Update

I apologize for my lack of writing (and for the fluff-filled entries when I have been writing as of late). =)

I originally started this blog to write about my experiences in the SDM program at MIT. I finished my last class this summer, and submitted my thesis on November 22. School has therefore been effectively over for me for some time now.

On the same day I submitted my thesis, Dan proposed to me. I accepted, and we are now engaged to be married (no date set). I will be moving to Sarasota, Florida next week.

SOoooo...things have been busy! Once I am in Sarasota, I will get to a wrap-up post.

Happy Holidays and New Year, everybody! =)

Very moving story

This is an incredibly moving story, (even if the kid had to settle for Harvard rather than playing for the Big Green ;)). But seriously, it will make you count your blessings.

Murphy's Lesser-Known Dictums

Thanks to Lissette for this email:

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.

On Deion

Right now, I hate Deion Branch with a passion unbridled. Seriously! =D

I picked him up for my fantasy football team back when he was still a Patriot. I decided to stick with him, playing him the previous few weeks. When he scored me few points, I ditched him.

My opponent, Vicious and Delicious, has won like 3 of the last 6 fantasy football seasons (bastid). He picked Deion up. I played V&D this week. Look at the difference in our scores thus far:



And, yes, I'm bitter. =D Fortunately, I get to go to the beach now, so my bitterness will be fleeting.

"Pay it Forward" - Not a Happy Movie

Okay, if you haven't seen this movie yet and want to, do not read this entry. Of course, I would highly recommend NOT seeing it.

Last night I was futzing about, baking cookies (yes, you read right), cleaning, talking on the phone, and avoiding my thesis. For the more mundane tasks, I wanted background noise, so I noticed that TiVo had picked up "Pay it Forward" as one of its suggestions.

I see very few movies in the theatre, so usually know a lot about a movie before I watch it at home (as it is usually a few years old). For some reason, I had only heard good things about this movie. It made a nice little backdrop to my tasks. Some parts of it were cheesy, but whatcha gonna do with a feelgood flick??

THEN THE KID DIES. What the hell? I was so mad. There was no reason for him to die saving his friend from getting his butt kicked. Yes, I saw the obvious martyrdom/new religion themes, but seriously....so sad! Afterwards, I had to watch "Dumbo" to perk myself back up. Nothing like a big-eared elephant in an antiquated Disney film with questionably-valued birds to make a girl smile....

Back from NY

Just got back from New York after spending a day with Eve, Jeff, and Hannah. The drive was gorgeous; the leaves are changing but not yet falling. Eve and I spent the day in the city with Hannah, then came home for a home-cooked meal by Jeff for us and his parents. SO much fun.

Okay, now I'm going to working on my thesis, I swear ;)

College Football

I love college football. There are so many games and so many good stories. Also, it's not working on my thesis. ;)

Party at Bob's, Football game at UNH, No more Baseball....

This weekend started off with a party at Bob's in which much pong was played. It was great to see everyone (and to play pong, of course). Fernando and I were kicking butt for a while. =) The one hour I had planned on staying quickly turned into many more. Hence the thesis writing now =)

Today, I went to the UNH game with my parents. Considering the last football games I have gone to have been Florida State-Clemson (yeah, I need to blog about this...thanks again Dan), Bucs-Pats, and Miami-Florida State, I wasn't expecting much. However, the stadium was small but packed. We saw a dude break Jerry Rice's touchdown catch record. 'Twas exciting.

I was pretty surprised to see that the UNH fans didn't know when to be loud or quiet. UNH had a third and goal and the fans were screaming and banging on the stands. Dude! Not right! Anyhow, UNH (#1 in 1AA) beat Richmond (#4 in 1AA). It was a good game and a great day...and now I'm procrastinating doing the thesis writing I had planned to do last night, back when I figured I'd stay at Bob's for just an hour... =D

Also, it being the end of the baseball season (for us Sox fans, and hopefully the Yankees ones too after today's game), it is time for me to reread (and hence post) one of my all-time favorite pieces of prose:
Giamatti's Green Fields of the Mind. It's gorgeous, especially when read outloud.

Bye, Fenway, for another year....


Okay, back to the thesis this time, I swear!

(Awww...but Dan and I look so happy and summery! I can't possibly do work now...hmmm...what else to do...)

Mom's Art Show, Meeting Johnny Pesky

A piece of my mom's art was shown at Fenway a couple nights ago. I am so proud of her! It's a gorgeous plate. She was given a color palette with which to produce something, and I have included a picture below.

My mom, dad, and I were lucky enough to attend, thanks to my mom's friend and classmate, Shelly. Part of the festivities included meeting Johnny Pesky, of Pesky Pole (the right field foul pole at Fenway) fame.

What a great guy! He signed autographs and flirted with all of the women. He really could not have been more pleasant, and seemed like a genuinely happy person. I told him that I had a great picture of him on a certain Duck Tour in 2004 (the Sox Victory Parade), and he said, "I was pretty happy that day." It was awesome. Pictures are around.

Lani and Pesky
Originally uploaded by ilanad.

Moms piece 2
Originally uploaded by ilanad.

More thesis procrastination...

So I finally checked on my fantasy teams. Not looking so good, boys:

1. spike sharpeners (Atlanta friends baseball) are out, having lost to Nole Control! in the consolation round.
2. Dirt Dogs Plus One (Boston friends baseball) have advanced into the game for the bronze model (yes, also consolation round)
3. Studmuffins (Atlanta friends football) won their second game on Peyton Manning's 31-point performance.

Okay, back to the thesis. =)

College Football

Just got back from a weekend including watching the Clemson-Florida State game. It was amazing. Everybody should see a big-time college football game. There is nothing like the energy of the crowd, either before or after the elaborate tailgating.

