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MMM.MMM.mmm.mmm. October 17, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 4 comments

I came home today from a particularly tough afternoon to find a box on the doorstep. Jay asked me what I bought. I won an EBay auction yesterday, but there was no way it would have shipped yet.

The box said "Perishable" and then I noticed it was from L.A.Burdick. They have the most MARVELOUS chocolate. They make these great little mice and penguins. They have a store in Harvard Square and their hot chocolate is to die for!

I have the most wonderful little box of chocolate to share with Jay. Thanks Johnny! I appreciate it! You’re the bomb!

And by allowing me to work on the project, I have now gotten the confidence to make THIS for myself. (the dress, I have purchased this lovely brown patterned linen for it) 

 

A different life October 17, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs , 4 comments

First, the photo to the side with the girls? yes, I idiotically called it "girls.jpg" So Google searches of "girls in panties" are showing my kids? Hello? I think I need to rename it. Worse, people are coming to my blog even after they do the search and it is kind of clear this is a BLOG. Of a MOM! Sheesh.

Anyway, as we were leaving work yesterday, Jay booked a room for Austin, TX. There is the winter American Astronomical Society meeting there. I can also meeting some bloggers if I go. However, when we got home, Jay’s parents called. They had promised to come and watch the kids for us back in the summer. They booked a house in Arizona and the house required them to take the whole month of January. So they can’t watch the girls.

Jay and I took a step back. We have three choices:

  1. Ask my parents
  2. Just I go
  3. no body goes

The problem with 1. is that mom was just tested and found to have a genetic marker for clotting issues. If you are new here, last November, mom developed blot clots in her lungs and spent a week in ICU. Now if she travels, she must take 2 shots of heparin a day. The shots are $500 each, and she has to pay the first $3000 for the year out of pocket. In addition, heparin is a blood thinner. Boston is pretty darn cold in January. They have already canceled coming up to visit in Christmas because of the weather and the shots. I don’t want to ask them.

The problem with the other two choices are that Jay and I were looking for some alone time. We need it. But, I would really not object to some time off of being mom. I might still go, alone and Jay stay home with the kids. There is a high energy meeting in LA in the spring and we should be able to go to that sans kids. In addition, we are planning on the Space engineering meeting in, oh, Marseilles France in June.(with the kids).

I think back to the time when I would just say "hey! Let’s go to this meeting!" and Jay and I would sign up, prepare some science, schmooze and get work done all over the world. Or I would just come along, like the year I spent my birthday driving around Corsica.

But this is a different life. And we have to plan on that. 

 

**UPDATE** screw it. I will go alone. Imagine, time in a big bed ALONE…. 

Where’s my sanity? October 16, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs, Parenting 101 , 4 comments

Hmm, There is a theme lately….My sanity is gone. I think that is it!

Things, in general are going well at the Space House. We have made significant progress in several projects around the house. The railing for the downstairs stairwell is up and solid, so Jay’s Father can’t rip it out of the wall this time. The new light fixture over the main stairwell is up and filled with CFLs, so I don’t feel guilty about using it all of the time. Soleil’s new Elfa closet system is up and I love it!  

I am still at a loss of what to do about school work. Soleil comes home with so much paper from school. I don’t want to recycle it all, I don’t want to keep it all. I don’t have time to scan it all for future generations. I just don’t know what to do? I also find little notes from the school mingling with her papers. Drives me batty! I often miss them and then miss the date. Just last night, I found the paper that the teacher sent home about teacher/parent conferences. It is due today. I filled it out at breakfast.

Luna did something that blew me away yesterday. She wrote her name! Yes! Her name is only 4 letters long, but she really did it! She wrote it out and got all of the letters correctly written, nothing backwards and in the right order. She has known how to spell her name, but to make the connection between the letters and writing it out? Not until yesterday!

I am trying to just enjoy where the kids are in life. Where Soleil is learning more and more to read. Where she calls up stairs when she is watching TV to ask for definitions. Where Luna is trying hard to learn how to read letters and make the sounds. I suspect she will be reading sooner than Soleil was, mostly because Soleil is teaching her too. I am enjoying watching them run and play, work out issues and just be. But it is hard. Parenting is so much harder than I thought. The time commitment is so huge. I mean, yeah, you know you are in this for the long run, but for the bathroom breaks too? OR overnights? Or never getting to sleep past 6:30am again in your life?

