The sick man and other money questions

I'm appalled at the amount of money Illinois is spending to cover the name of its ex-governor. Those tollroad signs irked me when they went up, irked me when I drove under them, and now are being changed. Useless signs that promote an egotist's name cost $480,000 and $15,000 to change??!!

Thursday's dinner at An was amazing. The food was incredible. The speaker was good. And the atmosphere was laid back, even in the scenario people trying to promote product, which is one we often use anyway. There were 8 of us and 4 associated with the pharmaceutical company. Interesting ratio. The political side of me wondered if these types of dinners are cost-effective marketing, because the reality is the cost of that pricy dinner is passed down to the consumer. Obviously, all brands need adverstising (read: superbowl commercials), but somehow thinking about Grandpa Joe needing a medication and not buying groceries to get it, made me a little sad to be there at the glamorous restaurant.

And another thought...

I know I'm married to a Chicagoan and all...

But why is nobody making fun of Obama for saying "we're going to have to dig ourselves out of this hole" repeatedly!?

After all, it was funny when Lloyd said it in Dumb & Dumber.

I'm breathing.

Here are some of the latest tidbits from my linear algebra class. My professor's approach is to scale down the material to what's essential to engineers. Then we're assigned rigorous homeworks to really drive that material home. This gives him some time during lecture (about 27% class time) to present his philosophy regarding life, math, and careers.

#1 -
If you think math is a bunch of tricks, you've never had anybody teach math to you. Math is when you take what looks tricky and complicated and make it trivial.

#2 -
The educator's role is to take bored students and make them bored. They start bored because they have no clue what you're talking about and then end up bored because you've explained it well and they've worked on it enough that it's trivial - and boring.

#3 -
Structure. Knowledge without structure is dangerous. This was illustrated by grabbing one of the student's touchscreen phones and jamming it in his pocket with his keys and a tube of hand cream. "Hey, it's easy to jam things in my pocket, just like jamming ideas in my brain. But what about when I want to find a specific item quickly?" He then illustrated structured knowledge by sticking his car keys in his shirt pocket, his hand cream in his hip pocket and by jamming the kid's cell phone (no joke!) in the top of his shoe. "There! Now when I want a piece of knowledge I know exactly where it is!"

Interesting class.

Buffett #?4?
Instead of a Buffett note, here's a link:
Jan 29 Blog Entry

New rules

The discussion at lunch today was about the new regulations for the pharmaceutical companies regarding their promotional products and methods. As of January, their representatives no longer are allowed to supply offices with pens, paper, mugs, nor take anyone OUT for lunch or dinner. Lunches can be brought into offices and patient education material may be distributed (e.g. diabetic cookbooks, handouts, etc.) Overall, it seems the reps and providers all agree that this is an improvement, although some balk at the idea that one would be swayed to prescribe something by a mere freebie pen. Apparently the industry is regulating itself on this matter voluntarily. So, tomorrow night, some of us are going to a dinner sponsored by you-know-who, legal because of a speaker being present. I haven't been to one in a long time, but might as well take advantage of opportunity.

Do Over

I'm claiming a mulligan on my sweater project. I am now unraveling about 50 hours worth of knitting because the more I knit and look at the sweater developing, the less I like it. That's the beauty of yarn -- just unravel and start over. The sweater was started on size 11 needles and of course, the knitting was fairly fast in rib stitch. But, the sweater looked too loose. This time, I'll use smaller needles (probably 8) and modify the pattern. At this rate, it might be done for next winter! Nothing like drinking barley tea and knitting on a cold January evening, though.

HanBok and Leiderhosen

We move into Cary, and it's an explosion.
Click here for details

Happy New Year, Everyone. It's now the year of the OX.

Whizzing Weekend

Our weekend flew by, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. To make up for weather-related cancellations, I worked extra on Saturday. Initially, two of us were scheduled to work from 9-3 but the volume was lower than anticipated, so I left around noon.