I'll write more soon, when I'm not writing my thesis. (what a great excuse that is =D)

Traveling by Air?

Here is a good list of what you can and cannot bring on airplanes.

Sorry, kids...still no meat cleavers allowed on planes. You can bring pointy nail files and blunt scissors, but your defrizzer? Fuggedaboudit. Your hair will be HUGE.

Thesis

I have started work on my thesis. It's not that I'm not writing on this blog because I'm always writing the thesis, it's because I feel guilty writing on this blog instead of doing the thesis. =) I therefore have effectively avoided doing both...yay!

I know you're all thinking, geez! I wish Ilana would write more. I wonder what I can do to help...

Well, folks; here it is: you can go fill out a survey for me. Nine multiple-choice questions, that's it! Please?

Click here to take survey

Thanks, all!

Sigh...

Seems like just yesterday we were debating if Manny would be traded or not. Now it looks like the season is over. Sigh...

Red Sox vs. Yankees Towns

The Red Sox and Yankees play a five-game series this weekend. Katie sent me a great link about the division of fans in towns in Connecticut. Here it is. =)

Where is the Quickie going?

It seems like ESPN's Daily Quickie is going in the same direction as this blog...way less writing! They are ending it on August 31. Needless to say, I'm distraught. All the sports highlights with a definite East Coast bias in one page. So sad!

(See here for what the Quickie is if you don't already know)

LucchinoLogic

Those of you who know me know that I have my own special breed of logic: we call it "IlanaLogic." Now it seems that the Red Sox have *their* own special kind, which I have summarily dubbed "LucchinoLogic." Seems that they have decided that paying $75 to get on a season ticket waiting list is worth only three shots at semi-season tickets. They are now forcing people on this waiting list to take an offer of 10th man passes. If said season ticket list person does not accept the tickets three times, they are OFF the list. NO season tickets, no nothing.

It's absolute crap. I'm sure I'm not the only one upset about this. I already have a 10th man pass (about which I am not complaining; I LOVE that plan), but had really wanted the shot at season tickets...hence joining the wait list. Grrrr....

Here is the email from the Red Sox:
Thank you for your continued support of Boston Red Sox Baseball. The commitment and patience you've shown as a valued member of our Season Ticket Waiting List is truly appreciated. Our records indicate that you joined the list on 04/13/04.

With a season ticket renewal rate of nearly 100% each of the past few seasons, we had been unable to accommodate anyone from the waiting list since it began.
As you are likely aware, Fenway Park was under major construction this past off-season. The additional capacity created by the new State Street Pavilion Level enabled us to upgrade some current season ticket holders to better seating locations and larger season ticket plans. This created an opportunity for us to offer season tickets to many waitlist members. The process began with those who joined the list in December 2003 and progressed all the way through August 2004.

For the most part, waiting list members were offered the opportunity to purchase
2 tickets for one of our 10th Man Plans. Please note that this will normally be the case - as the first opportunity for larger season plans that may become available will go to our existing season ticket holders seeking an upgrade of their plan and/or location.

Please be aware that we have implemented a "three strike" seat offer policy; fans will be given the chance to decline a seat location (or season ticket plan) being offered to them three times before losing their place on the wait list and being moved to the back of the list.

When seats do become available, we want to be sure we are able to contact you.
Please take a moment to review your account information above and call our Season Ticket Services department at 877-REDSOX9 to update any discrepancies.

Once again, we appreciate your loyal support and thank you for your patience through this process.

House on the Beach

Today, I woke up relatively early and drove up to Wingaersheek beach to enjoy a couple of hours reading at the ocean. When I got there at 11am, there were only about 10 other cars in the lot, and very few people on the beach. I decided to put my stuff down and go for a walk.

I hadn't gotten very far when I was accosted by an adorable little girl, probably about 6 years old. She asked if I "wanted a tour of their house" and gestured toward a group of rocks spanning about 50 square yards that the beach is known for. I noticed her mother there, caught her eye for approval, then said, "Sure."

She walked me over to the rocks, and her little brother (probably about 4) joined in. Together they walked me around: "this is our master bedroom...this is our guest room...this is where we pee...(you have to poop in another place). This is our fish pond (we don't have any fish yet; we still need to catch them). This is our whirlpool..oh! and here's our pool. This is the grand ballroom. It's where our mommy and daddy got married."

brother: "Show her the jacuzzi!"
sister: "we don't have a jacuzzi. (pause) Oh, wait! Yes we do. (points at rock) Here's our jacuzzi. It's new!"

The tour went on for about 10 minutes. I asked about future additions, then got the tour of "Grandma's house," which was the group of rocks next to the main one through which I had been touring. Poor Grandma; the place to poop was actually a hole in the ground dug right in the middle of her guest ballroom. Luckily, as the little boy pointed out, "We haven't used it yet. We still have to go up to her real house over there." (Points to Grandma's real house. Grandma is one lucky lady, let me tell you). By the end, the little girl was grabbing my hand and saying, "Come HERE!" It was so cute that I am smiling still as I write this.

I think the tour would have gone on for about an hour or so if I hadn't finally stopped and thanked the little girl for her time before she put too many new additions on her rockhome. Her mother in turn thanked me profusely for accepting the tour, and I said I had enjoyed it. It was great to see the brother and sister creating a house of rocks. (So can they throw glass in it? Sorry, bad joke.) It was a wonderful break from reality (i.e. writing my thesis) to be reminded of how incredible children's imaginations can be.

I ain't got no class no more

I had what most likely will be my last class from the SDM program today. I front-loaded a lot of my classes because they were directly applicable to the work I was doing for my former company at the time, so I have all of my required classes out of the way.

