In an attempt to not totally lose my most recent education (as my electrical engineering knowledge has long flown the coop), I have been trying to read less fiction (which I so dearly love) and more physics-related non-fiction. It helps that I am reading the Harry Potter series to my daughters, so I get my fiction/adventure fix there.
I’ve just finished Carl Sagan’s Billions & Billions – the last book he wrote (indeed, the final chapter was written from his hospital bed). Very insightful, but that is nothing surprising for Sagan. Right now I’m working on Feynman’s Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun. So far, it’s been historical information, which is very interesting and an easy read. Eventually it’ll get into the math and I’ll be slowing down a bit to figure it out with him.
A long-time neighbor (they’ve lived here nearly as long as we have and we’ve been here over a decade now) died last year after a long illness. Knowing my interest in physics, his wife has kindly offered me any books from his library that interest me. And boy do they interest me! It turns out Bruce was a mathematician with a strong bent towards physics and astrophysics (especially solar studies and orbital science). I wish I had known his passion for physics during our early years as neighbors, before he got too sick to socialize. We could have had some good talks, I expect.
I brought eight books home with me (in no preferential order; the smallest book is on top and each one is physically larger than the next as they are in one big, neat stack):
Not exactly light reading. The hard part was holding myself back from trying to cart it all away. Not that she would have minded, but I didn’t want to seem too greedy – and, let’s face it, there’s no chance I’ll get through even what I did pick up! I have been invited back for any additional books I might desire (he had a number of other Sagan books as well as a demonstrated fondness for both fictional and non-fictional accounts of Albert Einstein’s life).
In an unrelated event, I managed to snap a great sunrise picture the other day. I really need to carry the camera around with me more.
Tags: astrodynamics, astrophysics, books, education, feynman, neighbors, Photography, physics, reading, sagan, Science, sunrise
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Yes, I’m re-using the title I used last January. Why not? It’s not like I posted anything else last year. (I sent about 1000 tweets, though!)
I will try to post a bit more this year, especially photography-related stuff as I (once again) try to ramp up that hobby. Easier desk-to-gallery/flickr publication via Lightroom will greatly ease that promise.
In the meantime, check out some of my pictures from this winter’s snowstorms in my gallery and flickr links to the right.
First snowstorm - 12/5/2009
Tags: blog, flickr, gallery, lightroom, Photography, snowstorm
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Not much of note since the last post. We are recovering from the holidays (and what a long vacation for the children that was!) and the house is beginning to look more like normal – not that that is necessarily a good thing, but at least the Christmas decorations are largely absent.
This household eagerly awaits January 20th and the hoped-for changes the event will cause. (It would definitely be nice not to be despised by the majority of the industrialized world again.)
Life in a Fishbowl
Now that I have found most of my desk, school work of a sort begins again – I have research to restart, much to learn and studying for a dreadedly-anticipated Physics GRE to manage. This all will likely result in 2-3 days per week at GMU, because I have well-convinced myself that I cannot do serious work at home unless I am already totally in the grove (which will probably happen once I get seriously programming in IDL). It’s just way too easy to get distracted.
I also hope to get a lot more exercise this year, including regular krav maga sessions now that I no longer have a class schedule in conflict with training. We’ll see how that works out!
WWII Memorial and Washington Monument
In the trickling way which will probably continue, here is another image taken from my Washington Photo Safari. In this one, I set up with my back to the reflecting pool (where I took this photo) and aimed at the area we had just left – the WWII memorial and Washington monument. I liked the setup, especially with the monument reflecting in the glass-smooth pool in the foreground. I definitely need to make my way back down to the monuments at night, alone or with another enthusiast, so I can take my time and get the shots I really like (instead of needing to stick with a group and being under a deadline).
Tags: gmu, gre, holidays, idl, krav maga, martial arts, monuments, Photography, physics, washington
Posted in Photography, election2008, krav maga, research, school | No Comments »
