Cold Already?

So, the semester begins and it's already cold. Sweater weather. Just like that. It's as if summer has immediately went away the moment classes started. Wow.

So I went to school today wearing my leather jacket. I thought I would not have to wear this for a few more weeks, but apparently that is not the case.

I left my house early today. My kitchen and bathroom is scheduled to be fumigated this morning, so we had to take things out of the cupboards and put them in the extra room that we had. So the house is a mess right now, but hopefully that would be solved in a few days.

I find it surprising and bizarre that the semester has just started, and yet my calendar immediately got filled. Just today, the first day of classes, I have lab, a meeting with my adviser, and a meeting with a co-author. All in one day. It makes my stress levels a little high, but I suppose I thrive in this. I find it way better than during mid-semester vacations, where I stare at the ceiling, read a book, do nothing, rinse, and repeat.

Aside from that, I have other stuff going on. A friend is staying over for a night this week, so I have to arrange that as well. I am heading down to Pittsburgh for a weekend sometime this month, and I need to go to New York City and Boston sometime next month, since my family is in the country. After all, the four of us haven't been in one place since May 2005, and I figure it is time to reset the clock.

Hopefully the weather would cooperate. It's getting cold here already, hopefully winter isn't too bad.



(N328KF, from my Air and Space Museum Series)

Climbing over Boulders

As a nice nature-tripping beginning to the semester, my good friend and I went to the Niagara Gorge for a morning hike. We woke up early in the morning, and by early, that means around 6:30 AM, and an hour later, after eating breakfast at home, we headed to Niagara County.

The drive was uneventful, and crossing over to Grand Island was nothing to write home about as well. However, when we turned into Robert Moses Parkway, we saw the mist coming out of Niagara Falls, and it was weird because it somehow floated upwards, and formed clouds. That was a weird thing.

Anyway, we headed to Whirlpool State Park, and we hiked two trails, an easy trail, and a difficult trail. That was interesting. The view was nice, but the hike was somehow difficult at times. There were large boulders that we had to climb over, and sometimes, the trail was slippery and it was right at the edge of the gorge, so it was no laughing matter. If one slipped, then one goes straight down to the gorge, and into the Niagara River.

But yeah, the water was green, and the boulders were large. The only two signs of civilization in there was a Canadian flag that was flying across the Niagara River, and the wires that carried the gondola that crossed the river and effectively the border from the United States and Canada.

That was a good morning.



(NX-211, from my Air and Space Museum Series)

Fall 2009 Ahead

Ah, the new semester starts in a few days. I can't believe that I have been here for four whole years now.

So, how was my summer? Summer is over in a few days, and the routine will set up again in no time. For this summer, I opted to stay here in Buffalo for the whole time instead of going for another adventure trip like I did last year and the year before that. Well, technically, it was a way of saving money as well, given the fact that my student visa expired last June. It meant that although I still have a legal alien status here in the USA (that is mandated by my still valid I-94 and I-20 documents), if I wanted to get out of the USA, I need a valid visa in order to re-enter. And flying all the way to Manila just to renew a visa, given the fact that I have no pressing obligations overseas so no need to get out anyway, is just a big expense that I decided to just stay inside for the time being.

Another big constraint is my dissertation. I have finished all my coursework as a PhD student. All that remains and separates me from my graduation is the dissertation. I have made quite some progress while I was working on it during the summer. I have moved from Draft 1 to Draft 3 within a couple of months. My dissertation is now physically a 56-page-long proposal, that has a big idea, and that has been connected to both the linguists and the psychologists (yes, I am writing an interdisciplinary dissertation). It is also written in a way that I can convince my hairdresser that it is an important topic to study (oops, I forgot, I shaved my head, and so I don't have a hairdresser anymore). Anyway, at this point, the comments that I have been getting from my adviser moved away from the you-gotta-fix-this-part type of comments to the this-is-the-next-thing-you-gotta-do type of comments. I suppose that's a good thing.

For the first time, I finally experienced a Buffalo summer. It was hot. It was humid. It was provoking me to get naked. Oops, I need to make my body more pleasing to the eye first if I really want to do that. Speaking of which, I already lost a few pounds, and I am still doing my exercise regimen.

I rewarded myself with a cheap vacation in the Pacific Northwest near the end of August. I basically psychologized myself into it, making it a reward for the hard work that I did all summer long. It did work. It acted as a brain spa, letting me not think about my dissertation and my other projects with other people while I was enjoying the weather, the beer, and the company in Seattle and Portland.

So this coming semester will be my 5th year, my 9th semester. I am only taking one class for one credit now. I won't be writing any papers for that class, and my grade for that one credit will only be based on in-class participation in this seminar. I am taking a class on Iroquoian languages. Now why am I taking a class on a topic that is totally not my area? I could care less about native American languages. However, for the past four years, I haven't taken a single class from the department chair (who is teaching this class), so I figured I might as well. Also, the class would work as a flush for my brain. If I would be thinking every day about my dissertation, a three-hour session on a topic that is totally unrelated to what I am working on would provide a refreshing break.

What else is in store for me? I am currently devising a new set of experiments with my co-author on experimental syntax. This is basically an extension of the current project that we have, which we are presenting for the first time in Barcelona next week. Another publication is in my CV then, yay! For those in the know, you can check my professional website and find the relevant document for more information.

Aside from that, I am also finalizing last-minute legal permissions to run another set of experiments that I am collaborating with yet another person in the department. This is a project on sentence processing, and hopefully, we get results early enough in the semester so we can have an abstract ready by the first week of December. That is when the abstract submissions are due for the CUNY Conference on Sentence Processing, which is said to be held in the New York City area for 2010, but the official word is not out yet.