I am really going to miss the SDM classes. I loved seeing everybody, and many of the classes were fun and interesting. I still have my thesis to do, and am not graduating until January 2007.

After class, I had lunch with Paul B., Joe, and Biju. Mmm....Anna's burritos...

On meetings

I can't stand meetings, and therefore loved this article on meetings.

Who'sh a bad blogger?

I am!

Quick update:
In the last few weeks, I have kept very busy with my new job at Car Gurus, travel, and school. I am LOVING my job...it is so much fun.

On the travel front, I visited my dear friends Kellie and Allen and their daughter Payton down in Raleigh. I've also been to the beach up here a couple of times.

Other things sucking up my spare time have included driving in Boston. Since the tunnel collapse, traffic has been unreal. One thing that has struck me as ironic is that drivers in other sections of the Big Dig are driving more slowly than usual. Personally, I just want to get the hell out of that place as quickly as possible. Not quite sure what the slow-driving logic is, but I am trying to zip through the poorly built hole in the ground.

Now I'm in Supply Chain class, the second-to-last class of my last required course here at MIT.

Quick Update

Sorry I have been slacking. When I was blogging every day, I used to think, "Why don't more people blog? It takes no time." Well, Ilana-from-the-Past, I have news for you: it does. Not once you start, but in actually finding time to start.

I have been working at my new job for the past two weeks and absolutely loving it. I really, really, really promise to fill in more details next week. I just wanted to get a post up as many people have been asking me how I’m doing. =)

Lots of News

So much has happened since last blog.

1. Atlanta
Will and I went down to Atlanta for the weekend and the Red Sox games. My friend Harry treated us like royalty: he gave us tickets about 30 rows behind home plate, passes to the 755 club (private club on the field), and even MARTA tokens. Thank you SO much, Harry!

We stopped by the CNN Center, and were able to see some of the people I had wanted to--Dennis, Yuliya, Unni, David, Firf, Greg,and of course Harry. We were unfortunately too late to see Mark, Mark,, and a few others. Never visit on a Friday! However, we did head over to Turner Field to tailgate with Lance, Laura, and Corny, before meeting up with Steve and John. The game was awesome. The Sox looked great, our seats were amazing, and it was great to be back at Turner Field.

The next day we were up early to head to Vinings for the June Birthday Trip--each year Derek organizes a party bus to a ballgame, and it happened to be to the Sox game this year. We hung out with the gang: Fronja, Radio, Mary, Chris, Larry, Jamie, the Riegers, and some fun new folks. We spent a couple of innings with them at the chophouse before heading to our seats for the majority of the game. Too much fun. Then bus it back.

Unfortunately, the game proved a bit much and we were unable to meet up with Greg and Deirdre, as we fell asleep at about 8pm. Sunday morning we were up early to have lunch with Suzanne, which was just wonderful. We spent Sunday at the pool, with a brief lunch with Blair and Pamela before heading out to the Botanical Gardens and finally the airport. SUCH a great weekend. Thanks to Will and all my Atlanta friends for making it so special.

Since then, I have started my new job at Nimalex. I am LOVING it. The first day was overwhelming (as first days usually are), but the second day (yesterday) I settled right in and had such a productive day. It's fun to sit with Yoav, and he has been doing a great job of getting me up to speed on the company.

Yesterday, I was able to have lunch with Will, and ran into Alli on my way back to the office. Dudes, I'm loving this. I 'll write more on the job later.

Last Day at MITRE

Today is my last day at MITRE. I am leaving to go to a startup (same one as Yoav). I'm SO excited for my new job, but of course sad to be leaving my current one as well. I'm going to miss coworkers and all.

Just wanted to drop a quick line. I plan to write again early next week. I start the new job on Monday.

TRIZ lives!

I was shocked to see an article on TRIZ in BusinessWeek. I remember learning about TRIZ in class, and wondering who would ever use it. Can't remember which class or when, but I definitely learned about it.

Phone Banking for Dan Ryan

How annoying are dinner-time cold calls? SO annoying, that's how annoying. Well, today I took a walk on the wild side and was on the other end of the phone.

Dude. Phone banking is tough! I volunteered to do some for Dan Ryan, who is running for Boston City Council. Dan is a great person and friend, so I was excited to help out, so I volunteered for two hours.

Some people are rude, some are rude in a funny way. ("Dorothy? Are you here? Sure? Who is this? A political campaign? Are you *sure* you don't want to speak to them?") Anyway, I was surprised by how nervous I got before placing the calls.

All this rambling means that next time someone cold calls me, I will be much more polite. =) Unless, of course, they're professionals...then they're built to handle the rudeness =D

Excellent Video

Here is an evolution of dance. I can think of only one major thing that he missed. I"ll post my opinion in my comments...let me know yours. =)

Shortness as Excuse for no Jail Time

I cannot get over this article about a 5'1" man who is excused from prison because he is too short after having sexual contact with a 12-year-old girl over a couple of months. The situation I wrote about earlier this week is cruelty; this is stupidity.

On a brighter note, everybody have a great Memorial Day Weekend! I'll blog again on Tuesday.

Rape in the Congo

This article is very disturbing, discussing the rape and torture of women, men, and children in the Congo. Does anybody know of any charitable organizations set up specifically to help support hospitals there?

Why am I watching this?

ESPN Classic is showing "Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Bill Buckner." My heart is breaking all over again. Why am I watching this?

The three singles, the passed ball, the error....(shudder)...

Ilana Heaven

Check out this site: Ilana heaven. How great is that? =D

Don't boo Canada =(

Sharks fans booed during the Canadian National Anthem prior to an NHL playoff game. Sooo absolutely disgusting.

