Ponderings of a Scientist

Boy do I hate when life gets in the way of blogging! Seriously, I’ve been so busy doing I haven’t had time to stop and reflect, or to read, or to watch/read/listen to the news; essentially I have nothing of value to add to what use to be a blog based on intellictual musings, because I’m too damn busy to muse (see previous posts on jobs and the condo). Instead, I will revert to the trick of others and post pictures from our trip to Bar Harbor, Maine back in June (I just rediscovered these pictures on my cell phone).

We somehow managed to forget our sunglasses - as can be seen by the crazy squinting. Stay posted my limited, but loyal, readership I promise to post a bit more this week!

Another interesting link from my colleagues:  Sturgeon attacks jet skier! Hum, nature fighting back?

Check out the whale poop sniffing dogs! - (Fixed the link!)

Don’t look at this blog in i.e. it takes everything that is wonderful in firefox and makes it look dumb!  I just now realized this because I never use i.e.!  I will try to fix the problem, but it may take awhile, I’m a bit busy at the moment (see below posts), and I have limited coding skills, in the meantime start using Mozilla Firefox and stop supporting the Microsoft Monopoly.

oh wait, I have only 5-10 minutes to write this before going for a walk downtown to watch the Red Sox.  Quickly:

Again G.W. proves himself a silly, silly man (if only he didn’t have such a serious position).  He placed sanctions on a handful of companies today, located in India, Cuba and Russia, because they have sold “sensitive” nuclear related products to Iran, while at the same time Congress is voting on G.W.’s legislation to give nuclear related products to India (didn’t they refuse to sign non-proliferation treaties?)!

Organism of the Week: Red Langur Javan Leaf Monkey

“This monkey hails from the tropical rain forests and tropical dry forests of Indonesia where as an herbivore it lives on a diet of leaves and fruits. This species comes in two color varieties, which are found in different locations on the island of Java in Indonesia. They are very dexterous, able to move through the branches with ease, plucking at favoured fruits and leaves. These animals typically weigh around 15 pounds. Active in the daytime, Javan langurs live in groups, moving through the trees, walking along branches on all four limbs, looking for fruiting trees and choice leaves to eat. They range through the trees from low down to the upper canopy and rarely spend time on the ground. Like most primates, they make a range of calls, although the most obvious is the cackling alarm call uttered when potential danger (often a person) is sighted. ” - http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/animalspotlight/popups/info_pages/MONKEYInfo.htmlClick Here for more recycle animals! 

Pet Peeve of the Week:

People that think the left hand highway lane is for cruising 2 miles above the speed limit. Those people then refuse to acknowledge another car behind them and continue driving in the left lane.  The left lane is for passing only!  Passing on the right is illegal and is pet peeve # 1 1/2 for this week.  The only time right hand passing is acceptable is when pet peeve #1 is in place.

Yet another reason Zipy needs a new job: “A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that poorly run meetings strain workers’ health… The study also found that while many people complain about meetings, a large number secretly enjoy the confabs and derive a sense of well-being from the interactions.” - As reported in National Geographic  

Week in review:

Monday: started new job - left a bit early to view last 4 potential homes (actually 3 because the owners of the 4th couldn’t be inconvienence - well I guess that’s why they haven’t sold their house!) - then played hockey (beat the mean blue team, score 4 to 2). While everyone else was scoring, I got a penality, some how my stick ended up between the defender’s legs and all 200 pounds of him came crashing down. I got to spend 1.5 minutes in the penalty box thinking about how bad my thumb hurt as a result of the guy riping my stick out of my hands while he was falling to the ground.
Tuesday: Second day at new job, which is going GREAT - worked a full day - came home for dinner - went to re-examine two properties - went straight to the Broker’s office to write an offer. Placed the offer at 8pm, had it accepted at 9pm! Spent the rest of the night organizing all the necessary paperwork. Spent most of the sleeping hours thinking about the new house.
Wednesday: Day 3 on the job - still going well, just a bit irked that I’m still working on a temporary computer, not the one I special ordered. Our IT/building guy is really busy and hasn’t had time to configure my computer which arrived Tuesday am, but I’m pretty sure I will have my computer tommorow! Left early again, to go fill out mortgage papers - came home and did work for the part-time job while Zipy worked and made Jumbaliaya!

Tomorrow: sending Zipy and the in-laws to supervise the home inspection - I can’t bail on the new job again! No plans for tomorrow night - YEAH! I feel like I haven’t had a moment’s relaxation in days!

Off to the gym…