Saturday afternoon, we walked to our new Ace Hardware store. They moved into a bigger location about a mile from us. We browsed the aisles, but didn't purchase anything. Troy had better finds on our walk. Details will follow in a later post.

We had previously made plans for Tom and Elda to come for supper Saturday night, and then heard from Robert and Eric on Friday. We were excited to have them for supper too. Korean food is better when made in larger amounts (and my Friday prep already looked like leftovers were a high probability), so I was happy to have more eaters around the table. Our visit was wonderful, and the workers stayed until this afternoon's meeting. We appreciate their lives and their work.

It is always interesting to get to know people better. In the laughter and sharing both last night and today, we learn that we have more in common than not with our friends.... the "not," for example, that some can tolerate very spicy foods. I was impressed, being the gastric wimp that I am.

Chessie's

Anyone remember the rail car restaurant Youngin blogged about? Looks like we didn't realize what a good deal we were getting when we ate there. Check out this article and see what it costs to own your own luxury rail car! Of course, you could always sell the jet....

Private Rail Car - Click here

John Bogle

Incredibly interesting interview with John Bogle, inventor of the index fund. Among other things, he explains how index funds were intended to work. You have to sign in to Forbes to see the whole thing, but it's free.

John Bogle Interview

Beau lines

These beau lines are not pickups by a boyfriend, but rather grooves in the fingernails. My left thumb has one. Usually the nail grows from the bed outward over 3-6 months depending on turnover, keratinization, etc. My line is about one third of the way up from the nail bed, which approximates the time when we were travelling in Argentina in mid-Dec. Beau lines can be caused by physical illness, infection, or stress. In my case, probably from the excitement of travel. I've had these over the years and it's always interesting to look back and correlate events.
Tonight's addendum: After a tour through Ye Olde Piano Shoppe in downtown Cary, Troy and I went to S-Mart, the new Korean grocery store that is half a mile from our house. We ate at the "hooka" and picked up a few things for dinner tomorrow night. For those of you who've never heard of "hooka", it's "food court." The story goes like this: My parents were in Atlanta a couple of years ago and met a seemingly nice Chinese man who wanted to take them to lunch. He told them to follow him to "hooka." They couldn't imagine where they were going, but were relieved to finally end up at the local mall's food court. It's been "hooka" ever since.

Gym notes

As most of you know, I've started using the Carmichael Recreational Center at NCSU since last fall. Troy can get me in with a family membership. The best times to go are in the mornings, as you'd well expect the collegiates to be sleeping in. Usually Thursdays are my days off and I go in the mornings, but with two cancelled days, I went into the office to help out. So, I went to the gym after work, and it was packed. I was able to get on all the machines I wanted and felt much better after the workout.

I looked around the facility and realized that some of them could be my kids! Tonight, there were some professorial types (only guessing by their gray hair and serious demeanor) but generally it's occupied by students. The time on the machines goes faster while watching TV, some interesting, some appallingly stupid, and some boring. I can't believe intelligent college students watch some of those programs but maybe it's a brain-candy type break. MTV must attempt to have the lowest common denominator on their shows. CNN gets hyper about nothing. Dr. Phil makes Oprah look sane, though I am a closet Oprah fan. ESPN is soooo serious about one basketballer's ankle sprain. Whoops! my new year's resolution to not be cynical has just shattered!

Risky II

Here are the results:

Activity - Deaths per 100,000 people exposed to risk

Motorcycling - 2000
Smoking - 300
Hang Gliding - 80
Motor Vehicles - 24
Drinking Chorinated Water (chloroform) - 0.8
4 tbsp Peanut Butter/day (aflatoxin) - 0.8
3 oz Charbroiled Steak/day (PAHs) - 0.5

Looks like I'm safest staying home and eating steak!

Source:
Masters, Gilbert M., and Wendell P. Ela. Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.

Another day off = week off

Our office is closed again today due to the icy roads. Most of our staff lives in the outlying areas so the commute would be much more treacherous than mine (two miles on the main road through town). The long weekend has turned into a week-long vacation!

