One does not simply...

One does not simply walk into Mordor either.

Hiking on Ramanessin Brook Greenway

My friend from nursery school told me about this hike he really likes to take in Holmdel, NJ. It's mostly on the Ramanessin Brook Greenway Nature Trail, which on the maps appears to be part of Holmdel Park (but far from the spot where the State Cross Country course is). It was a 4 mile hike that went from the trailhead on Holmdel-Middletown Road across from the elementary school. You can park along the west side of the road. The trailhead is marked with a giant sign with the greenway's name.

The greenway along the river for the first 3/4 mile is inside the forest. It follows the river over a few footbridges, before breaking out into the open on a farm road. Follow the farm road around the field. There are some side hikes down to the river along the way, as well as an old red farmhouse. The road will turn north, cross the river, and head around a farm growing shrubbery.

After rounding the shurbbery farm, head north on the farm road for another 1/2 mile until you reach the turnaround spot, an old fallen down farmhouse. You can walk around it and check out where its kitchen, stables, and bedrooms were. There's an old chicken coop about 30 yards to the south. Walking back along the same route to the trailhead gave the total of 4 miles for the hike.

Light and Eye Experiment

My junior year of college, I took a class called Color and Light. This class was talked up to me by friends of mine on the rowing team, and I took it mostly because I heard about this experiment the teacher runs with the class. Although I could've done the experiment on my own (and I suggest you should try it), I took the class anyway.

THE EXPERIMENT

We walked into class one day and the teacher handed us each a bunch of cotton balls and bandanas. The windows were covered with blankets. He tells us to hold the cotton balls over one eye, and strap them to your head with the bandana. The other eye is left open and able to see. He then lectured as normal for 30 minutes. With about 10 minutes left in class, he turned off the lights in the room and had us remove the blindfolds. The eye that had been left open was struggling to see, while the other eye, now dark-adjusted, saw everything. It was a crazy feeling.

Try it yourself!

Calendar Year Movie Watching

I had never seen the movie Pearl Harbor. My fiancee had it on her movie shelf, so we put it in to watch on Tuesday night. Finished watching yesterday. Realized only halfway through that we were watching it on the 70th anniversary of the attack.

I wonder what a movie marathon would look like for the calendar year, such that the day you watch it is the date in which the movie takes place. There are easy ones to take care of such as Independence Day or any Christmas movie. But is there a movie out there for every date of the year? Nothing I can find on google.

Surprise from a Rain Storm

There was a surprise rainstorm yesterday. To add to my surprise experience, I was surprised to find out that a black hat I bought in Bangladesh wasn't water protected. That is to say the black hat dyed my forehead, neck, and shirt black. Hat is now in garbage.

Good thing I'm not blonde.

Radiohead Tickets

I had three computers all refreshing constantly when Radiohead tickets went on sale at 10 AM. Not one was successful. In 2006, for the show I actually got tickets to, we had four computers running and two made it through before tickets sold out in three minutes.

Radiohead could play at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and it would sell out in minutes.

Books FAIL

The Better Long Weekend

Getting an extra day or two on a weekend is a great feeling. Having the extra time off from work is relaxing and allows for longer trips and more fun to be had. But which is better? Getting off on Friday for a long weekend, or having Monday off? The answer is Monday, due primarily to when the resultant shortened week occurs.

Shortened weeks at work are incredible, because they fly by so quickly. They seem a lot shorter than the 80% of the normal week they actually are. There's an excitement about a shortened week, that could stand alone apart from a long weekend and still be enjoyable. The position of a shortened week in relation to a long weekend, thus, is the difference maker between having Friday off or having Monday off.

If you have a long weekend where Friday is the day off, you have a shortened week before the long weekend. You are excited simultaneously about the shortened week, and about the upcoming long weekend. You have four days of happiness, followed by a great three-day vacation. Overall, you get seven days of enjoyment out of the long weekend.

If you have Monday off, however, you have a regular week, where you spend the whole week looking forward to your long weekend ahead. Then you get the long enjoyable three-day vacation. But when you return to work, you have a shortened week, which is enjoyable in itself! So in all, you get twelve days of enjoyment out of one long weekend! You are being efficient in your enjoyment of your weekend, spreading out the upcoming excitement of a vacation, the vacation itself, and then the excitement of a shortened week.

Thus I praise President's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. Thank you for giving Monday off!

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Also...if it's a personal three-day weekend, and thus you are flying not on a peak travel weekend, airfares are cheaper if you fly out Saturday morning and come back Monday night, than if you have fly out Friday morning, and come back Sunday night. So always take Mondays off.

Hiking in Oconee National Forest

A couple weekends ago I went hiking in Oconee National Forest, in Central Georgia. The forest, halfway between Atlanta and Augusta is split in two, with a large part of it south of Interstate 20, and another sizable portion to the north. We had planned to go hiking in this northern part, but had trouble finding resources on where to go hiking there, apart from the short walk to Scull Shoals historic village. Due to the difficulty in finding a place to hike here, I decided to post some information on the trail we took, under the park ranger's suggestion, so that others can find it with less issues in the future.

The part of the park we hiked in is called Scull Shoals Experimental Forest. A map of the forest can be found here in PDF form, and the portion we hiked is in the most northern tip. We hiked the trail highlighted pink in the map below. It was approximately 4 miles long.















The trailhead is circled on the map above where it comes close to Forest Road 1231. It is just north of the intersection with Forest Road 1231D. The sign below, on the west side of 1231, indicates you have found the trailhead.

















