Graduation Preview

I went to Austin to walk at graduation a week and a half ago.* I'll write more about it soon and more pictures will be coming, but here's a sneak preview. Long story short, I had a GREAT time, and am not sure why I ever moved away. (Oh yeah, this job thing...)

At graduation there are professional photographers that take your picture. This week I got the proofs back and can order prints if I want. Let me explain where I noticed them taking pictures on graduation day...

First, the hooding. The dean hoods you, then you turn and pose for a picture.

Second, they take a picture after you walk across the stage and shake hands with someone giving you a big white envelope. (That was really just a big white envelope with an invitation to some University-sponsored party inside...a diploma cover is better.)

Third, when I got backstage, they instructed me to "straighten my hood" (it gets kind of crooked in the process of the dean putting it on and your walking across the stage), then stand on the X for my picture to be taken.

Well, it turns out that the third picture was taken in front of some kind of blue (or green?) screen. I didn't notice what it looked like...in fact, I don't remember getting a good look at it. But I now know it was a blue screen of sorts based on the following.

I got the proofs back for the professional graduation pictures taken of me. A screen shot of all the pictures I have to choose from is below. Note: I did not pose for 11 professional pictures. Also notice that nine of them are exactly the same pose.

I think they are good pictures. And it's kind of a clever idea, this blue screen thing. Yet kind of cheap at the same time. But for some reason, this makes me laugh really, really hard.




* Yes, I did officially graduate last summer. But this was the first chance I had to actually walk. They wouldn't let me walk last May because I wasn't 100% finished. They're strict like that.

Hubble's Birthday

The Hubble Space Telescope had a birthday! Last Saturday (April 24) was the 20th anniversary of the launch of Hubble aboard the space shuttle. Awesomeness resulted. (Well, eventually. There were a few problems initially, but they were fixed. But that's a different story. Go see the IMAX Hubble movie for more information. Actually, go see it no matter what.)

STScI (you know, where I work) is the home of the Hubble. Clearly, Hubble is a big deal around here. There would be much celebrating. Because the Hubbleversary was on a Saturday, we were going to celebrate on Friday. First off, the model of HST that hangs in the lobby of the building was clearly in the spirit!

There were lots of banners hanging around.



They also released a new Hubble picture. And they took this picture and blew it up gigantic, and placed it in the front area. (There is always some picture there and this big, but this one was new.)

And the climax! We were told that at the usual Friday Director's Tea* (aka, work-sponsored happy hour with free beer and cheap cookies) there would be a CAKE. A cake, people! We were sent many reminders, getting us pumped up about it. I've never seen so many people show up for Director's Tea, and I've definitely never seen everyone show up so on time to anything. They unveiled the cake.

Um. Okay, I won't lie. It was a little disappointing. At least it said "Happy Birthday," spelled correctly and everything, right? (But not even "Hubble" on it? Or star-shaped frosting globs? Alas.) Oh well.

Happy Birthday Hubble!! Here's to 20 more!



* Which strangely rarely involves the director and never involves tea....wait, maybe there's sometimes tea? I don't know, I get too distracted by the cheap cookies and good company.

Raspberry White Chocolate Brownies

Today after church we had a pot luck lunch. I wanted to bring a dessert that somehow involved white chocolate (which I love). I searched the internet, and came up with this number. It was INCREDIBLE. Seriously. They were gone really fast, and tasted great. I got a lot of compliments on them. (Despite the fact that I misremembered how many eggs I was supposed to put in it (so when I doubled the recipe, I put two eggs in, not four), they still turned out amazingly.) I forgot to take a picture last night after I made them, so I took the picture at the pot luck with my cell phone camera.

Raspberry White Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

• 6 ounces good quality white chocolate coarsely chopped
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/4 cup butter
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chips
  
• 1 cup fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened raspberries, not defrosted
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter 8-inch non-stick square baking pan. Stir 6 ounces white chocolate in large metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth, or use a microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
   
2. Stir flour and salt in small bowl to blend. Set aside. Using electric mixer beat sugar and butter in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Mix in melted white chocolate. Stir in flour mixture just until blended - do not overmix. Stir in white chocolate chips. Gently stir in raspberries just until distributed evenly. Transfer batter to prepared pan, spreading evenly.
3. Bake until top is golden and tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 40 minutes if using fresh raspberries or 45 minutes if using frozen raspberries. Cool in pan.
4. Cut into 16 squares. Transfer to platter and serve.

Notes

• I doubled the recipe and put it in a 9x13 pan. Perfect!
  