I just took a break from this post to talk to one of the scientists. She had breast cancer when Luna was 1, so I avoided her like the plague since Luna was often emitting green snot from various orifices. I just found out that she also had cancer of the fallopian tubes. This bites. I wish cancer would just go away. AWAY! Too many people have it, had it, etc. But we didn’t just talk about science and cancer. We talked about PEOPLE. How people who work together don’t KNOW each other. How that is hard. How stressed we all are. How women in particular are stressed in the workplace and in science in general.

And now my brain is on a different path….
 

Why my week has been rough October 14, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : She Blinded me with Science, Parenting 101 , 1 comment so far

In bullet form!

 

CFLs Part 2 October 12, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : It ain't easy being green , 4 comments

Yesterday, I was writing my post while dealing with the reschedule of the commanding for the spacecraft. I obviously left a few things ambiguous, so I wanted to address some of these items, as I had TWO!(2! I am so excited!) lighting people write!

First- The Hell part of the last post is how to buy a CFL. In the good old days, last year for example, I would walk into Target, grab a GE or Sylvania bulb based on its wattage. I would never buy a Target bulb because I knew the difference was that the Tungsten was thinner or the glass was thinner or the quality control wasn’t as good. The biggest difference between manufacturers was how long the bulb lasted. Ah- the Good Old Days.

Now, the challenge is to find the bulb that works with you. This is MUCH harder. I brought up the flicker because I am extremely sensitive to it. Over the weekend, we visited a "green open house" with a friend. This person was explaining how he made his home green, how much energy he was saving, etc. He was proud of the dimmable CFLs. Unfortunately for me, I can see the flicker of the dimmables. There were 7 people there when he lowered the current to the bulbs. 3 of us could see the flicker, including the home owner. Others couldn’t. The home owner said he found some other bulbs that were supposed to not flicker and we did try them. I still could see the flicker, but it was much less pronounced.

One of the lighting commenters made the following statement.

Andrew G. wrote:

Further to what Sharon has pointed out, the flickering is caused by a magnetic ballast. Most modern CFL’s have electronic ballasts, which eliminate the flickering.

Yes, CFLs have electronic ballasts. These control the current going to the bulb. Andrew, I agree 100% the electronic ballasts have REDUCED flicker, and for the majority of people, it does eliminate it. But it all comes down to FREQUENCY.  Electronic ballasts control the current at a much higher frequency (ie, faster) than magnetic. Our eyes will generally not detect this if the frequency that the current changes is faster than our eyes report to our brain. Unfortunately, I am one of those said people who have a rather rapid reporting frequency. I  still see the flicker. It is much different than the magnetic ballast lights at work.

In addition, the CFLs I am talking about have an integrated ballast. This means the ballast is in the light bulb (that big fat part at the bottom) and NOT in the fixture (like the tube ones in most office buildings. If I could afford it, I would seriously consider a non-integrated ballast system. These fixtures have the ballasts and not the bulbs. This allows for better dimming capability and less flicker. The are rather cost prohibitive for the home owner (unless you win the lottery).

 

Okay- Now that I’ve addressed flicker, let’s move onto the other two issues: Color temp and CRI. I’ll address color temps first:

Take a look at this great page that discusses color temperatures for photography. Take your time, review…You back? Okay! The sun is a 5200 Kelvin black body. But summer sunlight varies between 4900K and 5700K. Why? Simple, the amount of blue light reflected and scattered by the particles in the air. (why is the sky blue and sunsets red? the blue light from the sun is scattered and at sunset, the red light comes straight through our atmosphere while the blue is scattered away and at angles that are difficult to see–sorry digression)

The color temperature for a 100W tungsten bulb is about 2850K.

Take a look at THIS PLOT:

 

 

Andrew again points out:

 

For example, Sylvania’s Daylight CFLs have a color temperature of 3500 K, while most other lamps with a "daylight" label have color temperatures of at least 5000 K. Some vendors do not include the kelvin value on the package, but this is beginning to change now that the Energy Star Criteria for CFLs is expected to require such labeling in its 4.0 revision.

