(no subject)

News from today so far:

I did not ride my bike to school due to impending rain of doom. So it's been dry all day.

I stopped at an auto repair place to ask about a wheel alignment. I learned that the problem with the tire wear is being caused by two dead lower ball joints. I'm playing with the idea of trying to replace the control arms myself, because I apparently have not engaged in enough masochism lately.

I've learned of a cool combined anthropology history program at the University of Michigan, but I need to read more work by the faculty to see whether I'd fit there. I'd love to live in Ann Arbor. I'd love living in New York City even more, and there's a woman there who's writing stuff that is *totally* my thing at CUNY. And today, I'm going to check out the anthropology and media program at Harvard, which is targeted at people who want to make substantial use of A/V media (such as photography!) in their ethnographic fieldwork. I don't know what that area is like, but I know that Danae really liked the Boston area when she lived there.

I'm not sure that I'd actually be *accepted* at any of these places so far, but I'm putting together my list to try with.

Oh, here's yesterday's pic-a-day shot. I look so *odd* to myself without my glasses on.



Copyright Stormdog 2013

(no subject)

I have a couple extra bits to ask about today. First:

I'd like to learn how to do standard maintenance better on my bicycle. If there's someone on my friends list in the Milwaukee/Chicago area who'd be willing to show me how to do things like clean and lube the drive train, adjust brakes and derailleurs, that kind of stuff, I would be more than happy to buy you dinner or do something else in return. Will travel!

Second, I'm seriously considering buying a tablet or e-reader for reading PDFs, primarily academic journal articles. I'd like to be able to save PDFs, read through them, and annotate them. (Though this may have to be put on hold for a while with the car expense.)

After reading through other people's solutions to this issue, I'm kind of thinking about a refurbed older model iPad, plus the iAnnotate app, plus a Boxwave stylus. Do you have any experience or advice on this sort of thing?

(no subject)

I just ordered control arms for Percy the Swift. They'll arrive on Friday, so I'll likely be spending the weekend here, at least through Saturday, trying to install them. Wish me luck. Super-mechanic Juan says he'll help me out if I get stuck, though he's going to be somewhere awesome this weekend (The Midwest Renewable Energy Fair), so it'll be a while before he's available. I don't think I should be driving the car long distances anyway. (I probably shouldn't have gone to Chicago last weekend, but I really wanted to see my sweeties and do the Naked Bike Ride, so I drove carefully).

It's so hard for me to sit and focus on grad school stuff for more than an hour or so at a time. I need to learn to read faster and/or skim better.

(no subject)

I'm *finally* starting to post a few pictures from my visit to Argonne National Laboratory with a photographer friend who I met via Flickr. He told me about their upcoming open house that happened last year, and given how much I love photographing Fermilab, and I knew I couldn't miss it.

This photos shows the interior of the Theory and Computer Sciences Building, which looks very brutalist to me despite have been constructed after 2007. I'm a big fan of this kind of concrete-futurism, with it's repeated linear forms and streamlined, cavernous spaces.

I do wish these pictures had come out a bit better though.



Copyright Stormdog 2012