The weather has started becoming cooler now. Funny, just being absent in Buffalo from a week has brought this change. Tomorrow, my friend and I are planning on hiking the Niagara Gorge. The weather is cool enough to explore the outdoors, and humidity isn't an enemy anymore.

My couscous paella was a success in the department potluck. That's why I am replicating it for my own consumption this weekend. Speaking of the new department potluck, there were quite a lot of new people in the department. There are 19 new students all in all, 13 of them are PhD students. Wow. When I came in back in 2005, there were only 10 of us, and only 3 are PhD students. Of that 3, I am still here working on the dissertation, another has already defended her proposal and is also working on her dissertation, while the third one has dropped out last year. There is a very weirdly skewed distribution of students in the department nowadays.

Anyway, come Monday, the routine will begin again. I have a psycholinguistics lab meeting at 9:00 AM, first thing in the morning. This is a scheduling meeting: we need to schedule who will be working in the lab at what times. This semester is going to be fun. I only have one class, so virtually everything that I will be doing is in relation to furthering my career advancement and research. Sweet!

Oh, this entry is also the last of my DC Memorials Series. The next series will still feature scenes from Washington DC, but it is a geeky series. You have been warned.



(Remembering Vietnam, from my DC Memorials Series)

Book Review: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Mind-blowing. That's the first thing I can say about this book. If you read this, you're up for a ride.

Well, why did I pick this book to read? Well, back in the 80's, Salman Rushdie published this book. And as a result, he got a death sentence from the Ayatollah of Iran. A fatwa to be exact. What this means is that this is a command to every Muslim to kill Rushdie if possible, and if not, point him to a person who is able to. Why? Because the book was deemed blasphemous.

So what is this book about? The book is written in a frame narrative style, which means that the whole story is composed of smaller mini-stories, which makes the whole book a very rich one when it comes to content. It centers around the happenings of two characters: Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha. Both are Indians, and survivors of a terrorist attack on a plane that was flying from India to the United Kingdom. The novel is in the magical realism style, which means that surreal happenings are found all throughout the novel. A jetliner blows up mid-air, and only these two people survive. Gibreel turns into the epitome of good and taking the form of an angel, while Saladin turns into the epitome of bad, taking the form of the devil, with horns and goat-like legs and all.

Now where is the blasphemous part? Well, Gibreel has a mental illness, and he hallucinates. His hallucinations are usually the life of the prophet Muhammed. It also recounts the episode where Muhammed allegedly encountered some verses whispered to him, to be part of the Quran, but were later recanted, because apparently the devil tricked Muhammed, and that these verses were not from Allah but from Shaitan (aka Satan). These verses happened to be a very important one, and is the basis of the Islamic faith. If these verses made their way into the Islamic teaching, then Islam would not be as we know it right now. Instead of being a monotheistic Abrahamic faith, it would be a polytheistic one, with three goddesses in addition to Allah.

No wonder this book is banned in many places in the world, even now.

I suppose I admire the courage of the author, writing about a topic such as this, even though this resulted in him living underground and in police protection for the next decade after this publication. He is still alive, but numerous people involved in the translation of this book died.

Which brings me to the thought about freedom of speech and blasphemy. I find it interesting that there are faiths out there that would go this far, even issuing a death edict to someone who offended their faith. It reminds me of the Muhammed cartoons controversy in Denmark a couple of years ago, which resulted in diplomatic rows, among other things. Religion may have a role in the lives of some people, but I find it sad that religion can result in twisted and irrational behavior. Of course, for the people believing in this faith, it isn't twisted nor irrational at all. For them, acting this way is perfectly logical.

See my other book reviews here.



(Soldiers Rotate, from my DC Memorials Series)

Back in Eastern Daylight Time

So I am back. I got back yesterday, after three legs of flying. Portland was awesome, and I am glad that I picked that as a city for my brain spa.

Portland seems to be a city that has a spirit different from the other cities that I have visited so far, here in the United States. They seem to abhor fast food restaurants, and Starbucks closes around 6 PM, unlike Seattle, who is addicted to coffee. Portland is very eclectic and Bohemian, and feels like one huge college town.

So last Sunday, I went up to the hills on the northwest side of the city, and hiked the trails. My feet ached, but the good thing was that I was wearing gel soles in my shoes which made it bearable. Good thing gel soles were invented. I visited the Japanese Garden, and also the Rose Test Gardens. I have never seen so much roses in my entire life. The whole place was blooming and smelling great.

It seems that Portland has a mind of its own, and strives to be different from the other cities in the country. I still cannot put my finger on it, but one can feel it. I liked both cities that I visited, but I think I can imagine myself living in Seattle more than in Portland.

Anyway, so Monday evening, I started to find my way back home. I had an itinerary of three flights going back, flying from Portland to San Francisco to Washington DC to Buffalo. The flights didn't have any problem at all, but given the fact that it was a red-eye flight, I only caught a fraction of sleep.

So now here I am back in Buffalo. I have work to do, but also I have photo albums to upload, a book review to write, and plenty of other things. Tomorrow is the annual welcome party for the new people in the department, and I am making a couscous paella that only involves vegetables. Yes, I am back to being a vegetarian, since I am not in vacation anymore. In fact, I loved the fact that I stopped eating meat and doing exercise again, since when I bought a T-shirt as a souvenir for myself in Seattle, I was able to fit in a medium! Ha!



(Three Soldiers, from my DC Memorials Series)

Crossing the State Border

So yesterday, I took the Amtrak train from Seattle to Portland. It was my first experience with Amtrak, and I didn't put my hopes up, given the fact that I heard that Amtrak was chronically late, and things like that. However, it actually turned out fine, it was on time, and it provided a service that was compatible with the European trains that I have experienced. Perhaps the Amtrak Cascades service was just a good one.