It brings back a good memory though: after the Montreal Canadiens booed during the our National Anthem, the series was coming back to Boston. All of the news outlets in Boston (never ones to blow things out of proportion of course) were worried about the reaction of the Bruins fans. However, the fans made everybody look great by cheering loudly during the anthem. Ironically, they still drowned out the sound of the anthem with their cheers (not sure if that was on purpose or not).

In other sports news, both of my fantasy baseball teams fell a place this week, the spike sharpeners from 2nd to 3rd out of 6, and the dirt dogs plus one from 1st to 2nd out of 10. I have been too busy to manage either team thus far, and realized on Sunday that I had Pedro on the bench for one of those teams. He is the 2nd most valuable player OVERALL throughout that league, behind only Pujols. And he was on my bench because I hadn't checked since his first-week-of-the-season injury. Grrrr. He's in now, so be ready 2006 DD Reunion League!!!

PDD Over!

On Saturday, I spent the day at the Product Design and Development presentations. My dad went with me last year, and this year he brought my mom along. We all had a great time.

Most of the inventions were pretty impressive in terms of ideas, the actual product, or just the presentation. I found only a couple of the presentations to drag; most went very quickly.

We went second-to-last with ours. Rachael and I presented, and I think it went really well. I will post a link to our product as soon as our patent comes through. =)

Dartmouth is not conservative

It's been a while since I've blogged. The term is wrapping up, and I have been buried in papers and projects. However, I was taking a break and reading the news, and I came across an article about The Dartmouth student body electing an openly gay president. While I'm happy for the guy, I'm not at all surprised that we elected a gay president. Dartmouth kids are smart enough to vote the issues, dudes.

The winning candidate is quoted as saying, "I hope people see Dartmouth as not as conservative as they once thought." Why does everybody still think that Dartmouth is so darn conservative? Yes, it was once. IN 1985. Dudes. Big hair was in then. So were flourescent clothing and parachute pants. Michael Jackson was a well-respected singer. 1985 was a looooong time ago.

Dartmouth had already begun getting very liberal while I was there. The politically correct atmosphere bordered on stifling; not because I disagreed with the intention of the movement, but because the care with which people avoided elephants in the room made my stomach turn at times. (Yes, I'm sure that little old lady is carrying a bomb. Be sure to frisk her to prove there is no profiling of any kind going on).

Anyway, I love Dartmouth, don't get me wrong. If I had to live my life over, I would still apply there early, and would still participate in all the activities I did while there. I guess I'm just ranting about people still considering Dartmouth conservative in order to avoid doing the PDD or System Safety presentations. Who knows?

Just keep in mind that times have changed since the Dartmouth Review and Michael Jackson were popular. Now the Review is run by a group of nerds; nerds so nerdy that they would stand out at MIT. The Review barely made a peep while I was there. Once a week, I would find a paper lying in front of my door. When I had a bunny, I would line the cage with it. Once they wrote me up for being too liberal. Some people around campus had the article I wrote hanging on their walls...I had the Dartmouth Review's review of me on mine. It was hysterical and poorly written. What can ya do?

Okay, I'm done procrastinating. I'm going to go out humming the Dartmouth Fight Song (yes, there is one...) Glory to Dartmouth, loyal we sing, now all together...LET THE ECHOES RING FOR DARTMOUTH...

An engineering problem on Mem Drive

I was walking on Memorial Drive when I saw a mother duck with a line of ducklings following her. She was walking near train tracks about thirty feet below Mem Drive (right after the BU bridge). Suddenly, she turned and stepped over the train tracks. The ducklings all tried to follow her, but couldn't seem to make it over the first rail.

There were eight of them, and they kept popping up one at a time like popcorn. It took about four minutes before the first one got over. He stood with his mother between the two rails, waiting for the others.

The rest of the ducklings ran back and forth as a little mob by the rail, trying to pop over. Eventually, they found a spot that had a pile of leaves and five more of them climbed over that, leaving two behind. These two ran around for another couple of minutes before finding a tie to cross on.

So now we had a mother duck and eight ducklings in the middle of the track. Mom stepped over the next rail, with her little overachiever following closely behind her. The exact same struggle occurred as with the previous rail. After another 5 or so minutes, all the ducks were on the other side. The whole thing had me standing there watching for about 15 minutes. It was delightful for the most part, but a little sad whenever there was only one little ducky left trying to hop over each rail.

Just thought I'd share =) I didn't have my camera, and my camera phone couldn't get a close enough picture, or else I would have some really cute photos.

My reaction to Johnny Damon

Okay, here is my condensed reaction to why I would boo Damon: he went back on his word.

Yes, baseball is a business. However, if you work for Sun and bolt to work for Microsoft, your former coworkers won't exactly be cheering for you as you return to Sun after sharing all of Sun's secrets with Microsoft. There. "Baseball as a business" argument discarded.

Furthermore, if you are going to do something for yourself, say you are going to do it for yourself. At one point, Damon was quoted as saying that the extra money he earns with New York could "help a lot of people." Yeah, him and his wife. (Sorry, too much to do or else I would dig for the quote).

Lastly, and most importantly: he broke his word. On May 25 of last year, Damon said that he might leave the Red Sox, but would never play for the Yankees. I do not like liars.

Yes, Damon helped us win the World Series. For that I am grateful. However, think about Ford's CEO bolting for Dodge. Would you as a Ford employee still love him for something he did years ago?

It's like a man cheating on his wife and her saying, "Well, he cheated on me. But we went out for a really good dinner two years ago." Nuh-uh. Ain't gonna happen.

Stick It!