The trail is lightly used, but is marked the whole way with plastic orange diamond trail blazes, and plastic green diamong trail blazes with an orange horse. On the western portions of the trail, there are many trees down across the trail, and new paths have circle around them. Be careful to find the blazes again!

Vulcan Hand Sign Achieved

I've never been able to make the Vulcan hand salute, that which Spock makes in the Star Trek movies.

This was always distressing to me, especially because my last name in Judaism indicates that I am a Kohen. The sign of the Kohen when they do their priestly blessing is the same.

However, just today I was reading about the rock-paper-scissor game variant rock-paper-scissor-lizard-Spock and while going through the hand motions, I just happened to do it. I've never been able to do it before, and I don't know what caused me to suddenly be able to achieve it. I am extremely happy at the moment though.

Fluffy Catepillars

Went camping last year in Panthertown Valley and spotted these interesting caterpillars. Excited to be going back next weekend!

Parking Meter Overload FAIL

Our parking meter liked the first 5 coins we fed it, but FAILed at #6. And out of coins to feed another meter. Nearby cop said he'd move the car if he were us, Atlanta Parking Authority is vicious. (Photo by Amy)

Ducks in a Basket

I visited Rangpur, Bangladesh in summer 2008 with my friend Turzo. We visited a nearby market to pick up a duck for dinner. While there, we spotted a basket of ducklings that were for sale. My fiancée found them to be irresistibly cute.

The Alphabet Song

It is stuck in my head today. Good thing I know all the lyrics.

Where are the bills?

I recently performed a study to determine where most of the U.S. currency is located. Using a large sample (n=0), I determined where the majority of the given currency type is currently located:

$1 bills = in snack machines

$2 bills = in frames

$5 bills = in coffee shop cash registers

$10 bills = in pants pockets in your closet, waiting to be found next time you put them on

$20 bills = actually in wallets, it's what the ATM gives out

$50 bills = in the wallets of grandfathers

$100 bills = in banks

pennies = in your car's change drawer

nickels = in your car seat cushions

dimes = further down in your car seat cushions

quarters = gumball machines

half dollars = coin collections

dollar coin = NJ Transit ticket machines

I swear, every time I find a bill in pair of pants, it's a 10!

Water Heater Ant Colony

A colony of ants has chosen the top of my water heater to settle their colony. I see them walking on top of the water heater all the time, going in and out of the holes they've chewed through the metal lid. I'm not quite sure how deep the colony goes, or how a water heater's inner structure is good for making a colony.

There is one major detrimental factor to locating an ant colony in a water heater...it's a water heater. Every time the water heater turns on to refill up its tank, the colony pours out of the water heater running for their lives in fear. Not sure if it's the heat or if their homes are getting filled with water. They carry their precious larva in their teeth, and hide wherever they can for a couple of hours. Then they return. This happens every time the water heater turns on. I'm wondering how long it will be until they decide to abandon this foolish idea. How can one have a successful ant colony if several times a day you have to abandon it?!?

A Terminal's Demise at RDU

I flew through Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) last week. I've flown through the airport since 2002, using Terminal 1 on the majority of my flights. Terminal 2 used to be the secondary terminal at RDU, but recent renovations have made it the much better looking terminal. Terminal 2, with its sweeping wooden arch roof and glass exterior is now the home to the legacy airlines at RDU. Delta, Continental, United, U.S. Airways, etc. used to be housed in Terminal 1, but now call Terminal 2 home.

Left behind at Terminal 1 are all the low-cost carriers (LCCs): Southwest, AirTran, and JetBlue. As low-cost carriers, their business model doesn't necessitate having a flashy new terminal, and the cramped corridors of Terminal 1 which once housed legacy airlines, is perfectly suitable for the LCCs. The three LCCs can't possibly fill up all the gates which once bustled before, so Terminal 1 is now being operated below capacity. As seen in the photos below, Terminal 1 is a haunting shell of what it once was. The check-in counters are almost all boarded up, the gate areas are almost all boarded up, and the hallways are mostly void of life. The airside departure hallway is lined with potted plants, a last ditch attempt to make the terminal seem cared for. The gate areas have art which looks like it was bought at a garage sale, not the interesting posters advertising foreign destinations that the legacy airlines used to hang. Only one restaurant and a couple of shops seemed to be in business. It was incredible to see such a change to the terminal which one was RDU's main building.

LCC terminal buildings have been built in foreign cities to cater solely to the LCCs which have seen strong growth in their respective regions, such as in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. These terminals were purposely built as giant simple structures, with minimal amenities for passengers, but look decent and well-kept because their design was purposeful. Outdated U.S. terminals will likely become similar structures for American LCCs, a good re-purposing of the less attractive terminal space, such as at RDU. One can imagine unused terminal space at U.S. airports which have lost hub status over time (Pittsburgh due to U.S. Airways, St. Louis due to American Airlines), can evolve their older terminal space for their LCC traffic, and reserve the newer gates for the legacy airlines. In doing so, non-hub airports will redefine their position in the U.S. air network.

Delicious Subway Breakfast

Went to Subway to get a breakfast sub yesterday. Egg and cheese, onion, green pepper, tomato, and chipotle sauce. Reminds me of the western sandwich I used to eat at Bruegger's Bagels. My friend O.C. used to eat those three at a time or something like that. I haven't had a sandwich like this in so long, and was so excited to get it.

I left it on top of my car when I got in, and drove off. It is now sitting on 14th Street, all mushed and run over.