wordpress

For the time being, please see my new blog at wordpress:

http://justings.wordpress.com/

It supports math, which I need.

This blog will remain in perpetuity.

Thanks!

that other blog

I have posted a new article on my wordpress blog.  I can use latex formatting (and hence put nice math) on there.  There are only a few math characters this time, no formulas.  I think I prefer the wordpress one quite a bit, the editor is very nice, and did I mention is supports math?

green lakes

Last weekend (is it already time for this weekend?) I went to Green Lakes State Park with two of my friends here.  It was Labor Day Weekend, so the place was quite busy near the parking lot.  As soon as we got away from the parking lot though the crowds disappeared.  I didn't take any photos, so you'll have to rely on my words alone.  I did take my gps, so you can see the walk we took: map.

The lake is in a low valley, the hills on either side rise about 45 meters above the lake surface.  The lake was a beautiful clear blue color and very transparent.  Despite the lakes not being particularly wide, about 600 meters, it is quite deep 55m.  After some research on the wikipedia article, I found out that the bedrock is about 45 more meters beneath the bottom of the lake.  It is covered by sediments.  From the top of the hills to the bottom of the lake is over 150 meters!  I have oven wondered what carves out such deep lakes in places like this (admittedly there aren't all that many of them).  This was a topic of conversation during our walk.  We couldn't come up with an explanation.  The above article suggests that they are the bottoms of waterfalls, and the gorge they are in is similar to the Niagara river gorge.

Also seen on the trek: tiny frogs, about the size of my thumbnail, several different types of mushroom, a few fish, easter white cedar trees.  There is apparently an old growth stand to the south of Round Lake, but I didn't notice it while I was there.  I would like to visit that next time I go.

I really am noticing that the wild life is much more accessible and varied here than back home.  Maybe I just wasn't noticing it quite as much there because I was taking it for granted.  The frogs really surprise me, and the varieties of mushrooms.  I don't know why those in particular stick out.  I have also seen different insects, a fuzzy caterpiller with brushes on his forehead, and a millipede, which I had never seen before.  And of course the fire flies I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

first week of classes

Well, the first week of classes is over.  I've got one problem set due on Tuesday morning, another on Thursday morning.  About half of the problems are done for Classical Mechanics (due on Tuesday), and I think the ones on Thursday for Quantum Mechanics should be pretty straight forward, I'll get them taken care of on Monday also.

I've moved to my final office, right next to my old office.  I'm sharing it with Collin and Larne.

Not too much else to write about.  Got my first paycheck, have been cooking regularly, really like my cast iron pan and dutch oven.  Made a couple of breads and a couple of soups, and some beans.

where was frogger invented?

Last night it rained and thundered. And the frogs came out to cross the road. Being from the west, where frogs aren't quite as common apperantly, I had never seen this before. I always thought frogger was an odd game. Well, I propose that it was invented near Syracuse, NY. It was pretty sad to see them hopping across the highway, with their weak mode of locomotion. Hopping just doesn't look very graceful.

my apartment

I figured somebody back there would want to see where I live.  Here are some more crappy cell phone pictures:

apartment in Syracuse.

Maybe someday I'll have a better camera.

It's a pretty big actually. for just one person.  Or maybe it just seems that way because I don't have any furniture yet.

ice cream and baseball

Earlier this week I made good on the results of the poll: I had some soft ice cream.  While it wasn't the first thing I did, it was pretty tasty.  It's like the ordinary soft-serve ice cream you can get at a lot of soft serve joints, but a lot better.  The texture is smoother and the flavor is more rich.  I would recommend it to anyone.  Also, you can get twists of a lot more flavors than just vanilla and chocolate.  Delicious!

Last night was a one of the last baseball games of the season for the Syracuse Chiefs.  This is triple-a ball, just one level below the majors.  To contrast, the Tri-City Dust Devils are single-a minor league baseball.  The difference is pretty obvious, the level of skill is much higher, but there are still gaffs and goofs.  At last nights game, there were a few, but the best one was at dusk.  The ball was about the same brightness as the sky, and the batter hit a towering fly ball(!), which I lost in the lights.  It seems that everyone else lost it too, including three or four fielders and and a couple of base  runners.  Luckily it didn't hit anyone, but did comedown just outside the infield between first and second base.  I think the batter got a double.  No error for that play.

Thats all for now!

which host?

You will see at right a poll about which blog host to use.  This blog will remain for posterity regardless.

Wordpress blog link.

driving summary

I've added photos to some of the later days of the trip.  I'll link to all the entries, but in chronological order, instead of all backwards like they appear in the blog.

August 9, day 1 - left home :(
August 10, day 2*- Yellowstone national park and the Big Horns
August 11, day 3*- Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands
August 12, day 4*- SD, MN, WI
August 13, day 5*- Chicago, day 1
August 14, day 6*- Chicago, day 2
August 15, day 7*- five states
August 16, day 8 - Chenango Blues Festival
August 17, day 9 - we made it!

* indicates crappy phone pictures are included.

Also, there is the driving statistics page.

driving stats

Here are some stats from the trip

total miles driven: 3249
number of concerts attended: 3
road kills: 0
speeding tickets: 0
thunderstorms: 7
national parks visited: 2
faces on mountains seen: 4
nights camped: 1
most states in one day: 5
rivers I wish I'd fished: 6
most miles in one day: 580
total hours moving: ???
maximum altitude: 9430 feet
age of oldest rocks seen: 2.5 billion years
accidents seen: 3
most expensive hotel: $160/night
cheapest hotel: $42/night
total days in transit: 9