Ponderings of a Scientist

So our finished basement is also a damp basement, which means the carpet is dank and stinky. We thought we solved the problem by pulling up the carpet and painting latex waterproofing on the floor, then deep cleaning the carpet, but it still stinks and we’re not convince the floor is going to stay 100% dry. Therefore, before Addie is old enough to play on the floor, we need to replace the carpet. I’ve been looking around at good basement floor replacements and have come across some neat products, but they are not cheap. Its looking like a $2000 project at a minimum, if we do the labor and leave the carpet on the stairs (which will look dumb - carpeted stairs between two “hardwood” flooring levels). Argh.. this would be so much easier if we had a fresh slate to start with (i.e. an unfinished basement) vs. fixing the problems of a bad finishing done by the previous owner.

To make matters worse we don’t exactly have any spare cash right now floating around for said project. In the past two weeks we have had the unexpected costs of a broken window and Zipy’s car “tune up” to the sum of about $1100. However, It looks like I will be working at least 20 hours a week starting early-mid July; so hopefully the added income can pay for the basement flooring and the new deck Zipy so desires. I’m sure I will have plenty more to say, if I have the time, once I start working said hours while tending to the babe. Good thing Addie has a newly retired Grandmother looking to hang out with a baby…I may need to recruit her!

At 5 wks 2 days Addie is 10 lbs 1.5 oz and is “advanced” according to the doctor as far as her alertness and interaction with the world goes.  He said she will likely have an above average IQ.  Whether he was being just being nice, rather than honest, I’ve yet to determine.

Thanks to a shared feed from Zipy I’ve learned about a really neat Whale discovery.  A bowhead whale was caught last month off the coast of Alaska with an embedded human weapon in its bubber; the weapon dates to the 1890’s and was likely fashioned in the armpit of Mass. - the former Whaling epicenter - New Bedford.  This means the whale was over 115 years old, older than cetacean scientists believed whales to live.  Once again human detritous helps scientists to learn a new truth about the ocean and its creatures.
Oh and a new baby video 

The, unfortunate sound tracks of my life:  Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme Song and the theme song to some 70’s sitcom I don’t know the name of, the only line that repeats over and over in my head: ” movin’ on up, movin’ on up, to the East Side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky”.  Now I call these the sound tracks of my life, because they are the songs that have been stuck in my head for years - no joke - on random occasions I will catch myself silently “singing” these songs in my head.  Why these songs and why are they so ingrained in my brain?  No idea!  I’m eager to blame the “deluxe apartment” jingle on my Dad’s incessent viewing of “Nick at Nite”, while I was in high school.  Perhaps hearing this song, while asleep, blasting from the family TV in the middle of the night, created an especially strong axon-dendrite pathway in my brain - but this is just a hypothesis.  As for the Fresh Prince - I’m at a loss, and actually rather annoyed and a bit embarrassed to have my brain jamming out to both of these tunes.   Am I the only one with this problem?

Images of Week 5 are available at henninger.shutterfly.com    Password: addison

Friday the babe and I went up to Portland to visit my old co-workers, then Friday night the whole family went to a BBQ at one of Zipy’s new co-worker’s homes. Saturday we had our Beer-Tasting, Babies and BBQ party in which 15 people hung out at our house all afternoon/evening. So on Sunday I decided it would be better to keep Addie home instead of treking up to the Mt. Washington area to hang out while Zipy played a round of Father’s Day golf with his Dad. Addie had been getting a bit fussy with all the activity on Friday and Sat. and needed some downtime (we both did). and.. This was a great plan for about 5 hours yesterday, but by the time Zipy got home 12 hours after he left I was so relieved to pass off the babe (who had been awake - but for 15 min naps - for 9 hours straight). Additionally, today we get to do it again, as Zipy has to work and orientation tonight and won’t be home until 9pm! Fun Fun!

Zipy can’t get the embedded video function to work- so if you want to watch Addie click below:

Holding up head

Making sounds and faces 

Mr. Wizard died!

From Slashdot  “XorNand writes ‘Television’s Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert, died today at 89. He introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home near Los Angeles.’”

Did anyone else love that show?  Such cool science.. way better than Bill Nye.

Is there a science guy/gal for the current generation?  I can’t think of one.  Maybe that’s why the U.S. is having such a hardtime creating homegrown scientists and our students’ scores in math and science are pummeting in Worldwide comparisons.

First off - I updated my last post to include the password for accessing pictures

Second - to my post title.  I spend my days at home now and often listen to NPR for hours on end. I cannot tell you how many features I’ve heard about the Sopranos over the course of the last few days.  Last week it was all about the final episode coming and what will happen, this week its all about what did happen on the final episode.  Maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered by this if I watched the show, but I have a feeling I would still not consider a primetime TV drama worthy of coverage on NPR!  When will it end, I can’t take much more Sopranos!

I have set up a new photo sharing site for Addison observing:

Check out photos at: http://henninger.shutterfly.com/action/

PASSWORD: addison

So I am now an official Google reader user.  Now I can have tons of information fed to my reader daily for my viewing pleasure.  I know this is the way lots of young (under 30ish) people get their information these days, as opposed to the traditional news sources, but I still don’t see the need to know quite so much and, additionally, my brain, while great at multi-tasking, still hasn’t got used to the multi-stream, information everywhere look of many websites and TV channels like MSNBC.  For example, I hardly every click on links people insert into their blog posts - way too confusing for me to interupt reading mid-post to check something out or to remember or care to go back and click on it at the end of reading.  However, in order to be ironic, and since most of you can handle the linked content better than I, a few links for you (discovered using my new reader):

Neat new animals discovered in the Amazon

Interesting images of “What the World eats” comparing the diets of families around the World.  What I found most striking, thanks to large multi-national food packaging companies, was the similarity in a majority of the diets.  Check out the candy and soda products in many of the images.

Also, on an unrelated note, I just changed a load of laundry from washer to dryer and realized that the washing machine and dryer doors open in opposite directions.  Sort of funny for a stackable unit I would think.  Is it bad that this is my 3rd or 4th load with the new appliances and I just noticed this?