And now I'm back home

Tomorrow is a big day. Let's hope it's a historic one for America!

Back in the US

And having trouble getting home. My flight to Tucson is delayed by two hours, and I've tried three times to get it switched to a flight to Salt Lake, but United won't budge. Jerks. It was stupid in the first place to fly through Tucson. I did it because I thought I needed to fly from/to Tucson in order to get reimbursed, but I bet I don't need to do that.

Anyway, it's nice to be back, but I'm really looking forward to getting back home.

Here in Shanghai

I'm in Shanghai for the week for an astronomy conference. I'm getting a bit tired of fried rice, fried noodles, fried vegetables, fried potatoes, fried cookies, fried shoes, etc. Seems like everything is fried (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even the showers).

My bag missed the flight to Shanghai and wasn't delivered to me until yesterday morning, so I had to wear the same clothes three days in a row.

There's a lot of pollution in the city and the stinky cars make the air smell not so great. This is in spite of the fact that many many people bike, and the bikers and bus riders far outnumber the car drivers.

As far as the conference goes, there have been about 20 15-20 minute talks every day so far, and it's just exhausting. Especially when combined with the fact that my body still hasn't adjusted to the time switch (I woke up at 6am the first day...). The talks end each day at 7pm, and the last session from 5:30-7 is usually a waste for me because I just can't pay attention.

Today we only have talks in the morning, then go off to a nearby village for some sight-seeing. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to see some things outside the city center. Then there's a dinner on a boat this evening. It should be good.

Winter Wonderland!

 

And it's not even winter yet! We had our first snowball fight of the year! Yeah!!

John McShame

I've seen this pseudonym for John McCain around the internet for awhile now, but not until last night did I finally think he really deserved it after all of his lying attacks against Obama. It was predictable of course, since he is so far behind in the polls (see http://www.fivethirtyeight.com), but it was still sad and shameful to say the least.

I don't remember if I've posted this here before, but the country is going even further down the toilet than we already are if McCain wins. I mean, imagine if something happens to McCain and Sarah Palin becomes the president of the USA!! But that scenario doesn't even have to happen for us to remain boggged down in Iraq wasting billions of dollars a month doing nothing but providing incentive for terrorist organizations everywhere.

Thankfully, I don't think McCain will win. The American people have seen through the attacks and have recognized that the last eight years were awful, and that we need change.

And Here's a Picture!

 

Considering A Dog, Seriously

One of Tiff's co-workers has a 10-month old dog that they can no longer keep at home for two reasons: 1) new jerkish neighbors called animal control the day they moved in when he barked continuously (supposedly) for 20 minutes. Evidently, one more call to animal control by the neighbors and the dog goes to the pound. 2) the kids haven't taken to the dog very much (he smells like a dog, they complain!).

The dog is a black or chocolate lab mixed with something else. I haven't met him yet, but Tiff describes him as tall, black, and lanky. His name is Sirius. I think he's secretly an Animagus. Anyway, it sounds like a really good situation for us, because the current owner has offered to take care of him any time we are out of town on trips and such. She doesn't want to give Sirius up, but she has no choice because of the neighbors and her kids.

We're still trying to sort out exactly how we feel. Do we have enough time and money to take care of him? Probably yes on both counts, but are we ready to commit that much of our time to him? Hard to say. I think we'll at least take him for a weekend (maybe this one, maybe the next) and see how it goes. I think we should also have him for a full week too, since part of the deal will be seeing how we can work our schedules so that he isn't home alone too often.

Any serious Sirius-related comments are welcomed!