So I got into Portland, and found my hostel. It was again, a very good hostel, but the ambience is different. I suppose that is just expected: Seattle and the hostel I stayed there has a different personality compared to Portland and the hostel that I am staying here.

Let me describe the hostel first. In Seattle, I stayed in a room that slept 8 people. These people can be talkative, and they usually introduce themselves and ask fellow travelers their personal stories: why they are in Seattle, where they came from, where they are going to next, and so on. All in all, the people in the Seattle hostel are friendly: hey, I met an Israeli and within a few hours, we were already doing a bar crawl.

Here in Portland, people are a little kept to themselves. I am sleeping in a room that sleeps 10 people, and yet the only communication I had with them is limited to a single person, the person below me in the bunk bed. And even that, it is limited to a simple greeting.

There are activities that the hostel in Seattle hosted, like a city tour, bar crawls, bonfires on the beach, those sort of activities that foster friendships and camaraderie among the fellow travelers. Here in Portland, there are activities such as those, but the staff aren't too open in advertising them. Perhaps they aren't so pro-active as the people up north.

Not that I am complaining, but I am just noticing the difference.

Let's talk about the city as well. Seattle has a very vibrant neighborhood, and perhaps as can be read from my earlier posts, I have enjoyed Seattle very much. Portland is a different thing. It's not that I hate Portland, but it takes some time before one likes Portland. Portland's transportation system is awesome, I haven't paid a cent yet, due to this Fareless Square that they have. Portland seems to disdain chain stores: unlike Seattle, which has a Starbucks in almost every corner, Portland has more local and homegrown cafes. There are Starbucks in Portland, but somehow, they mysteriously close early, as early as 5 PM. I still do not know why.

There are plenty of restaurants in Portland. Portland natives seem to have a very interesting gastronomy habit. They seem to like to eat a lot. And another thing, Portland seems to activate my gaydar more than any other city. It seems that for every 5 minutes, I would be able to spot a gay or lesbian couple (not just singles, but couples). I still do not know how to explain this.

Anyway, for today, I walked all over downtown. Portland is a very walkable city. I visited the Classical Chinese Gardens, and that was very tranquilizing. I also strolled the Portland Saturday Market, and bought souvenirs for the women in my life. They also have plenty of street food, with food ranging from Mexican tacos to Tibetan dumplings. I also went to the Voodoo Donut, and also visited some of the buildings in downtown that were featured in the Amazing Race. Finally, I also visited Powell's, which is this huge bookstore that occupies a whole city block. Browsing for books is just an ordeal, since the whole store has maps that are very detailed.

So yeah, that's my stay in Portland for the moment. I still have tomorrow and the morning of the day after, before I fly back to Buffalo on Monday evening.



(Wreaths for the Fallen, from my DC Memorials Series)

Goodbye Seattle

So I have been here in Seattle for 3 nights now. And it is time to head down south.

Seattle is a lovely city that after spending a few days, I started to think and imagine what it would be like living here. The fact of the matter is, the city is not too big like New York City, so I do not feel like an ant whenever I am in the road. The people are friendly, and there are stuff around that one can get. I mean, just go to the Pike Place Market and satisfy your fix of fresh fish and produce. Heck, one can even get chocolate flavored pasta in there!

Anyway, so last Wednesday, I did the tourist hot spots: I visited the Seattle Art Museum, I visited the Experience Music Project and the Seattle Science Fiction Museum, and I climbed the Space Needle. After that, I also went to the Olympic Sculpture Park. I enjoyed the things I saw except for one thing, that it seems that the museums here do not allow you to take pictures at all, and that is disappointing.

For yesterday, I went to the University of Washington and strolled the whole campus. After that, I went to Gasworks Park, and then to the Fremont Troll. This time, the sights were free, and I could take pictures. It was also a lovely day for walking, but the sun was out, so I had sunscreen sprayed on my body. However, the humidity was essentially non-existent, so that was good.

I suppose vacation isn't always about seeing things. So in various different points of my walking regimen yesterday, I had brief periods in which I just found a shady place, and then I sat there and read my book. I finished a book I was reading yesterday, and given the fact that I cannot be without a book, I went to a bookstore and bought a new one.

I did another bar crawl yesterday night, given the fact that it is my last night here in town. We went to various different brewpubs again, and I was impressed with their beer again. Seattle definitely loves beer.

So yesterday, I explored the campus of the University of Washington. I visited the Linguistics and the Psychology departments. I didn't like the location of the Linguistics Department, since the building was rather convoluted and hard to navigate. I took a sneak peek at some offices of professors I read about before. The Psychology department on the other hand has a very swanky building. Maybe they have an opening whenever I graduate in a few years, since living here actually is a great experience I think. For one thing, when an airplane passes by above me, there are more varieties, unlike in Buffalo, when I see an airplane, and it's just one of the domestic airlines. Here, the airplanes are actually varied.

Anyway, I have to finish packing and check out. I'll be on a train this afternoon to Portland, and we'll see how that would go.



(Metal Symbolism, from my DC Memorials Series)

Seattle Loves Beer

So here I am in Seattle. So far, it's been fun.

Well, the thing is, this is the first time I am traveling in which I am staying in a hostel. So, I really didn't have lots of expectations, since it's just impractical to expect things and then find out later that they are false. But, I did see beforehand what I was getting myself into, but the bar was not high.

Anyway, so I get in, and apparently, I am sharing a dorm room with 7 other people. I met most of them. One is a Spaniard from Barcelona (why is it that Barcelona seems to be a creeping influence around my persona nowadays), another is an Israeli who just got discharged from the Army, another is an American from the South whose goal is to walk from Mexico to Canada (he has a few more miles to go), and a few other people who I haven't seen and talked to yet.