Our neighbor said the last significant snowfall was 4-5 years ago, about 8 inches. And in 2000, there was nearly 20 inches.

Yesterday we walked around our neighborhood and saw garbage trucks doubling as snow plows, as well as John Deere front-end loaders shoveling out parking lots.



Also in the news, Minzie has turned into a champion ice skater. Her grandparents got her twin-blade ice skates over the weekend and she's been hauling them with her everywhere. She calls them her "hockey players" since she's cheered for her dad at his hockey games. Unfortunately the negative temperatures outside prohibited anything but carpet trials, which she mastered immediately. Monday night she and her daddy went out on the pond and after a few minutes of hanging onto her dad, she started to glide across the ice by herself. She's a natural!

Wait..I thought we left Chicago!

I thought we were still in Chicago this morning, but our trash can confirmed that we are actually in Cary, NC.

No school or work today for us!!

SheeKahGo

We had an awesome long weekend in Chi-town, meeting up with friends, seeing old stomping grounds, and of course being entertained by our precocious niece and her new sister. I now know why my parents are constantly telling me Minzie stories! I have lots of them too! For example, when asked "how old are you?" Minzie says, "two and seven months." Minah looks amazingly like her older sister. She's excelling at all her duties (i.e. eating, sleeping, spitting up, etc)!

Saturday afternoon, my brother & family, my parents and we met at a suburban shopping mall, which was a zoo, given it's an indoor activity center that families can enjoy in the frigid season. The parking lot was completely full and we circled around for nearly 10 minutes. For supper we met my aunts, uncle and cousin Isabel at a Chinese restaurant in Chicago. We shared a variety of shrimp, beef and noodle dishes.

Sunday morning, we went to my parents' meeting. Great to see some folks we've known since childhood. Immediately when Minzie sat down, she started whispering to her daddy "yellow bowl, yellow bowl." Younguk looked over at me and mouthed "candy." I thought their meeting in Wisconsin had a yellow candy bowl, but after meeting, all the kids went straight to the kitchen and yellow candy bowl. Minzie remembered that bowl since the last time they were at that meeting months ago. What a memory!



The above picture is Minzie playing her piano. I now have "twinkle twinkle little star" imbedded in my brain. :)

After a big Sunday lunch, we had our "encore" cake, which was supposed to be the exact replica of the top layer of our wedding cake. It looked nothing like the original! Our cake was square with pink and brown stripes, and this one was round with white frosted flowers. Oh well... the chocolate truffle layers tasted as yummy as ours, and Minzie could blow out a candle. She knows that cakes are for special occasions, and what is more special than a 'birthday?!'

Minzie's version of a Sunday nap:
Mama's version of a Sunday nap:Then, we went to the meeting that Leslie and Brad were having in a park district building, though we ran late (hard to remember it's 15 minutes earlier now :). Nice location. Happy to chat with several there, including Ken's former college roommate, Lance. Our friends are special everywhere!

We ate supper in an old railroad dining car, turned into a restaurant. Very fun, especially for Minzie whose eyes sparkled with thoughts of her last train ride into the city with her grandparents. She even remembered what they ate on the "gi-cha," where they went, and what they did. She charmed the hostess into giving her some candy at the end, too.

This morning, we stopped at my old office and saw my former colleagues. They were very busy but all looked well. Amazingly, our flight home was on time and uneventful. Now, it's relaxing time.

Chicago Town

Last night I arrived at bitter O'Hare. Youngin picked me up (thank 'Uk and Hyesoo for the borrowed vehicle) and we went for supper at Carsons, a Chicago standby, for ribs.

This morning we had breakfast with Laura, Eric, Yoon-Hee, Bobby, Amy, Dana, Carl, and Jeanette, at Walker Brothers, a Chicago standby, for breakfast.




After breakfast, Youngin and I drove to downtown Chicago. We drove by the apartment building she lived in during her residency. The neighborhood has changed a little, with several new condos nearby. We saw a lot of new buildings with "For Rent" signs around town.