 AH yes! Someone who really understands. But Andrew, I don’t want DAYLIGHT in my house, I WANT A TUNGSTEN BULB EQUIVALENT! (caps in a whiny voice). I really don’t want to have something as blue as daylight. I want the warm reds and yellows of the bulbs I grew up with. Jay went out and purchased the Sylvanias. I had to hunt and find in small lettering that the color temp was 3000K. On the GEs, I had to go on-line to find the color temp. I discovered that the GEs were 2700K. This is much closer to the tungstens and even a bit redder.

Sharon wrote

You have connected flicker with color temperature and CRI,
when it has to do with the ballast, not the lamp. And you compared apples to
oranges when it came to the Sylvania and GE lamps of different color temperatures.

 The flicker issue was meant to be separate. My apologies for making it look like it was related.

However, I disagree when you say I am comparing apples and oranges with the Sylvania and GE lamps of different color temperatures. The packages say "Replaces a 100W bulb!" We get the lumens on the package. We discovered that the GE uses 26W and the Sylvania uses 23W (which is why Jay grabbed the Sylvania’s). Again in a whiny voice, how is the consumer supposed to know that these bulbs are different???? How? I looked up the color temps. I understand blackbody spectrums. What about the people without physics backgrounds? I know you are an engineer and have the education to stop and evaluate these things from more than the packaging, but the average consumer won’t. They don’t and they shouldn’t have to!  These bulbs both claimed to replace a 100W bulb, and they both do, but completely differently.

 

I will avoid the whole subject of CRI today since even the experts disagree on this measure!

The upshot of the CFLs is this: GO for it people, but be aware that you may have to go through several tries to get the bulbs that work FOR YOU. We replaced 5 100 W bulbs with 5 26 W bulbs this week. I love the new bulbs and even find them a little too bright, but I LOVE the warmth and red spectrum I get.

—-

I use wikipeadia links to make it easier for the non-tech geeks out there! 

CFL hell October 11, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : It ain't easy being green , 3 comments

Oh yes, we are in CFL hell. And I don’t mean deciding which why anyone would name their team after a dove.

No, I mean Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs. Those CFLs… When Jay and I first started dating, we were, um, working together, yeah, together. That’s the ticket. And we were working on, observing. One of the first things he noticed was that my night vision sucks big time. However, as we have been together so ling, I can tell you that I have incredible motion detection. In other words, my eyes report to my brain much faster than the average person, so a rapid change in position registers, but at night, I don’t get enough photons to my brain so everything looks dark.

What does this have to do with CFLs? Well, the rapid reporting (I call it readout) means that I can see the flicker of the magnetic ballast in most fluorescent lights. I required a flat screen LCD monitor at work because the refresh rate of the CRT monitors and the flicker of the CFLs would compete for attention and I would develop migraines. It was hard to convince co-workers to turn off the lights, especially with the early sunsets on the East Coast.

Some CFLs are good and I can’t see the flicker. Others are not so good. Also, I am having a hard time finding the RIGHT CFLs for our house. You see, the CFLs come in different "colors". They report this with a color temperature. For example, the Sylvania ones that we bought, had a color temperature of 3000K. The GE ones we bought we 2700K. The cooler, the redder the light. The temperature means that the color from the light bulb, if measured by the brightness (intensity) vs the color of the light (wavelength) would match a black body of that temperature. 

With me so far? Okay, from my years of indentured servitude Grad School, I can tell you that a 3000K and a 2700K blackbody aren’t that different. Really. But here comes the trick. There is another measure for CFLs called the CRI.

Here’s one definition of CRI:color
rendering index (CRI)


A measurement of the color shift an object undergoes when
illuminated by the light source, as compared to a reference
source at the same color temperature. Color rendering is measured
on an index from 0-100, with natural daylight and incandescent
lighting both equal to 100. Objects and people viewed under
lamps with a high color rendering index (CRI) appear more
true to life.

Okay, now if you have EVER done any graphing in your life. You might stop and wonder about this. There are two differing statements here: 1) CRI is a measurement of the color shift and 2) is a measure of how true to life a color is.

We bought two different CFLs this week, the Sylvania(3000K, 23W, CRI=82) and GE(2700K,26W,CRI=82). These both replace a 100W bulb.

The Sylvania was clearly more blue. And it flickered. Badly for me. Jay could not see the flicker. To me, the CRI was saying "Hey! We match the blackbody at about 82%! Go us! but we miss on the red end!"