So, I landed in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport about 5:30 PM, and the view on the left side of the plane (where I was seated) was just superb, when we approached the airport. This is due to the staggering sight of Mount Rainier, looming just south of Seattle. Just to be on the safe side, I had dinner in the airport before heading to town. After grabbing something to eat, I caught the bus that took me to downtown, where my hostel was located.

So apparently, there are things happening here in the hostel every day, and it differs every day too. Yesterday (a Tuesday) was jazz night, so I figured I might as well join strangers in heading to this jazz bar. After that, we went exploring the breweries in the area, and yes, their beer is superb. Not like piss, as in those beers that you can readily find in supermarkets.

The diversity of the people here is amazing. I just went with an Israeli, a Quebecois, a German, and a couple of other folks both from here in the USA and overseas, and they are fun to be with. Granted, I usually do not mingle with people I don't really know, so I don't just drop my guard down. But hey, the purpose of this trip is to not worry about the dissertation for just a week, and enjoy myself. So yeah, so far I am enjoying this town.

So there. For today, I am planning on heading around the sights within walking distance of downtown. Tomorrow, on the other hand, I will be bussing around town, giving some fuel to my geekiness.



(WWII Memorial, from my DC Memorials Series)

On Hiatus

I am just writing a little note that I won't be around for the next week. I am leaving tomorrow on my vacation to the Pacific Northwest, and I am not going to be on regular Internet access. I am looking forward to this trip, especially since this means escaping the Buffalo humid heat.

I have finished my third draft. Yes, Carmie Burie is in her third incarnation. Hopefully, this makes my adviser happy, and busy at the same time, as he reads it while I am gone. So hopefully, when I get back, he'll have comments for it, and after fixing those, I will be able to turn a fourth draft for the other committee members to read. After that, they'll give me comments, and a fifth draft will be produced, in which I will be defending that as a dissertation proposal. Hopefully. When that happens, I will officially be an ABD.

Anyway, so I may or may not pop in here within the next week. In any case, I will return on August 25, with the intent that my brain is fully recharged.



(The Obelisk, from my DC Memorials Series)

One Week of Baldness

So, I have been bald by choice for more than a week now. The comments I got from the people around me have been interesting.

One told me that when he saw a picture of it, he had to lower [his] screen brightness since [his] eyes started to water due to the shiny glare reflecting off some newly polished hemispherical surface.

Numerous people thought I look like an urban monk, or someone from that Hong Kong movie Shaolin Soccer. In fact, my adviser, when he saw me, told me, I hope it is not the case that you got tired of me that's why you decided to be a monk? I eventually told him that I cannot afford to get tired of him, not yet. Hehe.

One gave me a very curt statement, which I learned later was a compliment, Holy shit!

When I attended lab, and the lab director (who also happens to be one of my committee members) saw me, she asked me why. I told her that I have been curious about how I would look like if I shaved my head ever since 2002. She told me one thing, Photoshop! Coincidentally, another professor who I am a co-author with also asked the same thing, to which I replied the same thing, but he said something differently instead, How about your eyebrows? Are you curious how it would look like without them too?

However, the best reaction so far was from a Professor Emeritus in my department, when he saw me. Our brief conversation was like this.

Prof: LIW! Are you okay? How is your health?
LIW: Relax, I am not on chemo, nor did I convert to Buddhism.



(Washington Monument, from my DC Memorials Series)

Chances

In a previous entry two days ago, I may have hinted that I am starting to tire of my current predicament as a student. I suppose this needs further explaining.

It is true that sometimes, I feel that it's been a long time since I started being a student. After all, this is true. Ever since the age of 6, I have been in school, and I haven't stopped yet. You know, when I was little, and I graduated from grade school, well, there's middle school around the corner. And after that, there's high school. And after that, there's college. And after that, well, I might as well ride the momentum and go to graduate school. So now, it's been 20 years and I have been in school.

Yes, sometimes, it is tiring. But if I think about what my goal is, then this is nothing. No, it may be tiring sometimes, but I don't think the fact that I get tired once in a while will make me just abandon ship. No sir, it would take more than that for me to ditch this whole set-up.

So yeah, when the other day, I had an interview, and for all intents and purposes, I impressed the person, I suppose it was a chance but in the wrong time. I am working on a dissertation in Buffalo, and yet this laboratory research job is located in another country, not to mention another continent. At first, I thought that I can juggle my obligations on both sides, but it turns out that it is easier said than done.

The thing is, I am in the middle of working on a dissertation. I haven't defended the proposal yet, let alone conduct the experiments that I need to conduct. This takes time. One suggestion that was given to me was that I could somehow craft a dissertation incorporating the research that I would be doing anyway in the other country. That means changing (slightly or not) my current research agenda, the topic of the dissertation, and potentially adding another member in my committee.

Now this is what I mean when I mentioned that the dissertation is starting to be a burden. I do not want to write a dissertation on a topic that is just convenient, or given to me, or because other people are interested and they simply want an eager student to research the topic. I want my dissertation to be mine. I want my dissertation to be on a topic that is selected because I myself am interested in it, because this is a topic worth investigating, and I myself am driven for it. Not because it is the convenient thing to work on, or because other people just need manpower to further their own research agenda.

In a way, it sounds like it's the mad scientist approach. But, this dissertation in a way will be the catalyst of my research program when (see, I did not say if) I am done. This will be my jump-off point when I make my contribution to the advancement of science. If that is the case, I would not want to write a dissertation where it is not mine to begin with, since if that is the case, chances are it would just look like a burden to me, working on something that was just handed on to me, instead of being personally driven to pursue the work.

So yeah, after deep considerations, I will most probably notify the institute that I originally applied for a job that I will retract my application. Too bad I know, because I had a feeling that they really wanted me to come, even suggesting options in order to make that possible, but the timing isn't right. It provides me assurance however, that given where I stand right now, there are people out there willing to take me on.