The creators of "Bring It On" are coming out with "Stick It," the gymnastics equivelent to the cheering of the prior film. Yes, "Bring It On" is one of my favorite films. I share this weird love with Katie, the other female engineer in the group. We want to plan a girls' night out to go see the film and enjoy martinis afterwards, as soon as I am done with class (along with Liz and Corey, of course!)

Chickies--let me know if you are interested. Guys--I am sure you are happy to be dodging a bullet with this one. =D

Catching Up

On Friday, I heard a wonderful lecture from Al Ford on the Subsafe program in my System Safety class. He spoke about how to embue a stringent safety program without having those in the company become jaded. The Subsafe program was started after the Thresher sank in 1963, and they have not lost a sub since. We saw very moving video of the Thresher, the Challenger, and the Columbia. The final film we saw showed men involved with the Thresher talking about how scared they were that something they had done had caused the death of the 129 men aboard the Thresher.

After that, Will and I met Josh, Ed,, and Ed's brother Adam out for drinks, followed by a sushi dinner.

Saturday, we went to Hannah's naming. The service was almost two hours long. The rabbi seemed nice, but he did not skip a single prayer, which is pretty ridiculous considering many who attend baby showers are not necessarily Jewish. After the service (during which Eve cried more than Hannah...no, I'm not tired of that joke yet), we had a good lunch at the temple followed by some hang-out time at home with my family, Naomi, and Steve.

That evening, Will took me out to dinner at Sibling Rivalry and then for drinks at Excelsor. The food, drinks, and company were all excellent. =)

Need a cap?

I am in a short break from a meeting, but wanted to share this info.

Distant Replays, an excellent sports memorabilia store in Atlanta, is having a sale on all of its caps. 25% off! I was able to find Red Sox stuff here I could never find, even in Boston.

Lazy Day with the Evies

This morning Will and I drove to New Rochelle to see Eve, Jeff, and Hannah. We are having a nice, lazy day full of watching quality TV such as Nascar (yeah), baseball, and cheerleading competitions.

Hannah has grown a lot and has a really cute personality. Soooo cute!

Firefox Rules!

I have spent about 6 hours trying to get certificates that work just fine in Firefox to work in Explorer without letting any cooties into my system. Thanks to Keith for this link.

Patriots' Day and System Safety Homework

Despite Monday being a holiday, I had to work all day. This included one two-hour meeting and another 3.5-hour meeting. From there, I went to school for a two-hour meeting about our PDD project. Luckily, we were very efficient about time use and accomplished a lot. It probably helped that before the meeting, Will and I grabbed a drink with Katie and Josh. I work with Katie, and she was in the 3.5-hour meeting so we rehashed a bit, but mostly conversation was about fun stuff =)

Today I spent a lot of time on my system safety homework. We are applying DOE analysis to the Milstar Centaur incident. Yes, I know, sounds like fun =) Actually, it was very interesting and the time went quickly. Yay!

Bob Francis in System Safety

On Friday, Bob Francis came to speak to my System Safety class. He was Vice Chairman of the NTSB, and headed up the handling of the TWA 800 flight and Valujet investigations.

I took copious notes and will post those later this week. He was an absolutely amazing lecturer. The class only has about 12 people in it, and to have him speaking in such a conversational tone about different aspects of safety was incredible.

This was made even better by the fact that after spending three hours listening to talk about airplane safety, Will and I met up with his Northwest airline pilot Uncle Hal and his co-pilot Joel. We contined discussing the issues of system safety, unions, and airlines over drinks. It was awesome to see Hal again (he and his wife Rae treated us like royalty when we stayed with them in Key Largo...absolutely amazing people. Yeah, i still need to blog about that. Dammit!)

So anyway, I'll post details later in the week when it's not past my bedtime.

Bad blogger!

Yeah, i'm a slacker. Here's a quick run-down:

Been to two Red Sox games, Wednesday and Saturday. They lost both. Grrr...David Wells looked absolutely awful. He had no business pitching. On Saturday, Wakefield looked great and pitched a complete game, but the Sox couldn't bat. I was ready to run on the field and take a shot. I went with Will to both games. On Wednesday, Jon and Meredith, the couple that sits next to me was there. We also met up with LFMers Brooke, Aimee, and Ray. Good times, good times.

Other than that, nothing too exciting. Friday was dinner at the Capital Grille for Will's birthday. I had french onion soup and lobster, both outstanding. Will had lobster bisque and filet mignon. We shared a piece of key lime pie, and I had an amazing Cabernet Franc ice wine. Yum! I tell you this for no other reason than to make you all insanely jealous ;)

After the Red Sox game and some subsequent bar-hopping on Saturday, we shared a couple of bottles of wine with Nick and Liz at Will's place.

Oh yeah! On Thursday, I had a very fun dinner of Matza, wine, and cheese with Jamie. We sat in, ate, drank, and told stories for several hours. Girls' nights are fun =)

Okay, that's enough details for now. I promise to be better about blogging this week.

First Red Sox game of the season

Tonight I have tickets to the Sox. I had to make a tough decision: Seder or Red Sox. Unlike Yoav, I have decided to be a bad Jew and fulfill the needs of my other religion instead. The Jewish tribe vs. Red Sox Nation: what can ya do?

I'm debating if I will be a completely terrible Jew and have a beer. I already have conceded the Fenway Frank, something I eat at every game. I guess I will play everything by beer...I mean ear!!

Go, Sox! I'm so excited.

Another softball game....

Still sore from the game on Saturday, my fellow Zara's Revengers took the field vs the LFM '07's. It was a really fun game, despite the fact that we got pulverized.

