particleguy

Volleyball Fan

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:32:59 GMT

With the new friends I've gained since athenais' recent mention, I feel compelled to actually post something. Well, Lucy's already mentioned the new iMac, iPod Touch and printer. I've been busy transferring over our files and installing software on the iMac. And playing with the iPod -- I've never had an mp3 player or a pda before. Haven't had time to even take the printer out of the box.

I didn't post anything while we were on vacation in Wisconsin, but athenais pretty much covered that, too. So let's talk volleyball. I went to watch an AVP Pro Beach Volleyball event in Huntington Beach in early May (AVP is the highest level of Beach Volleyball in the US). I ordered my tickets for this fall's Stanford Women's volleyball season. USA Volleyball just announced who will be on the Olympic Women's (indoor) team. It includes two former Stanford players, but neither of the current players who were training with them. The Olympic team is going to play a scrimmage at Cal at the end of the month, before heading to Beijing, so maybe I'll BART over there to watch that. I also went over to Santa Cruz on July 5th to watch an EVP Beach Volleyball event. EVP is sort of a minor league tour, drawing mostly local players. There was one current Stanford player competing, as well as a former Stanford assistant coach who had played on the AVP tour a few years back. And I might head back to SoCal next week to catch another AVP event. Boy, I still have a lot of volleyball photos to sort through.

So, yeah, I guess I'm a busy volleyball fan this summer.

Lift Off

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:18:20 GMT

Since December, I've been working with a group at SLAC that is part of the collaboration which built a gamma-ray telescope. The satellite carrying it was successfully launched today. The instrument is the Large Area Telescope [LAT] on board the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope [GLAST]; yeah, sounds redundant. There is also a Gamma Ray Burst [GRB] detector on board, but we're not involved with that. The LAT is a joint NASA/DOE project.

You can see the official NASA website here, and an amateur video and photos here.

Since the launch got delayed by about a week, there were very few SLAC people at Cape Canaveral to watch it. Most of them were in an auditorium at SLAC, as was I. After the launch, we toasted it with ginger ale.

Pardon Me

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:56:02 GMT

Driving home I was thinking about Dennis Kucinch's futile motion to impeach. The following scenario occurred to me: (1) on Jan 19, 2009, Bush pardons Cheney (and perhaps other cabinet members, current or former, like Alberto); (2) then Bush (assuming he can't pardon himself) hands his letter of resignation to Condoleeza, and Cheney becomes the 44th president (I can picture Scalia swearing him in); (3) President Cheney then pardons Bush, much like Ford pardoning Nixon.

I don't really expect anything like this to happen. For one thing, it would require Bush and Cheney to consider that they might have done something wrong, and they seem way too self-righteous to ever do that.

ma-jelly05-1900

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:19:02 GMT

ma-jelly05-1900, originally uploaded by John Bartelt.

Lucy and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Saturday (I think it had been almost 20 years since I had been there). We spent the most time looking at the jellyfish exhibits. I've posted some photos to Flickr, like this one.

Pop culture musings

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:08:28 GMT

So will 10,000 B.C. be a hundred times better than One Million B.C.?

Actually, I've never seen the latter (the original, starring Victor Mature); I've only seen the Raquel Welch remake, One Million Years B.C.. At least humans and mammoths did co-exist 12,000 years ago. Otherwise, the trailers make me dubious; but, hey, herds of wooly mammoths. I'll watch it.

I'm sorry to hear that the NBC series Journeyman is finished, a victim of the writers' strike (and maybe low ratings). I like time travel. I liked that it was set in San Francisco, though there were occasional screw-ups. Like the time the hero found himself in Golden Gate Park with the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge looming over him. Sure, I was confused about the geography, too, before I moved to the area. I liked Kevin McKidd and the rest of the cast. The stories got better as they went along. I was worried that the back story they started introducing was not going to pay off, and/or just be hoky. Don't have to worry about that now.