So, I was a little disappointed the other day, but hey, there's a reason why I told myself not to be too excited when I heard I got shortlisted. This may not work out, but there must be other chances along the road later on.



(Riders and Guards, from my DC Memorials Series)

Linguistic Factoid No. 12: Vowel Harmony

Ah, ever heard of this term? It sounds a little Zen, isn't it?

Well, vowel harmony is a type of long-distance phonological assimilatory process that can occur most of the time within the word domain, but sometimes in phrases as well. Now let me translate that sentence in English. It simply means that given a certain word, there are times in which the form of a certain vowel changes depending on other vowel forms in a word.

I suppose this is better discussed by discussing affixes first.

You know how in words, one can make a new word by adding an affix to it? Say, in English, in order to make a plural, one adds a -s? Okay, got that? Now, some languages have plenty of suffixes, of the form -VC, where "V" stands for vowel, and "C" stands for whatever consonant it is. Of course, there are other forms of these in varying lengths. However, what is interesting is that the form of the vowel is not fixed. In some words, it may be "a" in others it may be "e" and so on.

I suppose an approximate English example of this is the choice of "a" or "an" as an article. One uses "a" in front of a noun, unless the noun begins in a vowel sound. So it is "an honor" to eat "an apple" and so forth. The form of the article depends on another unit.

Vowel harmony is like that, except that the change isn't the presence or absence of a letter/sound, but on the quality of the vowel. Unfortunately, English does not do this.

So, where can people find languages that do this? Two countries come to mind: Finland and Hungary. That is because Finnish and Hungarian are the two most-spoken languages in the Uralic language family, and this family is known for big-time vowel harmony. Another language family in which vowel harmony is prominent is Turkic, so Turkish and all its linguistic relatives in Central Asia have this trait as well.



(The Cavalry Up Close, from my DC Memorials Series)

Good and Not-So-Good

So, for the past few weeks, a little group of butterflies were flying in my stomach. The reason for this is because I have been following a lead for a potential future job somewhere in some other country. I got notified a couple of weeks ago that I was shortlisted for the position, and they wanted an interview with me.

So, the interview happened. And the net result was that it was a good and not-so-good encounter. I suppose the biggest obstacle is that of timing. It's rather a wrong opportunity at the wrong time.

Let me explain the good thing first. The person I talked to, the head of the project, told me that he was impressed with my dossier. Given where I am right now, as a Ph.D. candidate, having that dossier was impressive. However, given where I am in my dissertation, he felt that a full-time job would not suit me. If I am supposed to work there full-time, then how can I devote time to my dissertation and finish it? At the same time, how can I make sure that I really will work there full time if there is a competing thing around, such as my dissertation?

I see his point. And I like the fact that he is frank about certain obstacles that might come my way. From a hiring point of view, things such as these should be considered, instead of not considering them at all and then these problems come up later.

So he suggested some options, with respect to my dissertation, and how to proceed from this point. Although I do not know whether I like it or not. This needs deep thinking, and consulting with my adviser and my committee.

If there was something good that came out of the encounter, I suppose I am somewhat given assurance by the fact that given my experience, I can impress someone else out there. Hey, he told me that he would be very willing to hire me, if not for this obstacle.

So I don't know. I am starting to think of this dissertation as a burden, and I totally do not want it to go that direction. I am supposed to enjoy this, after all, what comes out of this is my work, my project, my discovery, my contribution to the advancement of science. I should be proud to do this, and it should not be a burden to me.

Oh well, something will come up. I was told by someone else that perhaps the reason why this may not work out is because something better will come up later. But that's just hope. It's in my hands to make that happen. After all, it's true what people say, that God protects the ones who help themselves in their own way.



(The Cavalry, from my DC Memorials Series)

That Once-in-a-While Geeky Post

It's less than two weeks before I take a little break from my work. I am excited. On August 18, I will head out to the Pacific Northwest, spending a half-week in Seattle, then taking the Amtrak and crossing state lines, and spending a half-week in Portland. It won't be a long vacation, like the trips I took to South America a year ago, since I really am short on time. But, at the same time, I need my brain recharged and so I suppose getting off my work for a week would be a great idea.

So, my plan involves chasing after coffee and microbreweries. Apparently, the area is known for that sort of stuff. I am planning on seeing various art and architectural venues, plus some historical chateaus (you never know) and other locations, such as the Pittock Mansion (which was the final destination in some season of the Amazing Race) and Fort Vancouver Historic Site. I'll also have a chance to practice my outdoor photography skills, since Portland has tons of outdoor scenery and gardens that can be pretty to look at.

Anyway, usually, when I am flying somewhere, I would post pictures of aircraft that I would be taking. But I suppose I will not do that for the time being. I'll do something different. See, ever since I discovered that I can actually do this, I have been recording my flights. After this trip, I will have taken a total of 79 flights. I would have spent 297 hours and 33 minutes flying, which is equal to 12.4 days, equal to 1.8 weeks. I have taken 15 intercontinental flights: Asia to Europe and back, Asia to North America and back, North America to Europe and back, and North America to South America and back.

I will have traveled a total of 130,957 miles or 210,755 kilometers. That distance is equal to about 5.26 circumnavigations of the earth, a little over halfway the distance to the moon.

My longest flight still is the Manila to Los Angeles flight that I took 24 years ago, while the shortest flight I have is a Cleveland to Buffalo flight, which was just 308 kilometers, flown in just 37 minutes. So far, my flights' average distance is 2,668 kilometers, which translates to 3 hours and 48 minutes.

Buffalo Airport leads the top spot of airports that I have taken off from or landed to. Manila International Airport was debunked just recently. American Airlines leads the top spot of airline that I have flown the most. Buffalo-Chicago is the most flown route. And finally, the Embraer ERJ-145 is my most boarded aircraft. This reflects the fact that Buffalo isn't a major airport, and most of the airlines that fly here utilize regional jets.