• Like I said, I misread and only put two eggs instead of four. But they still turned out fine! (I was pretty worried after I realized it.)
• I also didn't have enough baking white chocolate, so I had to use white chocolate chips to make up the difference with the melted stuff. Again, worked fine! It probably would have been fine if I'd just melted all white chocolate chips instead of going for the really good stuff.
• Turns out I actually have something that works like a double boiler for melting the chocolate. I didn't realize this until earlier this week. Glad I got to give it a try!
• I did the combining of everything (but the chocolate) before melting the chocolate. I didn't know how long that would take me, and I didn't want the melted chocolate to sit too long and stiffen back up.
  
• I used frozen raspberries, which I kept in the freezer, right up until I put them in. (I think sometimes when frozen fruit thaws a bit, it falls apart more quickly when stirred into a batter. Just my own personal observations.)
• The batter is REALLY thick. Just ease it into the pan. It'll be okay.
• These really are fantastic!
  

IMAX Hubble 3D

Recently a new IMAX 3D movie was released about the Hubble Space Telescope. Even though it premiered over a month ago, it just opened today in Baltimore. In honor of this, STScI had a special employee showing tonight. That's right, they bought out the IMAX for two showings and let us all see it for free. And they let us bring our families, so I, naturally, took my roommates.

Before the show, they had two people talk. First, Frank Summers, who works at STScI in the public outreach group and was heavily involved with the making of the film. Following him was John Grunsfeld, an astronaut who has serviced Hubble three times, and currently serves as the deputy directory (the #2 guy) at STScI. After they spoke, it was showtime!

All I can say is this: stop whatever you're doing, go to your nearest IMAX theater and see this movie!! It is soooo cool!

They give a brief history of Hubble, including footage of the first launch, as well as the first servicing mission that fixed the messed up optics. They talked a lot about the most recent servicing mission, including a lot of footage. (The astronauts are pretty funny, it turns out.) And maybe the coolest part is the 3D stuff through different objects in space. WOW. The 3D fly-through the Orion Nebula is AMAZING. Seriously people. GO SEE THIS MOVIE. What a blast.

The cool thing to, as they explained before the film, everything is as scientifically accurate as they could make it. They didn't just go crazy with artistic license. No, they consulted people who knew much of the science behind, say, the Orion Nebula, and used their expertise and best judgment to determine what the structure would be like if we could fly around in it. While the majority of the images are from Hubble, what Hubble was missing (for example, to get rid of the weird step shape in the image of the Eagle Nebula taken with WFPC2) they made up for with ground based images. And they combined both optical and IR observations from Hubble.

It was a really fun evening, and a REALLY great movie. Go see it as soon as you can!

Cherry Blossoms

A few days ago I went down to DC with a few friends to see the cherry blossoms. They peaked a few days before, but there were still plenty of pink blossoms to see! The cherry trees, a gift from Japan in 1912, line the tidal basin near the Jefferson Monument. (Which, by the way, happens to be my favorite monument.)

There were many people there (although not too bad, since it was a Monday evening), enough that you could tell that tourist season is beginning. There were many people there with fancy cameras, ready to photograph the blossoms. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there were definitely a lot more blossoms and trees than I was expecting. And the weather was great! Just being outside felt so pleasant!

Here I am with the Jefferson Memorial, and the blossoms.

Me and my roommate Amanda.

We got there right at sunset. The sun setting over the tidal basin was beautiful!

I didn't take many pictures, but it was a lot of fun!

Afterward we ate dinner at this place called Bonaparte that I ate at just the week before when my friend Christy was in town. I stole these pictures from her. (Hey Christy, I hope that's okay!) It's a little cafe in Georgetown that has amazing crepes. (I also didn't realize until seeing the pictures that I wore the same shirt, even though it was exactly a week apart. How embarrassing.)

Heaven.

So great to see Christy!

Ultimate!

Spring is in Baltimore!

A friend of mine from church is on an ultimate frisbee list serve, and invited me to play. We went last week, and it was such a blast. She couldn't make it this week, but I went anyway. I didn't know any of them before last week, and recognized only a few regulars again this week. Played three hours last week, and two and a half hours this week.

And I just want to say....I LOVE ULTIMATE FRISBEE!!

Even when it gives me big bruises all over my hand and fingers. And I did something to a muscle in my leg during a crazy collision with another player that left us both on the ground. (I'm hoping it'll feel better after a day or two.)


But still....LOVE IT!

Terra Cotta Warriors

Back in 1996* I went with my family to see an exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art called "The Imperial Tombs of China." Among other things, they talked about the army of life size terra cotta warriors that was discovered in the 1970s at the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. He had the army constructed to usher him into the afterlife, to protect him, as well as to extend (and demonstrate) his power into the afterlife.