Personally, I had a great game. I got a ground-rule triple over the left-centerfielder's head that I could have stretched into a home run if it hadn't run into bushes on the periphery (I actually ran all the way to home and had to go back to second, then to third, as the rules were decided). Will did great as well, with a double and a single, which I guess add up to my triple. ;)

Amazing Coincidence

Eve, Jeff, Hannah, and their cats moved on Friday into a house formerly owned by Jeff's grandfather. They were cleaning up the house and my dad was tasked with clearing a bookshelf. In doing so, he came across a text book. When he opened it up, he saw his name on the inside cover. On the outside was Jeff's father's name.

In short, my dad bought a book, which he sold back, and was then bought by Jeff's father, ending up in the house that Eve and Jeff would eventually move into. How cool is that?

Softball with the LFMers

Yesterday was my first softball game of the season with Zara's Revenge, the LFM softball team run by Aimee that I played with last year. It was great to see everybody again and be out on the field.

It was very cold out, so it was hard to grip the bat or the ball, but I did okay. I batted out to the pitcher, then got a base hit to short right-center field, and batted out to the right fielder. (I can place the ball pretty well, so was trying to get it over the right fielder's head into a nice, clear spanse of field...didn't quite make it).

The other "highlight" was when I went to turn a double play. I was playing second (as I have been doing since I was 19) and our shortstop made a play on the ball and tossed it to me. I was about to turn to first when some little brat from the other team came SLIDING into me. Who in the heck tries to break up a double play in softball???? I have been playing recreational softball for over 10 years now and have never seen anything like it. I was too schocked to even say anything. It was kind of a nasty fall, and I am sore today from it. What a jerk! Will overheard members of the other team saying that they should "Be aggressive on the bases," even if it means "taking out" members of our team. Asses.

The ump called this ass safe because (surprise) I dropped the ball during my unexpected spill. Next play, the guy at first comes over to second, where again the shortstop tosses to me. I had my foot on the edge of the base (after 13 years of playing this position, I know not to block the bag. Hear that, first guy?) The ump calls him out and the guy starts bitching. I said, "Dude. You're out. You're standing on my foot. I got here first with the ball." Idiot.

Aside from those two incidents, it was a really fun game. The team stayed afterwards for some batting practice, but I had to go get ready to have dinner with Will's parents, who were in town from Texas for the evening. They were staying at the Custom House (in a room with a gorgeous view of the Harbor), so Will and I took a cab to meet them there. We had dinner at the Sail Loft, then grabbed some dessert at Modern pastry in the North End which we brought back to eat in the room. It was my first time meeting Will's dad, second time for his mom. I really like both of them, and it turned out to be a great evening despite my various bruises. =)

Joke for you

I am still slammed at work and school with little time to blog. To tide y'all over, here is a joke (warning: SDM-centric joke ahead). Thanks to Nick for helping brainstorm such a lovely joke:

What is a pirate's favorite class?

(See comments for answer.)

Oh, and

it's snowing.

You know you're a dork when....

...you're running on an elliptical, and the number of strides comes up as "777" and you think, "Cool! Now everybody has permissions!" For those non-dorks, read about chmod and 777 here.

Ilana is back!

Sorry I haven't written yet. I had an amazing time in Key Largo, but have been paying for it since my return. Things have been very hectic at work (DBA: "I made the change only to the production database, because I thought you were working on the development one." Me: "Noooo...I was in Key Largo, and regardless of where I was you never make a change to production without testing in at least development first!") and school.

I will try to post highlights of the trip by tomorrow night =)

Troy is back!

The Pats have re-signed Troy Brown! Yay! Now who's going to teach our favorite d-back/receiver/etc to kick? ;)

By the way, I am going to be taking a week off from blogging to enjoy a nice, relaxing Spring break. I'll talk to y'all again on the 2nd. Have a great week! =)

This is the spike sharpeners' year!

Dudes. I love my fantasy baseball team. No, not the one that automatically drafted A-Rod. I have two teams: one with Massachusetts folk, and one with Georgia boys. I love the latter league, as I seem to always get my choice of the American League. Anyway, break is over, here's the team:



Things to look for: my all-steroid bench (Giambi (21st round), Bonds (18th round), and Huff (20th round)). And my all-toe injury pitching (Pedro).

Dartmouth + MIT =

I had a revelation last night. All these years, I was always bothered by the expression "Going to sleep." I always figured that sleep wasn't a place, and so the "going" word really bothered me.

Well, last night I finally figured out that it could also be like, "What are you going to do?" "Well, I'm going to sleep." So, instead of being a noun (people, thing, in this case, place), it's a verb! (something you do)

I feel so much better now. Man, I really need the upcoming spring break.

Hectic Days

I know I have been awful about blogging. This has probably been my toughest term at MIT time-wise. I am currently taking four classes, all of which have us working in groups. Scheduling for these have been absolute hell. Here is a listing of my groups so you can see the variety of names:

PDD - Rachael, Biju, Paul (all work full-time), and now three others, including Nhan
Disruptive Tech - Rajiv, Kevin (works full-time), and three Sloanies
System Safety - Paul, Maggie (both work full-time)
System Optimization - Joe, John (both work full-time)

As you can guess, with the majority of us working pretty regular hours, getting in all this work has not been easy. In addition, most of the tasks for all these projects have been very difficult to divide, unlike other terms.

Swearing off Sports

First McGinest, then Arroyo, now this. Argh. I'm going to take up knitting.

Mad at the Sox

Bronson Arroyo took less money then he probably could have gotten elsewhere to remain with the Red Sox, and the Sox trade him for a backup outfielder. If I didn't have to get some work done, I'd be on a major rant right now. Sooo mad at the Sox. There is so little loyalty in today's sports world and they completely snubbed someone who displayed it. Disgusting.