I have taken off from and landed to 40 different airports, used the services of 22 different airlines, 17 different aircraft types, flown a total of 70 routes, in 18 different countries.

Wow!

Ok, geeky moment over. Until next time.



(The Statue, from my DC Memorials Series)

Diverted Frustration and Artwork

So when I logged on to the Internet today to get my daily dose of world affairs, a strange piece of news got my attention. Apparently, a Russian woman hurled a ceramic cup at the Mona Lisa in the Musee Louvre in Paris. You can read the news here and here.

It seems that she was mad because she failed to get French nationality. And of course, one cannot attack physically the French government easily, so one attacks something else with easier access, such as the Mona Lisa.

Now, good old Mona is safe, since she is protected by a glass structure that is apparently bullet-proof. The woman, on the other hand, is arrested. I find it bizarre that people do things like these, and the news report also mentions other cases of weird behavior targeted on artwork, such as a woman kissing a painting and leaving lipstick, and things like that. I wonder what their constraints were.

But the thing is, I also had a history of diverted frustration. But not on paintings, but on animals. When I was little, there were times in which I cannot stand my sister, and I would get so mad at her. I wanted to hit her, but obviously, I cannot, since my parents would get mad, so I would hit the dogs instead. Somehow, that worked for me. The dogs would then yelp and hide from me. Yes, the good old times.

Anyway, I suppose this is enough for a dose of weirdness for the day. By the way, in case you were curious what I look like now, here is a photo of my new hairstyle. Oops, what hair style? There's no hair!



(The Rider, from my DC Memorials Series)

Curiosity and Change

Curiosity is one constraint in people's lives, and this governs how people act and live. Most of the time, curiosity plays a role, but other constraints counter this one and therefore the action stays undone. Say, as a teenager, somebody offers you some colored pills. The person offering you tells you that these pills are awesome, that they'll send you on a trip and you won't want to go back again. On the other hand, you know that you were warned by your folks against drugs, that they do not mean anything except for danger. So there's curiosity and safety, two constraints acting on opposite directions. What would you do?

When I found myself in that situation, in a restroom in a school 11 years ago, I declined. I suppose curiosity didn't win that time. And it was a good thing that it didn't. And even now, I would never even think twice when it comes to taking in substances that aren't intended to react well with my system.

However, curiosity plays a role in smaller roles as well. You know, what would chocolate with cayenne pepper taste like? I believe Lindt makes chocolate with cayenne pepper bars now. What would it be like to be in a large air bubble, where that bubble would go rolling down the hills of New Zealand, a sport called zorbing? What would it be like to climb the Peruvian Andes and explore the lost city of the Incas?

Curiosity is such a powerful drive, to the point that I believe that human traits can be reduced to just two tenets: humans are selfish, and humans are curious.

Anyway, there's one curiosity that I satisfied recently. I have been talking about this for quite a while now, mostly to people around me. But I never really got the guts to do it until now.

So, what's the change? Well, I now have come to the realization that I have lots more skin than I thought I had. Putting on a shirt isn't as swift as before: now I really have to pull the shirt down. I am more sensitive to air temperature and wind breeze changes now. My eyeglasses don't move around anymore, they stay put.

So, any idea what I did?

The thing is, I have voiced my curiosity about this way back, the earliest I can remember was back in 2002. Seven years worth of curiosity. And I suppose I never had the guts to do it until now. And so I did it last Friday. And I think I like the result. I may stay this way for a bit, who knows.

By now, you may have already guessed. Yes, with the help of a pair of scissors, a razor blade, and lots of shaving gel, I shaved my head. Every square inch of it.



(Bronze Carriages, from my DC Memorials Series)

Book Review: Waveland by Frederick Barthelme

I suppose after reading a few good novels, chances get higher that I read a not-so-good one. This is an example.

It's not that this novel is bad, it's just not good. Anyway, this is about the relationship between Vaughn, who is divorced from Gail, and his new girlfriend Greta. Greta is a widow, and Vaughn has a younger brother, Newton, who is a widower. Greta owns an apartment, and she has a tenant, Eddie, who is a Gulf War veteran and gay.

The story revolves around Gail and Vaughn, about how, even though they are divorced, they still take care of each other, so when Gail starts seeing a younger guy, Tony, Vaughn starts getting worried, especially when one night, Tony beats Gail up, and she ends in the hospital. So Gail invites Vaughn and Greta to move in with her, with the three of them ending up as roommates.

Isn't that weird? You and your girlfriend rooming with your ex-wife?

Anyway, that is the premise of the book. And all of this is set in post-Katrina Mississippi.

Now, let me mention the good points first. First of all, everything in the book is realistic. It depicts I suppose real people, with real emotions, and real things that can actually happen to people. However, it may have been too real, that it turned out to be bland. If this novel were a chicken main course, I would be reaching for the salt and pepper shaker immediately.

So yeah, this novel is rather flat. But not as flat as other novels I have read. I suppose it needs a mature reader to fully appreciate this novel. And maybe I am not the targeted audience for this novel. I wanted something that had more things happening. I wanted a novel that would make me think. This novel just made me realize that human relationships are very complicated, and that some people are just in a web of things that are not so easy to disentangle.

Of course, not all novels should depict rather outlandish events. And because of this, I admire the novelist for taking a rather mundane slice of the human spectrum and exposing it in a rather subdued yet intricate way. But I am sure that other people would appreciate this novel more than I would.

See my other book reviews here.



(Ulysses Grant Memorial, from my DC Memorials Series)

I Need a Name

One of the things that I do to make the dissertation process more enjoyable is to do a running joke on it. I do plenty of tricks on myself, such as personifying my dissertation, using the Frankenstein metaphor, among other things. I suppose this is just the only way that works for me to make me move forward and not be bored with it.