After seeing that exhibit back then, I remember being fascinated by the idea of the terra cotta army protecting him. Because of that, I bought a miniature terra cotta warrior in the gift shop, and decided he would be my protector.

My warrior doesn't have a name (and I'm not looking for one), but he's been with me since then. Every time I move, I pack him in a safe place, and as soon as my nightstand is set up next to my bed, my terra cotta warrior is put in his place. He's my protector, always watching out for me.


A few months ago I heard that the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. would be having an exhibit on the terra cotta warriors during the entire month of March. Of course, I wanted to go. But naturally, I procrastinated buying my tickets (though I did look occasionally at dates that were available, but was being non-committal about it), and it closes next week, on March 31. So I knew I needed to really get on it. I looked up online and found out that all the tickets were sold out. BUT, they had decided to extend the museum hours during the last week because of demand. Whew! Hope returns.

I tried to buy tickets when my friend Christy would be in town, but the internet was giving errors when processing orders. So I called the ticket office first thing Tuesday morning. After being on hold for an hour and a half, I got through to a person....only to learn that the EVERYTHING (even all the extended showings) was sold out. They weren't offering refunds, so people wouldn't likely return unneeded tickets to the box office.

Of course, I turned to the next logical place: craigslist! There weren't a lot of people selling tickets, but there were a bunch of people looking. So I emailed everyone that was selling (about five people), and waited. Finally I got a positive respond, tickets for 5:00pm THAT NIGHT.

It was a crazy idea, but none of my other options looked hopeful. I confirmed with the seller that I would be there to buy one of his tickets. (He was going to the exhibit that night with friends, but because a few backed out, he had a couple extra.) I left work early (love how flexible my job is), and headed down. (Baltimore to DC is about an hour with no traffic....which is never. (Okay, that's exaggerating...but only a little.))

Now. You may already be saying to yourself, "Baltimore to D.C. at 5:00pm? Are you crazy?" The answer is, yes, apparently. I tried to leave early to beat traffic, but it didn't work very well (on both counts). I even tried taking an alternate route. Long story short, soon it was 4:40, and I wasn't even close to being half way there. I knew there was no possible way I would be there to meet him at our designated 4:45, let alone get there by 5:30 to use the ticket. (The website said tickets were valid for 30 minutes after the time printed on them.) I decided I had to call him and tell him I wouldn't make it. I knew traffic would just get worse as I approached DC and the 5:00 hour. I was disappointed to miss the exhibit and have to try craigslist-roulette again. I was also really embarrassed to call him and back out, but at least I got his voice mail. That made me feel like I was saving some face.

So after leaving a message, I turned around to head home. (And sit in traffic going the other way.) As I was exiting the freeway back into Baltimore, I got a txt from him that said that he talked to the people at the box office, and they said that he could leave the ticket for me, and I could use it anytime tonight. Oh! Well, in that case. I turned around and started back down towards DC AGAIN.

He kept me updated about this and that on my way down. I did hit more traffic as I approached DC, of course. Around that time he sent me a txt letting me know that the box office said they were closing the exhibit, but it would reopen again at 9:00, for the "extended hours." Huh?

I finally got to the museum at 6:45. (Three. Hours. Later.) What a trooper, he had waited for me, and was really nice about helping me get my ticket. I got more info on what he was talking about before, and it was true....I had a ticket that could be used anytime that day (and not on another day....I asked), but now needed to wait until 9:00pm to use it. AHHH!! But on the upside, I had a ticket, and I was able to pick up Sarah Olson from work (she works in downtown DC), go have dinner, which was great.

I went back to the museum (and got a REALLY good parking space), and enjoyed the exhibit. It was really interesting. This is the banner they have out front. I wish I had taken this picture when I was there and it was still light, but oh well. This is the front of the museum. (Note the cherry blossoms. Can't wait to go down later and see more of the blossoms!)

They didn't let you take photos in the exhibit, but they did have a replica warrior outside for photo ops. I took advantage.

I headed back to Baltimore about 10:30, stopped for an ice cream cone, and got home just after midnight. I was so tired, and a little bit cranky, just wanting to go to sleep.

And, as always, my terra cotta warrior was there waiting. I slept while he kept watch.




* March 16, 1996 to be exact. I looked it up in my journal. But I wrote a disappointingly small amount about seeing the exhibit. I think back then I had a complex about not writing too much. (Anyone who has seen my journal collection recently knows that I have long since gotten over that.) In searching for that entry, I also realized that I wasn't as level-headed as I sometimes claim to have been. Well, maybe more level-headed than your average 15-year-old, but still. Let's just say, I've progressed a bit since high school. Thank goodness.