Curiously, the hero was a reporter for the fictional newspaper, the San Francisco Register. On ABC's Women's Murder Club, the perky reporter was also a reporter for the San Francisco Register. They couldn't come up with any other newspaper names?

news 'n' cats

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:29:12 GMT

Been a while since I posted anything. Let's see: I didn't get laid off. Monday, I got a flat tire. When I got home after work on Tuesday, there was a San Bruno Police car parked in front of our house. He left shortly after I got into the house. But later that evening, another policeman came around to ask if we had seen or heard anything the night before. The church next door had been burgled (or burglarized as they say). We were of no help -- I vaguely remembered being awakened by a sound at some point in the night, which might have come from the direction of the church.

Thursday, Lucy and I stopped by the Peninsula Humane Society and visited with two cats. After sleeping on it, we adopted them and brought them home Friday. They're both long-haired orange tabbies, with similar bodies but distinct faces. They were two-for-one since they are bonded pair (possibly mother & daughter). Picture links: the younger one and the older one. So far they seem to be settling in.

ETA: We are still debating names for them. Suggestions welcome.

Science could use your help

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:01:39 GMT

The omnibus budget bill passed by congress and signed by the president just before Christmas is a disaster for American science. Funding for physics research was cut significantly below what the president had requested and what the house had passed. This, despite a strong, bipartisan consensus that funding for the physical sciences needs a healthy increase. In order to get the total under the budget ceiling, the appropriations committee cut science.

Particle physics is particularly hard hit: Fermilab will have to lay off 10% of it's staff, and the rest will be forced to take some unpaid leave. SLAC, which was already planning some layoffs, mostly voluntary, as the lab's primary focus shifts from particle physics to photon science, will also be laying off additional staff (I don't believe my job is in jeopardy). Its last major onsite particle experiment, BaBar, will be shutting down seven months early.

I can give links to more information if you're interested. The American Physical Society has set up a website to contact your representatives and the president regarding this issue. There is some hope for a supplemental appropriation; that isn't going to prevent the layoffs, but it could help ameliorate the longer term. The form letters are intended for physicists, but you can edit them as appropriate.

Christmas cookies

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 06:51:21 GMT

Yesterday I baked "Mandel Rohr" cookies and today I made toffee bars. Although mandel rohr (German for "almond pipe") are an old family recipe, my mother didn't make them at Christmastime. (She would make six or eight types of cookies for Christmas: brown cookies, spritz, mandel kranz, chocolate kisses, anise drops, ....) But I really like them, and so does Lucy. I sometimes think about making them at other times of the year, but I usually don't get around to it. [The first time I made them, though, years ago, was to celebrate officially getting my PhD from the University of Minnesota (I had been living in California for five or six months at that point). I cut some in the shape of the state of Minnesota. At least one of my friends refers to them as "Minnesota cookies".]

Often my brothers will send me some home-made Christmas cookies, so I will get some of the traditional treats, too. And I'll send them some mandel rohr.

Mandel rohr require finely grating a half pound of almonds and some sweet chocolate; as usual, I did that the night before. Yesterday morning I mixed the dough; then I rested before doing the rolling out, cutting and baking. Handling the dough can be a little tricky since it can easily turn crumbly. The traditional way to bake them is to cut the dough into strips, three-quarters to one inch wide, about five inches long, and drape them over special mandel rohr pans. These are half pipes, about four inches in diameter and 14 inches long. I inherited my pans (I have two); I don't know if any others exist. (You can use an inverted loaf pan; I did that once and it worked OK.) This makes the cookies an interesting, three-dimensional shape. Which makes them bulky to store, and fragile to ship. I also just role out some of the dough and cut it with cookie cutters. How is it you can feel the thickness of the dough just by feeling the surface of the dough? Do you feel the resiliency of the dough? Is your hand (or hand and eye) really able to judge how far it is above the working surface? I've never quite understood it, but I can certainly do it. Once the dough is cut and on the pans, either traditional pipes, or two-dimensional shapes, the pans go in the oven. You have to be a little careful because they will burn pretty easily, especially the cookies near the edge of the pan. Once they're out of the oven, you dust them with powdered sugar.