We also stopped by Lutz Bakery to pick up our "Encore Cake." Lutz Bakery creates a small fresh cake for your one year anniversary. I have a feeling it will be a lot better than if we had put part of our wedding cake in the freezer to eat on our first anniversary!

Finally we finished the day by having supper with Aunts, Uncle, Isabel, Younguk, Hysesoo, Minzie, and Minah.

Risky!

In Environmental Engineering we're talking about real vs percieved risks. Here's a list we were asked to rank in order of the amount of risk we would be exposed to if we engaged in the activity.

A - Eating 3 oz charbroiled steak/day
B - Hang gliding
C - Driving a car
D - Eating 4 tablespoon peanut butter/day
E - Motorcycling
F - Smoking
G - Drinking chlorinated water

I'll post the answers another day.

Speaking of risk, I'll be hopping on a plane to Chicago this afternoon...

Penalty Box

After a hectic day, I finally made it to the Arctic. Our flight left on time, arrived 20 minutes early, but the gate was still occupied by another plane so we sat in the penalty box for 45 minutes. While on the tarmac, an Alaska Airlines plane slid in next to us. I looked up and was (am still) bewildered by the black and white picture of a man on the tail. WHO is he???? I tried to take a picture with my camera phone but couldn't capture the image. Anyway, we were finally assigned a different gate, but then waited another 15 minutes for someone to show up at that gate to hook up the jetway and let us out. Nothing like O'Hare! I can't imagine travelling for business like some. Kudos to you, if you do!

We stopped at a Korean restaurant on the way home, grabbed supper, and caught up on life. Walking into the house, I was amazed at the changes. New hardwood floors in the family room (HUGE improvement), remodeled bathroom, and furniture moved up or down. The living room has now become Minzie's playroom, with toys, stuffed animals, dollhouse and a little girl rocking chair. Gramma and Grampa are sure proud of their little girls :)

Home is always a special place. Most of us have fond memories of our childhood, so it's nice to be able to sleep in my old room again. It's great to be with my parents, but am missing Troy and our home. Interesting how life works?!

We have a busy weekend planned so should try to sleep.

Happy 29th birthday, Lorena! :)

It's quiet around here...

Youngin left for Chicago this afternoon. Even after the typical delay at O'Hare, she was still there in time for supper. I'll be headed out Friday afternoon.

Buffett #2
His favorite drink? Cherry Coke.
Warren is known for his ability to crunch numbers in his head. Some of his early development of this skill came when he mentally calculated the average life span of hymn writers while he sat in church as a kid.

Cold prep

I decided tonight that my fleece gloves were not going to be sufficient for midwest wind and freezing temperatures. So, I found a pair of really nice leather ones at TJ Maxx (on clearance, of course) but couldn't find just the "right" sweater. Oh well, a great excuse to shop in Chicago!

We've been having a EPIDEMIC of breaking things around here. So far, a juice glass, a tall glass with a "G" monogram, another tall glass, a bottle, a coffee storage container, a zipper, and who knows what next!

One of my resolutions this year is to not waste time. I'm trying but not doing a great job. This morning, I woke early, went to the gym, came home, cleaned up, fixed breakfast and lunches, went to work, emailed on and off, came home, made dinner, went shopping, did one load of laundry, re-sorted my suitcase, but still feel like I'm squandering time. I've surfed the web and basically sat around for a couple of hours this evening. My to-do list only gets longer instead of shorter as I think of things to do. Maybe there's a good book out there to help me figure out how to maximize minutes.

HW

Usually about 3/4 of the way through the semester I start thinking I should have been a (fill in the blank with something that sounds easy) major. I generally fill in the blank with some major that I think is "just" a bunch of reading or writing. But this semester I'm rethinking that. From the syllabi a few of my classes look like they'll have fewer assignments than the typical engineering/science class. Those classes are starting out with reading assignments instead. I just have a hard time taking "read this chapter before the next class" assignments very seriously. So kudos to people who are self motivated enough to do these kind of assignments all the time.

