've been ignoring this blog for awhile, but I think I'm back now.  I'm going to start off by posting something I find interesting, which is called the Climate Reality Project.  It's a new intiative run by Al Gore, and it's a multimedia event happening in September, in which people from around the world will speak about how their climate is changing and how it's impacting their daily lives.  It's an effort to shed light on real things happening right here and right now as a result of climate change, to show incontrovertible proof to those people who say climate change isn't real.  The program is still being developed, but I've signed up for the e-mail updates, and am looking forward to the events in the NYC location.

Conversations

So I had lunch today with other Princetonians in Columbia grad school.  And the quirkiness of our conversations just had to be shared. Today at lunch we discussed, among other things:

• A play in NYC that it's a 6-story former hotel.  It's interactive, and you traverse all 6 stories along with the actors as the play progresses.
• A restaurant in France where you're completely in the dark, and the waiters are blindfolded, and you have to feel around and use your other senses while you eat.  You can also order a "surprise" dish if you want.
• Some research at Columbia where they're trying to get people to be able to move objects just using their brain.

Such interesting topics!

Computers

Two things you should not be doing if you're using a computer in an open office environment:

• Using a mouse without a mousepad
• Using a laptop without a mouse (using the clickpad)

Both of these are noisy and extremely annoying when trying to concentrate.  You're in your 20s, people, learn some professional decorum. 

Commuting

So my normal route home from Long Island is to take 295 to 278 W to 87 N, where I get off at exit 4, which is Yankees Stadium.  So, now that baseball season has started, and I get home around 6:30 pm, and the Yankees game starts at 7:05 pm, I knew I needed another route to get back to the UWS.  So yesterday in the car I use Google maps and my GPS and fiddle around and find another route.  I follow it out, and it seems fine, but whaddya know, the exit I get off on from the highway happens to be the exit for the Mets' Citi Field!  Just can't win when you live in NYC.  Luckily there was no game-related traffic, but I'm not sure if it will stay that way for long.  Although I'm guessing the Yankees are more popular than the Mets, so maybe I'll stick to the Mets' route.

Interesting study

People who go to church are fatter

So this study discovered that religious, church-going people are more likely to be obese and have cardiovascular disease.  It's interesting to think about why--the article says that maybe religious people marry earlier, and that common knowledge is that many people gain weight after they marry.  Or, they suggest, the time people devote to religious activities takes the place of physical activity.  Overall, an interesting thought-provoking article.

Pharmacy

So I've had a bad sinus infection and today I went to the Columbia health clinic (and got the same bitchy doctor as last time), and got a prescription for antibiotics.  But instead of going to the Duane Reade, I went to the little Hartley Pharmacy on the corner of 120th and Amsterdam.  And the pharmacist there was really nice and we were complaining together about having difficulty swallowing large pills.  Anyway, I just like supporting the little shops.

Walkie Talkies

So in my lab, the facility is so big and we have to be doing simultaneous things in different locations so we use walkie talkies.  And this has actually made the whole research thing a lot of fun.  And I got to thinking, why are walkie-talkies so fun? If we compare them to cell phones, they're very similar.  They're mobile, small, 2-way, etc etc.  The only thing I can think of is that walkie talkies are associated with "cool" people -- FBI agents, secret agents, Secret Service, security of all sorts.  When you use one, you feel kind of important and unique and like your work is special enough to deserve walkie-talkies.