Besides the pans, I also inherited the grater I use. It must be older than me. It works very well, but somewhere along the way I lost the wooden block for pressing the material in the hopper. I keep meaning to fabricate a new one, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The mandel rohr recipe must be from my mother's side of the family. I don't know if it goes all the way back to Germany (my mother's mother's ancestors came from the Prussian provinces of Posen and Saxony), or if it's something they picked up in Watertown or Milwaukee. If you google "Mandel Rohr", you get nothing.

Toffee bars are a lot easier: mix up the dough, spread it in the pan and bake. I use my own recipe, based on a couple of cookbook recipes and some experimentation. I melt milk chocolate on the top after taking them out of the oven--that is one detail preserved from the way my mother made them.

So close

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:09:25 GMT

Saturday night in Sacramento, for the NCAA women's volleyball national championship. Both Stanford and Penn State looked a bit nervous at first, with the teams trading service errors. They both settled down; but Penn State just out-played Stanford for the first two games. After the break, Stanford came out with renewed focus, and dominated game three. [One highlight was Brynn Kehoe's serving: she served two aces, and after a Penn State time-out, served a third.] That momentum carried over into game four, enabling them to force a fifth game. Stanford was up 4-3 when Penn State scored seven straight points. Stanford never recovered, and were runners-up for the second year in a row.

A Nail-biter in Sacramento

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:26:13 GMT

After following Stanford Women's volleyball for 20 years, I finally went to see them play in a Final Four (their 17th in the 27 years the NCAA has had a tournament). I drove to Sacramento on Thursday afternoon for the two semifinal matches. Stanford took on the University of Southern California in the first match, with Penn State vs. California in the second. Stanford and USC had split their two regular season matches, each winning at home, so it was expected this match at neutral ARCO Arena would be a good one.

In the first game of the best-of-five, USC took game one pretty easily (30-23). Stanford had trouble passing their serves, and couldn't put similar pressure on their defense. Stanford's coach (John Dunning) altered which rotation he started his line-up in for the second game, and Stanford won game two 30-20. That carried over into game three, which was only a little closer, 30-25. But in game four, USC made some adjustments, and Stanford was less effective. They fell behind, and Stanford's setter (Bryn Kehoe) got called for several net violations and mishandled balls, which may have rattled her game. USC won 30-20. So it came down to a decisive game five. The fifth game is only to 15, but you still have to win by two. Stanford got the first point, but then USC went ahead. USC eventually reached match point, 14-13 without ever falling behind (though Stanford had tied several times). On match point, USC's star, Asia Kaczor served long, tying the game. Stanford got a block on USC's hitter that landed just in on USC's side, giving Stanford match-point. On the next play Stanford's hitter Cynthia Barboza tooled a hard hit off the USC block, landing out and giving Stanford the match. Whew!

The whole Stanford team contributed. And today, Stanford's Foluke Akinradewo was named the National Player of the Year - an unusual honor for a middle blocker, and well-deserved.

In the second match Penn State took the first two games. Cal kept it close, but just wasn't getting kills out of their hitters, Angie Pressey and Hana Cutura (the latter had an especially disappointing match). I didn't stay for the third game, but Penn State took that, too. This was Cal's first trip to the Final Four.

So Saturday it is back to Sacramento for the championship match. Go Cardinal!

Natasha

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:52:45 GMT

Natasha and mammoths, originally uploaded by John Bartelt.

It wasn't my idea to get a cat, but Natasha certainly bonded with me. She liked to hang out in the TV room with Jasper and me. And I provided a lap when necessary, of course.

Now she's gone, and I will even miss her yowling.

Jasper in the car.