Anyway, so I am now at Draft 3 with my dissertation proposal. That's a good thing. I am setting as a goal to finish Draft 3 before I leave for Seattle in two weeks. In that way, my adviser can read it while I am gone, and then give me comments when I get back. Then, it will be time to work again for Draft 4, which will then be given to the other members of my committee. Then the two of them will give me comments, and then I will revise it to become Draft 5, and that will be the version that I will defend.

In a way, I like the beauty of the scientific endeavor, there is this inherent beauty to it, how people check other people, and in that way, the contents are truthful as possible. I totally love this concept of replication.

I have been listening to Three Days Grace for quite some time now. I suppose I find listening to rock music somehow helps with the dissertation process. It's like subliminal listening, as I work with revising my prose, I listen to it. It may be the same principle how people listen to their iPods when they run for exercise.

Anyway, I need a name for my baby. My qualifying paper which was done a year ago was named Magnus. He was born safely, and filed away at this point. My dissertation already has Carmina Burana as a theme song, and all it needs is a name.

Let me look up the baby name books.



(Memorial Pillars, from my DC Memorials Series)

Jumpstart

So I have been running every other day for quite a while now. It is funny how the world is different in the morning, when people are still asleep. I get up at around 6:00 AM, and by 6:30 I am already hitting the pavement. As I pass by houses, I hear the birds, I hear the alarm clocks, the rooms filled with still sleeping people. I dunno, somehow I find that amusing.

You know, the thought that you are already up while these sleepy heads are still hitting the sack, and there is this little electronic machine next to their heads ringing, trying to wake them up.

So the route that I take encompasses two cities. I live in Buffalo proper, but right next to the border with a town called Tonawanda. I pass by a bank, which at that early in the morning, is obviously still closed.

In front of that bank is this neighborhood doughnut store. Apparently, according to the sign, it is open as early as 4:00 AM. Now who would want a sugar rush that early? They have chairs up front, and I always see the same types of people hanging out there. Mostly they consist of elderly people, senior citizens lounging with fellow senior citizens. But sometimes, there are these obese people, whose belly looks like a barrel. Wow. I do not want to be like that. I told my sister once that I gross myself out in order to prevent myself from being like that. I imagine what the gastrointestinal system of those people would look like if they are big like that. How long their large intestine must be. How large their stomach must be. I do not want to be like that. It's like when I see these people, they ride these mechanical chairs on the supermarket, they use canes, and it makes me wonder whether they all have a thyroid problem that their metabolism is all busted, or whether they just forgot to take care of their body. And I am not talking being buff, I am simply talking about watching what they eat.

Anyway, so I pass by the doughnut shop. Obviously, the smell is nice, but I dare not go in, because that just defeats the purpose, isn't it? Good thing I don't bring my wallet with me when I run.

Then I pass seven blocks of suburban residential rows of houses. Each of these seven blocks have different characteristics. The first block is rather plain, there is a mechanic at the corner, and by that time, it still is closed. The second block has a post box at the very end. The third corner has a house that has three pick-up trucks. It also has a house that has two cars, both red. One of them is a Corvette. The fourth block has this wooden house that looks like it's been transported from the Deep South. The fifth block is the block before the little park with the huge trees, which makes up the sixth block. Finally, the seventh block is the middle school.

When I reach the school, I stop. A friend of mine resides on the seventh block. I ring the bell usually, and act as her wake-up call. Then I head back.

By the time I head back, the neighborhood scenery is different. There are more cars, more people awake, and sometimes the school buses are already plying the streets. There are more people in the doughnut shop. The bank is still closed. Time to hit the shower.



(A Closer Look, from my DC Memorials Series)

Book Review: The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin

I've only read one other memoir in the past, when I read The Aquariums of Pyongyang by North Korean defector Kang Chol-Hwan. So, I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up this book from the library.

Little did I know that I would enjoy this piece of literature very much. It tells the story of the childhood of Staceyann Chin, who is a Jamaican poet and activist who resides in New York City. Before picking up this book, I never heard of her, and I initially thought that this would be all girly and feminine stuff. The library has a hardcover copy of the book, but the jacket is always thrown away, so I only saw the red spine and the white hardcover. When I searched what the cover looked like, it was pink, and there was a picture of a little girl on it, it made me second-guess my decision to borrow it. But, as always, once I borrow it, I won't return it until I read it.

So yeah, I started this about 4 days ago. And I was just pulled into it completely. It tells of how the author grew up in Jamaica, with no parents, her mother abandoning her to relatives, and her father not even willing to acknowledge her paternity. The relatives in turn are too dogmatic and unloving, and in every situation the author finds her, she is in the wrong, whether it was wearing a bathing suit (the relative thinks it is a bikini when it is not), or whether it is being raped by older male cousins (the relative thinks that the author invited the rape). It is a culture that I myself do not want to be in, this dogmatic, one-track-minded culture in which one is found in the wrong every time because of disbelief in God or being sinful or because one doesn't want to shut up.

Most of the time, when reading this, I felt how the author must have felt, when she tries to reason to the people around her, to no avail, because the heads of those people are just shut off. Reasoning didn't do anything for her, it just landed plenty of whips on her ass with the belt. There were plenty of occasions in which the author found herself dealing with situations in which truth was established because someone older and having more authority said so, and not the empirical method.

Believe it or not, this is one of the few books that I never wanted to end. As I was finishing this book, I often wondered what happened next, after her discovery of her sexuality and being fine with it, after the frustrated gang rape, after the immigration to New York, what happens next?

Life is unfair. For some, it can be more unfair than others. However, this book shows that if one is determined, one can get out and improve oneself.

See my other book reviews here.



