Being a Data Point!

I received notice the other day that my household was selected for the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is probably the best survey for household data in the U.S., as it is collected annually, is sampled very carefully by the U.S. Census, and can be linked to income tax data. This survey provides a significant amount of information for my field of study, and I'm excited to become a data point in the data set we use frequently!

Trash Can

"Honey, have you seen the trash can?"

 

Cat Car Rider

Yesterday my wife meets me at my parking lot, steps out of the car, and tells me, "My car is meowing." She had driven two miles from work, and said there were intermittent noises that sounded like cat meows, different each time. We searched the car, but found nothing.

But there had been a cat! We noticed about 30 yards down the parking lot, a car idling and people gathered around it. A small kitten was under the car, no more than 8 weeks old. It appears it fell out from underneath her car as she drove over the bump at the entrance of the parking lot. The cat had hidden away in some part of her car, and held on for the two mile trip over!

The kitten was okay! One of the people gathered around the kitten took it home.

New FIFA Goal-Line Technology

FIFA recently announced that it will start using goal-line technology in major international competitions, including the World Cup, so that goals can be better decided upon if they only slightly cross the goal line. This is a great step forward for FIFA, making sure that goals are called as goals. But they could definitely make this decision better and have the goals announced with some awesome lighting and sound.

They could go the hockey route and put a spinning light behind the goal, and a giant air horn, that both go off the moment the ball crosses the line.

Another idea would be to take the basketball route, and have the goal frame light up red when a goal is made, just like basketball backboards do when the shot clock runs out or game ends.

Or perhaps, they could take some inspiration from the video game NBA Jam. I'm referring to the moment when a player makes several shots in a row and the game yells "He's on fire!". I'm not suggesting a flaming soccer ball, but simply a net that bursts into flames the moment a goal is sensed by the new technology!

Surely this would also increase the number of Americans watching.

Hunger Games/District 9

Was in my head all morning. Also seems someone else made the connection.

Settlers Seder Plate

Last summer my fiancee and I had the idea of a Settlers of Catan seder plate. It all seemed to work so well, the brick for the charoset, the sheep for the zeroah (lamb shank), wheat for the bitter herb. We waited until this Passover to share, so that it was more appropriately timed.

Sure, the wheat is kind of out of place since it's forbidden on Passover, but it works well enough as a symbol for other things that grow that could be the bitter herb (maror).

For an broad introduction to the Passover seder plate, see this link from Chabad.

Our Passover seder plate is below:

Charoset: brick

Maror (bitter herb): wheat

Chazeret (bitter herb): pastures hex

Zeroa (lamb shank): sheep

Karpas (vegetable): wood

Beitzah (egg): a real egg

Ironic Spelling Bee Loss

In first grade I participated in my one and only spelling bee. I won that spelling bee. It had come down to the final two contestants. The word the girl I was facing lost on: "second".

The next year my parents moved my family to the next town over, and my new school didn't have spelling bees. Oh, well.

Steak and a Horror Movie Day

My fiancee for years has not celebrated Valentine's Day, but Steak and a Horror Movie Day instead. Eat some steak with a group and watch a scary film. I only just found out that this was not a wildly followed Valentine's Day alternative, but just her creation.

As a pseudo-guest post, she and her friend created a number of other Valentine's Day alternatives that have activity-food pairings. Start your checklists!

rock-climbing and tacos night
skydiving and kimchi day
bungee jumping and calzones
nascar driving and pizza
heli-skiing and pierogies
rollerdisco and shwarma
russian roulette and borscht
lugeing and tagine
deep sea diving and sweet potato pie
skeet-shooting and truffles
cow tipping and pho
four-wheelin' and punch
hot air ballooning and spring rolls
karate and hibachi!!!
marathoning and macaroni
elephant riding and home fries
tapdancing and tofu
hullaballoo and hibachi
tomfoolery and tomatos
shenanigans and shiitake
bootlegging and bananas
robbery and ricola
jello wrestling and foie gras
hang-gliding and haggis
hairdressing and pancakes
beekeeping and rice cakes
horse-riding and hot tamales
shuffleboard and hard-boiled eggs
line-dancing and curry
Bar exam study and bologna

Go State!

While visiting the skating rink the other night, I spotted a guy standing along wall on the ice a couple of yards from me wearing an NC State sweatshirt. Unlike the other universities in the Triangle, people usually don't wear NC State gear unless they actually went there. So I flashed the Wolfpack sign and shouted "Go State!"

He turned my way and gave me a rude look. His expression changed though when he saw my Wolfpack sign. He laughed, and said to me, "Sorry, I thought you yelled at me to 'Go Skate!'".

Go State, Go Skate!

Art Loeb Trail up Black Balsam Knob

In December, I took a short hike up Black Balsam Knob along the Art Loeb Trail. Black Balsam Knob is accessible off the Blue Ridge Parkway, 37 miles southwest of Asheville. Coming from Asheville along the Parkway, you turn right onto Black Balsam Knob Road. Drive 3/4 mile up the road. Trail heads off on the right. The map (from this site on the entire Art Loeb hike), shown below has the Black Balsam portion shown at the bottom. It's a quick hike, but you break the tree line halfway up, and can see for miles around at the top. Without trees at the peak, it can get very windy.

In the pictures below, shows the terrain at the base of the trail when it's still in the forest and the black balsam trees as you start your climb. Further down is the rocky trail as you start reaching the tree-less portion of the bald, and the view around.

Jughandles in Asheville

Visited Asheville a couple of weeks ago, and came across a couple of jughandles of interest. First, at the base of Black Balsam Knob on the Art Loeb Trail, I came across a jug of water with my name on it. A bit creepy actually.

Asheville also has a Jersey jughandle in the westbound direction on Patton Avenue at the intersection with southbound Clingman Avenue. Excited to see this intersection type outside of the Garden State.