Worst....bracket....ever....

Just go ahead and cross out UNC in my final four as well....

Adopt from Shelters!

Here is a moving article on some of what goes on in animal shelters. Those of you who know me know that the one constant in my life (other than love of family) over the last eight years has been my shelter kitty, Scully. The thought of giving her up for anything is unfathomable to me (and actually bringing tears to my eyes...or maybe that's just that UNC is losing and I have them winning it all...kidding, it's Scully). I cannot imagine the reasoning in a person's head that leads to giving up a pet, though this article has a couple of examples.

If you're looking to get a pet of any kind, I recommend at least visiting a shelter and spending some time with pets there. You can often find young puppies or kittens in addition to the older pets (they estimated Scully at 9 months). Definitely worth a look, despite the risk you may want to take all the animals there home with you. Scully says, "Go Tarheels!" I mean, "Thank you!"

Kansas?

When did I jump on the Kansas bandwagon? For some reason, I had them going to the final four!! D'oh! Not good. I have them beating out Indiana, having taken the opposite tack as fellow bracket-filler Yoav, who had them lose in the first round this year. My total potential points for the Oakland bracket therefore tops out at 12 out of 32. Ouch.

Television show on US Soliders Returning from Iraq

This show on Iraq will detail the returns of three soldiers, including one who is a fellow Dartmouth alum. It looks very sad, but worth watching.

Mad PowerPoint Skilz

Sometimes working on a PowerPoint-happy defense firm can really pay off!

Upon arriving in product design and development today, my team discovered we had missed a presentation deadline. I was able to whip up 10 slides complete with pictures in under 20 minutes! Yeah, I'm just shamelessly bragging because I am happy my rapid prototyping powerpointing has finally come in handy =D

Please, please let the lawyers take all his money...

Can you believe this guy?

Oh no! Not A-Rod!

I had to miss the draft for one of my fantasy teams due to my PDD meeting Tuesday night. As Lance pointed out, I ended up with the first pick...and my stupid picker took AROD!!! YUCK! The name of my team was the dirt dogs. Now it has to be dirt dogs plus one. Ain't no way I'm calling A-Rod a dirt dog.

Argh...I have no pitching.

Isaac Hayes leaves South Park

Isaac Hayes, who plays Chef on South Park, is leaving due to religious differences. In this article, creator Matt Stone alludes to the fact that Hayes never objected to making fun of religions other than his own. Bummer. The Chef character was awesome, and hypocrisy is uncool.

Happy Birthday, Dad, Happy Anniversary, Blog, Happy Slacking, me

Duuuude. I have been busy. Events I have missed:

March 12 was the one-year anniversary of this blog. This is my 520th post. I thought I talked a lot....now I know I can write a lot, too! Thanks again to Robbie, Yoav, and Matti for providing me the inspiration to start my own blog.

March 13 was my dad's official 60th birthday. Happy birthday, dad!

So where have I been? I was buried in work and school, then left for Atlanta for Suzanne's wedding. A quick run-down:

Friday: Finished up class, took a deep breath, then went to the Sloan Unity Party for about 20 minutes and the Cowboy Mouth concert with Will. The concert was incredible, as usual.

Saturday: Will took me to the airport for my 6am flight. I passed out cold as soon as we got in the air, which is very rare for me. Upon landing, I picked up my rental car and drove immediately to Ulta, where I spent way too much money on makeup and hair stuff. I also checked out DSW Shoes, but was able to withstrain (aka restrain) myself. Then Shannon called to say she was running late for lunch, so I went to Intimacy. I was just waiting for AmEx to call to see if my card was stolen.

I had lunch with Shannon at Neuvo Laredo, then went up to Tara, Goober, and Jeff's where I would be staying. We hung out and talked for a while, then I had to leave for the wedding. The wedding was wonderful: I barely recognized Rachel and Emily as both girls looked like beautiful, grown-up women. It was very strange. =) Matthew looked great as well, as did Suzanne and her new hubby Burt. Unfortunately, Suzanne's oldest son, Adam, was home sick with the flu =(

Anyway, the wedding was great, and then I went back to the house where I joined a party in progress with Grant and Tracy and the housefolk.

Sunday: Went to the wedding brunch. Very nice. I got to spend more time with Suzanne's parents, who are just wonderful people. From there, I went to see Pat and Amy, two of my freshmen from when I was a floor mom. They have a gorgeous daughter, Meghan, who is now 18 months. I stayed there for some time before having to head back to the house to go to a party at Tracy and Grant's. We were later joined by Patty, Nate, Sully, and Badonkadonk. It was great to see everyone. I was in bed by 8:30 =)

Monday: Dentist, then a walk through Piedmont Park. I was feeling very contemplative, and enjoyed sitting on a swing staring out at the city. After that, I went to the CNN Center (where I used to work), and saw Shannon, Steve, Yuliya, Firf, Mark, Unni, Jeff D, Mick M, David, as well as several others I hadn't planned to see, such as Joey, Mark and my favorite security guard. It was great just running into them. I hadn't seen some of these folks for quite some time.

I then flew out, arrived in Boston, was picked up by Will, then went over to Sloan for a meeting.

Today: Dude, I'm tired.

Olives in my Black Pants

Last night, Will, Elizabeth, Nick, and I went to Olive's to take advantage of Boston's restaurant week. Food was delicious and company was great. After dinners including steak, gnocchi, fish, and chocolate cake with a yummy red zin, we headed over to Warren Tavern. I actually had to pay cover! They are under new ownership and apparently the local discount is over. So annoying. The place was hopping and I got to see Brie, Andrew, Gregg, Jimmy, and of course singer Justin. Too much fun.