(Another View, from my DC Memorials Series)

The Strive to be Normal

Everyone has at one point in time want to be like anybody else. You know, to be not weird, not standing out, not abnormal. It's just typical human psychological behavior.

The funny thing is, this concept is evident even in scientific research. Even stuff that we run in the lab has to be at one point normal, in a sense.

See, there's this thing called "norming". This is actually a procedure that ensures that our experimental items are, well, normal. Why and how is this done?

Well, for one thing, people do this so that there would not be any problems in the experiment. By problems, I mean confounding problems. See, if you have a set of stimuli you are presenting to your participants, in which you measure a dependent variable, you would want to get results that are actually caused by the thing that you are manipulating. Say, if you are measuring processing difficulty between active and passive sentences, and you indeed see that passive sentences take more reading time than active sentences, you want to make sure that the time differences that you could see are actually due to that difference, and not due to something else. Because there are plenty of "something else" out there that can cause an effect. What if the scenario you have in the sentences are weird? What if you are presenting them with sentences that describe a weird scenario, like "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" where it is a very implausible scenario? That can also contribute to a reading time delay, which is not due to your independent manipulation.

So, in conducting an experiment, one must make sure that there are no confounding factors in the materials that you would use. This is one essential pre-test that experimenters should do whenever they do a scientific examination. And so for the research that I and a collaborator is doing, we are doing scenario norming: we are asking a group of people to rate how plausible the scenarios are in real life. This group of people should be different from the group of people that we would be using when we are running the actual experiment. Otherwise, there are sampling violations that we have to face, and the statistics will just be ruined.

So yeah, setting up an experiment can be a pain in the ass. But once everything is done right, and the numbers go in, it's a beautiful thing. I always find it amazingly beautiful that a hypothesis of mine is actually supported by empirical data, numbers elicited from a sample, from which we can extrapolate to the whole population.

The world is a chaotic place, but there are patterns in it. One just needs to do the work in finding what they are.



(Ceiling with Statue, from my DC Memorials Series)

Mix and Match

This is again one of those let's-collect-all-the-random-things-and-make-one-big-post-for-it post. Many little things, no collective topic except that everything has something to do with me.

This month begins my experience living with two other guys. I have only had the experience of living with someone else aside from family for the past 4 years, the first time was in 2005-06, with a Japanese guy; the second time was in 2007-08, with a Filipino guy; and the more recent time was in 2008-09, with an American guy. I thought that my experience with the Japanese guy was the worst thing ever: I remember blogging about his habits and the things that I found disgusting. However, I was proven wrong, with the two other people turning up rather worse than the Japanese guy, and the Japanese guy ended up being way better than the latter two. In fact, I even blogged about it before here.

Anyway, it seems that this year won't be like the last years. Yes, there's more people in the house, but the house is cleaner than ever. Believe it or not, I sometimes feel that I am the messy one in this trio. I am now living with two guys from India, both of them graduate students in one way or another, both having medical degrees (so now I feel safe a bit, having two MDs in the house). And somehow, being in the house is enjoyable this time around. The fridge has more food (not that I mooch on theirs), the kitchen has more activity, and for once, I don't really care if they use my toothpaste or toilet paper, since they've been letting me use other stuff of their own to the point that I don't feel compelled to nickel-and-dime them on every thing in the house.

The kitchen sees the most activity in the evening, when both of them cook. It is interesting watching them cook, and I learn a lot about Indian cooking due to the process. Each of us has our own stash of spices now, although mine is minuscule compared to them. I seem to be the earliest to wake up, and the earliest to go to bed. And so far, each of us has our own different time schedules that we aren't all cramming into the bathroom in the morning. That is a good thing.

What else is there? Oh, this summer. This summer has been the most bizarre summer I have experienced here so far. Although I have to preface that with the fact that for the past summers, I haven't been here in Buffalo for the whole length of summer to actually be a good authority on it. This is actually the first summer in which I am here for the whole length of it (well, technically that is not true: I have this impending trip to the Pacific Northwest in two weeks).

Anyway, so the reason why this is bizarre is that it's been raining and cloudy the whole time. It's like it's spring or autumn, or something in between. And the bad thing is that it is hot, so the moisture makes the air quite humid and sticky. I hate it.

Oh, speaking of my upcoming trip, I am heading to Seattle and Portland, for a week-long break from work. I don't know if I mentioned the details of this trip, but it will be a half-week in Seattle, then I will take the Amtrak to Portland and do a half-week there. Further details will follow for those who are interested and curious.

I cannot believe that it is already August, and that classes start at the very end of this month. Not that I still have courses to take, I just have one class to attend, and I do not need to do much work in that class either: I am only taking it for one credit. It meets just once a week every Fridays. That means I don't have to come to school as early for the other days. That also means that I can continue on my exercise routine for most days of the week.

Ah, speaking of my exercise routine, I am basically doing a 5K run/jog/walk every other day, with the intent of making it regular and daily. And guess what, I once weighed myself on the bathroom scale, and it seems that I have already dropped 6 pounds from when I started. I think that it is a good thing, although I need new ideas of a workout, because otherwise, I would just plateau and nothing else would happen. Not that I would want to be ripped (well yeah, that's a pipe dream, but it is not too ranked high up in the constraints list), but at least I want to be physically fit to do the Annapurna Hike in the Nepali Himalayas. I suppose I value trekking the Himalayas more than increasing my erotic capital.

I am house-sitting a friend's house. I don't really sleep there, but I visit it every now and then, taking care of the mail, the paper, and watering the indoor plant, although the single indoor plant that I am supposed to take care of looks dead as of this morning. It's a potted rose plant, but there's cobwebs growing on the stems already, and the leaves and the flowers look all dried up. Oops.

What else is there? I guess that would be it for today. There, let me end this post.



(Ceiling Detail, from my DC Memorials Series)