This is the only thing I can think of since both bulbs claimed to be 82 on the CRI scale. The GE light was far more red, giving that warm tone I expect from a bulb. These flickered only at low power (we have them in a 2 way light, we need the light to have full power for the bulbs to not flicker).

We are taking back all of the Sylvania bulbs that Jay bought. They suck. For us. They are too blue, too flickery…ugh.

We are trying to be more green, but it is hard sometimes.

Next on the green path: solar power. Yes, we are seriously considering solar panels.

Smug October 10, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : She Blinded me with Science , 1 comment so far

Smugness is when one is happy that the telescope’s command load for next week is done on Tuesday. And the a rapid response target of opportunity shows up on Wednesday afternoon that has to be commanded by 11:45pm

Yes, I am going to have to skip my mommy night out a the Melting Pot tonight to review the command load. Sigh.. 

3 is so damn HARD October 10, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Parenting 101 , 8 comments

I hate the age 3. Really. It’s tough on them. It’s tough on you. They want to do EVERYTHING their way. You? You just want to get them dressed in the morning without the drama of "I WANTED THE PINK TIGHTS!!!! WAAAAAAAA"

And the panties? Who the hell CARES if you wear the panties with Cinderella in front of Belle or the ones with Belle in front of Cinderella? HELLO? I just want that butt covered! Yesterday, Luna did not come to the bus stop with Soleil and I. She was happy to lay down in front of the door, in the front hallway screaming "I want to come!" although she had a pull-up on. And nothing else.

3 is when you learn that you do have input, but you have to work with others
3 is when you learn that you have an impact on your family
3 is when you learn how to do so many things for yourself, you just take forever to do it
3 is when you learn to stop screaming for everything you want and just start working with your family

I strongly suspect that many parents of 3 year olds wonder if this was worth it.

I know it is. I have a 5 year old. And she did go through the "I want to do it myself" stage. And we survived. But MAN does it suck when you are going through it!

Note to self: need more tequila….Go to a package store tonight! 

 

 

Rolling Meme of Doom October 9, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Weblogs , 3 comments

 

 

Johnny asked if I could do this while we wait for Mrs. Figby to catch up! 

Gargantuan Rolling Meme of Doom

1) Read the meme that was dumped assigned to you. Answer the questions.
2) Add TWO new questions to the list. Answer those questions.
3) Forward Dump this onto the next blogger victim (and list their name and link to their blog).
4) This series will conclude when we get 50 questions - so yes, it’s 25 bloggers in the chain.
5) Please make sure that the next victim in the “link” doesn’t have a password protected blog.
[Optional 6] Update the links so people can follow along (this is similar to the method I used in the Why China series).
[Optional 7] When you see an update, down the chain, update your own page with the new questions and answers.
[Optional 8] Copy these micromanaging instructions into the top of your meme post.

1. What secret/surprising/personal goal (that is realistically achievable within the next 15 years) would you like to fulfill?

I would love to learn how to really hike. I don’t mean just a stroll in the woods, but how to hand rock scrambles, which terrify me, and how to carry gear and get water, etc. I want to be able to take a day or 2 day hike without being terrified.
 

2. Can you list an event in which you made a last minute decision or guess that significantly changed the path of your life?

I was planning to work on an undergraduate research project with a grad student. However, over the winter break, I discovered I would be a Resident Assistant. I decided to skip the research project. When the time came to tell the grad student that I wasn’t going to do it, I suddenly changed my mind. The grad student was Jay….

3. What is one unrealistic goal (but your total secret
dream) that you would love to come true, but are pretty sure it won’t
ever happen?

Writing a book and/or opening a bakery.

4. Who has had the most influence on your life and what did they teach you?

Honestly, I have to say Jay. He came from a completely different upbringing and it opened a whole new way of looking at the world. We do disagree on some basics, but I find that I now view some basic human interactions differently than I did when I was child/teen.

5. You are on a deserted island. You are stranded with
someone from any point in time for 2 months (they are coming to rescue
you but are busy right now). Other then family/friends/naval engineers,
who is it?

I would want Albert Einstein. He had an incredible philosophy of life. I would love to just talk with him and not about physics.

6.Name and describe 3 things on your mind lately. Is there any particular reason why you’re thinking about a particular thing?