I've been reading a biography of Warren Buffett. I also read the book Youngin mentioned, Outliers, which I've thought a lot about while reading about Buffet. I'll try to thread some thoughts from the two in my future posts.

Buffett Thought #1 -
Warren says he "won the ovarian lottery." His thought strongly parallels some of the ideas in Outliers. He was born into a situation AND time that gave him some tremendous advantages in life. I don't know if anyone else could have taken the same opportunities and turned them into what Warren has done, but those opportunities are part of the picture.

Little notes

Last night, my right ear felt slightly swollen. Troy looked and diagnosed a "zit" right behind the tragus (flap). He put a little medicated lotion on it, and I fell asleep. This morning, my ear felt more swollen and warm but I ignored it until I tried to stick my stethoscope in my ear. Eeks! Wow, it hurt. So the whole day was spent gingerly holding the earbud of the scope far enough away to not hurt but close enough to hear. Discussing my dilemma with the office crew, I learned that this is a common problem!

My parents have gone cross country skiing several times this past week. They have been exploring different local county parks. This afternoon when I called them to ask them about the blizzard warning for Northern Illinois tonight through tomorrow, they were on their way home from another skiing adventure, and had NO clue that such a thing was forecast. Dad just groaned about having to snowplow again tomorrow! He said they would stop at the store for some milk and other staples.

The toner in the printer was all used up. Troy looked into several options, including the 3-in-1 kind but ultimately decided to get a refill cartridge for now. On his way home from school, he stopped at our friends' store (Duraline) for the cartridge and also looked at the printer selection. There's a nice printer in our future... I can see it!

Happy belated birthday to Ken B! Hope you're feeling better from the weekend.

...5, 6, pick up sticks

I recited that silly kindergarten phrase to myself countless times while working in the yard and cleaning out the fallen branches. Troy mentioned that there were a lot, but honestly I didn't see them. That is, until I was outside picking them up. The more I picked up, the more there were... but only because I was actually looking for them. I'm not complaining since many friends and family are buried under a foot or more of snow, and I could be shoveling instead. Speaking of which, we are planning to be in Chicago and Wisconsin this coming weekend, and the forecast is brrrrr, -7 (yes, that's a negative sign!) for a low this week. I now get shivery when the temperature nears 30, in contrast to a year ago when that would have been a heat wave.

Yesterday was my turn to work a Saturday since this is my week of being on call. There's a different atmosphere about Saturdays, and as usual, time went quickly. I found out that the nurse who works Saturdays has a husband studying at NCSU, majoring in CE and hoping to graduate at the same time as Troy. Small world, eh? Troy said he didn't know the man, though.

Recently, we tried a new place called Udupi Cafe. It's a South Indian vegetarian restaurant. Excellent food, and would recommend it. When we went, it was not busy and our service was prompt. Even my meatatarian husband enjoyed his rice crepe filled with potato, peas and carrots.

Eats back to school again

Since Youngin has already given a wonderful introduction to my culinary prowess I decided to post some photos of my latest gourmet effort. However, I have posted off-blog (here) so those who are dieting would not be unnecessarily pained by the images!

I started back to class on Wednesday. I have more hours this semester, so I am apprehensive about it. One benefit is that I actually have the transfer credit for Hydraulics, so I am just taking it for the material and could opt to audit if necessary.

Linear Algebra
Hydraulics
Intro Environmental Engineering
Civil Engineering Systems
Numer Appl Diff Equations (1hr lab-type class)
Fortran Programming

The best part about my three engineering classes and the linear algebra is all the professors made a serious attempt to explain how the course material will be useful in the real world. One of my goals this semester is to find some time to talk to my professors (and various others) to find out what they do at the University and also about what I can expect to be doing as an engineer. Civil Engineering has a few basic tracks, such as structural (bridges/buildings), traffic (roadway design/analysis), water (from wastewater to culvert design), and geotechnical (foundations, dams, etc). It sounds like Environmental Engineering is tied closely to the water track. Also, the tracks overlap in a lot of jobs. Anyway, I would like to better understand what's out there in the academic world as well as the private sector.