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:03:35 GMT

Jasper in the car., originally uploaded by John Bartelt.

Jasper was camera-shy, but liked riding in the car. Here we are waiting for Lucy at the Millbrae train station, I believe. He is alert, watching for his mistress. Taken sometime in 2006, most likely.

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:47:23 GMT

I had planned to post more during this trip. Oh well. I'll try to catch up now.

Stockholm: walking around the old town (Gamla Stan); walking around Skansen, the original open air museum. Boat ride around the harbor. Moose (Alces alces) meatballs (not moose balls) for dinner. Heated bathroom floor and towel rack: not really needed when it's warm and muggy.

On to Mariehamn: the reception desk is also the bar at the Hotel Savoy. I checked in with the press desk for the FIVB Beach Volleyball PAF Open. PAF is an Åland-based gambling, sorry I mean "gaming", company that was the title sponsor. It must also have been a sponsor of the Åland exhibit we saw at the Finnish National Museum in Helsinki. It was certainly described in glowing terms.

Anyway, I got my press pass and swag bag, and then was asked if I would be taking pictures. That would be a "yes", since I had described myself as a freelance photographer and was representing "Bartelt Photography" (but, hey, English is not her first language, though she seemed very fluent). So then I was given a black nylon-mesh vest (that said "Coca-Cola" in white) and told I would have to wear this to take pictures. OK; I guess size "medium" is supposed to fit everyone? I could get my head and arms into it, but that was about it. But I did later see one non-vest-wearing photographer shooed away, so I kept it on.

I've posted more about the volleyball on VB boards; I'll try to add a little more here later. Saw some great volleyball, including one marathon match.

The voyage from Mariehamn to Turku had a lot more drunken young men than the trip to Mariehamn. I guess they just need those cases of duty-free beer. Or maybe because it was a Saturday.

Turku Castle: the medieval parts were OK, but not great. But then the exhibits covering the later eras were pretty good. Plus 37 more rooms of museum.

We've heard a lot of American pop music in Sweden and Finland. Some of it originals, some of it covers (in English). But Wednesday (8/22) I happened to catch that great Zager & Evans hit, "In the Year 2525", being sung in Finnish. The arrangement was pretty true to the original. It was playing on a boombox in one of the small handicraft shops. Not sure if it was on the radio or playing a tape.

Perhaps more later.

Stockholm

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:48:44 GMT

We arrived in Stockholm Sunday morning just fine. There was a strangely long wait for our luggage (considering how otherwise empty the international terminal was), but otherwise, the flights were just fine. So today we headed over to Gamla Stan (the old town) and got to the Swedish Academy. And then - what the heck? There's been some sort of royal cock up. They said they had never heard of me. Apparently I am not getting the Nobel Prize in Physics!

And after I paid all those fees and the deposit money. What's up with that? But the Swedish Academy says they have no agent in Lagos.

Well, at least I still have that Finnish MacArthur "Genius" Award to look forward to.

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:37:40 GMT

Wow.

I used to commute across that bridge everyday, in the early 1980s. Lived in south Minneapolis, went to grad school on the East Bank. I also spent many hours in an annex to the Tandem Accelerator Lab, which was just west of the I-35W bridge on the "east" bank (really more north there). Looking at the news footage (and checking maps to refresh my memory), it looks like the Tandem was not hit, but a near miss. I think the annex (called the "Turkey Shed") may have been removed some years ago. It was called the Turkey Shed because the contractor who built it supposedly specialized in sheds for turkeys.

Oh, and my brother sent an email to say he was alive. He works in downtown Mpls, but lives in one of the western suburbs, so no reason he should have been on that bridge.

2 August Update:

The UofM School of Physics & Astronomy says no one was in the Tandem building at the time.
Here's a picture (Tandem building at left) and here's their statement.

Update #2: One of my former UofM colleagues says the Turkey Shed was actually under the freeway bridge. But it had been torn down years ago.