spacekadet blog

Fire Hydrant Forgot Its Sunscreen

Originally uploaded by spacekadet.

What is it about the fire hydrants in austin that enchant me so? This one lives a few blocks away from me between an elementary school and a church. It’s molting.

Things have been going, as they do. My once daily posts have diminished to pictures and cheap shots. Funning how writing all day zaps my energy for writing at night.

But it has reawakened my love for books. I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It’s a story about following your dreams.

Dreams do come true!

I went permanent at my job last week. Accolades were passed. A raise was negotiated. And I was given the go ahead (and some kind encouragement) to take a leave of absence next summer so I can finish my tour of Europe.

This time I’m doing it by bicycle. The trip is a year away, but I can already taste it. The spare time I once had to b-log has been occupied by impulsive web searching, reading bike reviews, backpacking stories, budget advice. Luckily a friend gave me a copy of Bicycling Magazine’s Guide to Bike Touring.

Thank you for guiding my focus.

The interweb: a bounty of information, and yet often times the most unproductive place to gather cohesive information on a specific topic. Sometimes only one stop is necessary: amazon.com for a decent book on the subject.

Other than reading and dreaming, I’ve been taking lots of pictures with my lomo and acquainting myself with tahini.

I’ve also been compiling a list of songs that are guilty pleasures of mine. To give you an idea of what I mean, here is a partial list:

“Ooh Child (Things Are Gonna Get Easier) ” - Destiny’s Child & Cindy Lauper
“Let My Love Open the Door” - Pete Townshend
“Dreams” - Gabrielle
“When You Were Mine” - Prince
“Turn the Radio Up” - Eric Carmen
“Jessie” - Joshua Kadison

How ‘leet’ must it feel to be one of the MIT physicists who created a new form of matter. Before I read about this quantum miracle, I found it difficult to even conceive of matter different from my solid, liquid, and gas friends..

I’m so primitive.

But they could see it: a gas of atoms that exhibit high temperature superfluidity!

And yet, not a gas. More like a matter-wave, bridging the gap between particle and wave, pushing the quantum envelope, kicking Schrodinger’s ass.

I mean - DUH!

What is superfluidity you ask?

Oh - it’s just that phase of matter where there’s no viscocity.

Viscosity - you know - that, uh, measure of, uh, liquid ‘thickitude’.

Somebody pass me a grumblecake!

Actually it’s really cool - to be without viscocity is to be without friction! And this means all kinds of good stuff for smart people who study superconductors and stuff.

Here’s a picture of the supergas. Those swiss cheese holes are actually little vortices - like tiny tornados ready to pick you and take you back to Kansas (don’t worry, there’s no friction so it shouldn’t hurt much).

How’d they do it? With LASERS of course!

What are they calling the new matter? Bose-Einstein Condensates.

HOT.

Here’s an article that might make more sense than this grumbled mess.

It took me 28 years (very impressive given my age), three devoted fans, and several consecutive spare evenings to read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

Chances are you’ve already read it, because it’s a classic. If not, here’s a quick summary of the plot: a genius-freak space boy is trained by the government to save the world from mean aliens. The training consists of elaborate simulation games, hence the title of the book. So there aren’t many aliens at all in Ender’s Game- it’s all about poor Ender, his tough choices, and his relationships with other people, from seargents and siblings to buggers and battle school peers.

The imagery was damn amazing and each character was complex enough to constitute their own novel. But Ender’s Game didn’t blow my mind. Maybe I didn’t get the symbolism. Or maybe I didn’t bother using my noggin by reading more into Ender’s Game than what met my eye. While reading the book, I occasionally caught a passage that made me think “hmm, that’s an interesting commentary on leadership” or “wow, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding?” or “war - HUH - what is it good for? Ab-SO-lutely NOTHIN, say it again!” but i didn’t spend too much time exploring these thoughts because i felt propelled forward, anxious to find out what happens next in Ender’s adventure.

Hey wait a minute - maybe Ender’s Game really is THAT good.

In summary: Ender’s Game is well worth a read. Even if Orson Scott Card is an asshat.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” So said Ralph Waldo Emerson. But why leave a trail when you can leave a wake?

I started my Saturday with a green pepper and tomato omlette, followed shortly there after by a cuppa coffee and a sunblock grease-down (spf 50). I packed a Morning Glory Muffin and headed to MC’s place on the white Trek (which I learned later has the personality of a goofball). We stopped by Wheatsville for some snacks before heading southward on our bicycles of fury.

The groovy guy at the canoe rental place on Town Lake mentioned something about nuclear waste facilities, but we paid little attention, for our minds were on the adventure before us. He hooked us up with a very noble kayak and we were off. The destination: MC’s “island”, which isn’t an island as much as it is a peninsula, but whatever.

I’m not used to “slow moving sports”, so the kayaking took a bit of getting used to. My trapezius muscles hadn’t been utilized that much in years. But after getting over the false sensation that I was paddling without moving, I relaxed into the repetition of rowing, kept my head up, and waited for the not-an-island.

The rowing was hard work, but incredibly relaxing. There’s something about being in the middle of a body of water that makes it easy to detach oneself from all the worries of “the land”! The highlight: laying back in the kayak, enjoying an organic Fuji Apple and sipping on a spicy-sweet Ginger Soother (a beverage I highly recommend - only 89 cents at Wheatsville!).

It probably sounds like kayaking on Town Lake is totally new to me, but in fact, I’ve kayaked once before with my sister. That was in 2001, my very first weekend in Austin, and I can’t believe it took me this long to make it back. That’s just… wrong! So props to MC for bringing the river back to me. It’s definitely time for more adventures. And sexy arms.

The Austinist gave some props to Hut’s yesterday. I dined there for the first time last Monday night and it rocked. It’s awesomeness was ballooned by the fact that Mondays are 2-for-1 veggie burger night (and Wednesdays are 2-for-1 any-kind-of-burger night).

I think they could have embellished my burger with more fixins, but their delicious veggie burger patty (their home recipe) and the tasty wheat bun made up for it. M-Shizzle II even said that their fries were the best he’s ever had. It’s such an incredible deal: burgers for 8 plus a big order of fries plus okra plus 3 soda pops plus 1 malted milk shake cost $31 and change. Even if it weren’t 2-for-1 night, the prices are very reasonable.