10,000 Hours

I finished reading an excellent book, lent to us by Steve and Charlene. Troy read it first and made enough interesting comments while reading that I tore through the pages also.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell explores interesting crossroads of culture, opportunity, wealth, intelligence, education, etc. One chapter established the point that ten thousand hours of practice, learning, and/or studying are needed to master a subject, such as violin playing or computer programing. Diligence and opportunity are far better predictors of success than anything else, it seems. We'd be foolish to waste time.

Sniffle-fest

An occupational hazard is catching little bugs that are passed along. Usually, my immune system can beat off most of them, but these past few days have NOT been fun. Poor Troy has had to listen to my constant sniffling. I've become buddies with my lotion-added tissue, and trying to function at work. I get a lot of sympathy at work since most of the people are coming in with similar symptoms. Of course, I tell them to get rest, but can't heed my own advice!

Secret's OUT!

The big secret that is no longer.... Troy is a good cook! He's been making a few meals recently, and I'm learning that he definitely does a great job. Yummy salads included on the menu. Wonder if he's been holding out on me because then he'll have to display his culinary talent more. He hasn't pulled the bachelor days burrito trick yet but i'm willing to eat it if he cooks it.

Kelly's blog today about her well-planned day is awesome! No matter how much of a schedule we hope to keep, the reality of life always throws curve balls into our day. My day also was full of add-ins, no-shows, and late appts but somehow managed to survive and get home at a decent hour.

Baby in the oven

Saturday's breakfast was this dutch baby. These pictures were taken about 15 - 20 minutes into the baking process. The fun of these German pancakes is watching them rise and fall.

Slathered with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and plain yogurt (sometimes, lemon instead), this baby's all dressed up.

Found: The Elusive Rubberdurchee!

This post is dedicated to one cool cat:

Eddie, the King of Culture

Happy New Year

The best part of any holiday is food, of course. For our New Year's Day celebration, Troy and I had both Korean and German/Swiss traditions to uphold. So, our lunch was the tradition dduk gook (rice cake soup) with rice and some beef ribs. Supposedly every bowl of soup you eat will add a year of life. The rice cakes in the soup symbolize prosperity, and its white color signifies a clean start. And for dinner, Steve and Charlene came over with tasty pork and saukerkraut. Mashed potatoes rounded out the meal. We had Korean pears for dessert. After eating, we took them on a photo tour. We really appreciate them coming over... a very enjoyable way to start 2009, though we miss being with our extended families.

Our Korean tradition includes bowing to our elders, and our family usually sits around and tells each other our new year's resolution. So, Troy and I shared our resolutions with each other. It's great to vocalize our thoughts and thereby help the other to achieve goals.

I got wondering about my resolution for 2008, if I had even come close to accomplishing it. If there isn't a purpose, there wouldn't be awareness, and if no awareness, then no progress or growth. Hope 2009 will prove to be better.

When I got home today, Troy had drilled a hole in the ceiling, moved our dining room light toward the window so it is now centered over the table, and then had patched the old hole. He did a terrific job, and the dining room looks very good.

We are now enjoying a cup a Mexican hot chocolate, made with hot milk with just a hint of cinnamon to complement the cocoa, courtesy of Lorena. Instead of whipped cream (because we don't have any) we topped the hot chocolate with marshmallows. What can we say? We're gringos!

Trip Stats

In order to put our trip in perspective I felt the need to pull out the calculator...

Distance traveled in buses:
1850 miles
(Buenos Aires to El Calafate)

US equivalent:
Traveling from Raleigh to Alburquerque (plus 100 miles)

Hours of seat time on buses or planes (not including waiting at the stations or airports):
97

Duration of trip:
10 days

Hours of seat time per day:
9 hrs 42 min

Distance from Ushuaia to Antartica:
750 miles