  1. My work. I am working on a complex code right now. The people I work with think I am a gifted programmer. I am terrified that it is going to fail in the basic job it has to do because I don’t completely understand the math.
  2. The party. Jay’s parents have their 50th anniversary on December 1st. We’re holding a rather large party in Cleveland for it.
  3. My parents. Mom just got news that she has a genetic clotting factor so she has to take heparin shots whenever she travels. We were hoping they would visit us late December, but I don’t think it is going to work out.

7. If you could go back to one moment in time and change it, what would the moment be and what would you change it from and to?

If it was something out of my control? It would be the day Corey died. I would somehow prevented that first truck in the convoy from going over the train tracks. If the first truck hadn’t gone, then Corey’s wouldn’t have gone, and he wouldn’t have died.

In my control? I guess it would be a date with an ex-boyfriend. I couldn’t explain something well enough and it led to our breakup. I wish I could have explained it better at the time.

8. What is your biggest pet peeve and is there anything that you can do or not do to stop other people from doing it? 

Not listening. Too many people yell at each other and don’t listen to the other point of view.

9. Who has been the most influential teacher in your life
and why did he or she have such an impact on you? Have you sent them a
note?

Doc. He was my math teacher and he ran the musicals/plays at school. I talked to him every time I saw him. He was a person who really challenged students. He knew who could do things and how to challenge them. And he taught me that "arc" in trig just means "AngleWhoose" as in "arc cosine" means "AngleWhoose cosine is". He died 2 years ago. 

10. What three things do you regret not learning to do?

  1. Continuing learning French in College
  2. Swimming well (I can swim, not well)
  3. Taking more art classes

11. What is your biggest fear?

The house burning down. Every time we go away, I have a mental image of the house burning down. I know it goes back to me being a kid and having a sleepover where the house caught on fire, but it’s still a bit extreme.

12. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Having more willpower.

13. What is the answer to life, the universe, everything?

42.

14. If you knew, beforehand, that the wait for your child
from China would take this long and drastic a time frame, would you
still go through with it or would you choose another country

N/A

15. What is one food that most people like that you do not like at all?

Mushrooms. I used to call them "slime critters from outer space". My argument was that when you eat them, they embed themselves in your brain so us  non eaters would be the ones to save y’all when the mother ship calls.

16.  Name one place in the world you would love to spend at
least one month visiting?  Is there anywhere on earth that is so
repulsive to you that there is no amount of money that could convince
you to visit it?

Hawai’i

No. I really thought hard, but I think I could even visit Iran/Iraq and the hot beds of the world right now.

17. What book have you just finished reading and why did you pick it up?  Would you recommend it to others?

I just finished "The Bourne Ultimatum". I picked it up because my flight to Cleveland was delayed in August. And I love the Bourne series. Yes, I would recommend it to others.

18. Share a relatively quick and easy recipe for Fall.  One pot/dish recipes given extra credit.

The Crockpot cow

  • Stew beef or pot roast.
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1 can of low sodium cream of mushroom soup (shut up! I know my answer above)
  • 1cup of old sour red wine
  • 1 package of onion soup mix

Saute onion  and garlic in olive oil until clear,

toss can of soup & soup mix in crock pot. Mix it up. Add wine,and onion/garlic mix. stir.

Add meat and cover meat with the mixture. Cover for 6-8 hours on low. Serve with egg noodles and veggie of choice.

19.  Would you rather be financially well off, but unhappy or a happy person who is always in need of money?

I would rather be mentally healthy and deal with the money issues. I find that our society is big on how much stuff people have, but I find a good time is better than a new ipod. OF course, too little money can affect one’s happiness, but  I think I would rather have the financial troubles.

20. What is the most comforting sound in the world to you and why?

I love the sound of the ocean. It has to be waves. Ocean waves, not those wimpy lake waves. The ocean always leaves me longing for something. I don’t know why, but if my soul is sad, the ocean makes all of the difference in the world.

 

The next victim is still Mrs. Figby . So she moved across the country, has school issues with her middle child and is buying a house, Plah-lease. As if the rest of us don’t have drama! (Just kidding Mrs. F! I know you are busy). Please go over and
harass her until she posts the next installment.

Project Chilly Willy- Completed! October 8, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 9 comments

I Boxed it up tonight after I sewed the buttons. Oh yeah- J? There’s something for you in the box too!