I wore black pants out. I have worn three different pairs of black pants in the last 24 hours and still have 5 or 6 pairs in my closet. I guess I really like black pants.

Demo Complete!

The big demo I have been ramping up for during the past week is over. It was actually one of those dream demos: my boss was in the room, and the customer said (and this is an exact quote): "I cannot believe how much functionality you got into that application in such a short time and small budget." Duuuude. That was awesome.

I really love doing demos and presentations, so it was fun, especially since the walk-through of the product went really well, with none of the blips that can pop up and kill a demo occurring. It was my first demo of a Ruby on Rails product. Looks like I will be doing more of those. Yay! =) The customer is already talking about funding for FY07. (By the way, when did we leave 2003? I can't believe it's 2006. I must have missed something.)

Ice, Ice Baby

Professor Utterback gave an absolutely amazing talk today on the history of the ice industry and how it was affected by innovation and technology. It was probably one of the best lectures I have heard since arriving at MIT, which I guess means ever.

I'm not going to try to paraphrase it, as there is no way to do it justice. However, you can read the bulk of the information here.

Long Day

Today was a long, long day. Too many meetings, not enough fun. I was excited for dinner with Susan Hockfield and the Graduate Women's group, but the first speaker was so god-awful that she makes my stories look coherent. I mean, really, top 10 worst speakers I have heard.

Anyway, I wanted to blog to get something out there, but now need to get back to doing some work. Hopefully after Wednesday I will be able to catch my breath and blog some more.

Dad's Birthday - Duke/UNC

I got back from Sharon, where I celebrated my dad's 60th birthday at Coriander with my mom, dad, Jeff, and Eve. Unfortunately, BT couldn't join us. Probably scared him Friday night when Eve made me laugh so hard that I couldn't swallow the water I was drinking at the time and inadvertantly spat a little of it into the water pitcher on the table. I tell ya, sometimes I'm class on a cracker.

I am now watching the end of the UNC-Duke game. Holy crud! What a game! I guess I have to cheer for North Carolina to make Robbie happy. =) Just a great game regardless of who wins for us unbiased NCAAB lovers.

UNC won! Yay, Robbie! From unranked at the beginning of the season to beating Duke at Duke during their senior night. Dude!

Would you like some Jesus with that pepperoni?

I don't like Domino's pizza, not only because it tastes terrible, but because the founder donates copiously to anti-abortion causes.

I've been trying to summarize this article graciously, but just can't seem to do it. Just read it.

Sloan Visiting Committee

On Wednesday, I met with members of the Sloan Visiting Committee along with Jim, Monica, Luis, Uday, Alex, and Sam. The Visiting Committee evaluates all of the Sloan programs once every few years. The committee consisted of four men, all MIT alums, from a range of classes, the youngest of which was 1972.

I thought we presented SDM very well, and that we were very well received. We talked about our interactions with Sloan and the classes we take there. Good times, good times. =) For more details, come talk to me. Class is starting =)

Indra Nooyi

Today Indra Nooyi, President and CFO of PepsiCo, Inc, came to speak at Sloan. I really liked her, but found her talk to be a bit more mixed. The topic she was supposed to be speaking about was "Diversity in Action." I kind of felt that the talk that resulted was like an Atkins diet sandwich: two really crappy pieces of bread surrounding some real quality stuff in the middle.

I did not like what she said about diversity (or, for that matter, the number of times she used the word "diversity.") She spoke at length about how PepsiCo tries to hire a diverse set of people, with at least half being minorities or women. I cannot stand demographic creation such as this. As a woman, I would rather not be hired than be hired because I am a woman.

For example, I once had words with a supervisor because I felt he did not treat women with equal respect as men. He told me that he feels very strongly about his women, and goes out of his way to hire and protect us. In that very statement, he revealed his different standards for treatment of the genders. While I appreciated that he thought he treated women well, the idea that he had to differentiate showed that I was still viewed as a woman, not as an engineer.

Anyhow, on to my bullet points. Like I wrote, I really liked Nooyi. When she spoke about her personal experiences, she was an engaging and intelligent speaker. She gave five C's that are essential for being a good leader:
1. Competency: What do you do best? Are you the "go to" person for this skill? Once you have this skill, never stop fine-tuning it.
2. Courage and conviction: Without these, you are not a leader; you are just another competent person.
2a. Confidence: You will find confidence comes from role models. She cited her mother as one of hers, having always believed in her. She then told a wonderful story about a bad suit-buying trip which resulted in her wearing a sari and being herself for an interview, which resulted in an offer from Booz Hamilton.
3. Consistency: This is about efficincy. Leaders erode trust when they waffle. There must be a logical reason for all choices.
4. Compass: Each of us has an internal compass which should know "true North." In other words, know yourself and your direction.
5. Coaching: Find supportive, encouraging, and blunt mentors. Mentors usually choose their mentees, so be sure to show off your other C's in your every day doings.

Hmmm...then my notes have such enlightening tidbits as "this diversity stuff is crap." I really don't like the whole affirmative action thing (at least as it pertains to myself), if you can't tell =) I just think it gives others the right to assume that I am where I am today, or that another minority is where he is today, due to our gender or ethnicity. I do think that a way to solve this is to be sure to recruit equally...that is give people equal opportunity to get the job, just don't hire or promote any differently.

Okay, this isn't a rant about my feelings, so back to the talk.

One thing I really liked is that she said that her competency is her problem solving. She has the ability to demystify the most complex situation, to assign others to it, and solve it. She said she was perceived for being like a dog given a bone once given a problem.

Her closing words were also very intelligent. She said there is no such thing as a work-life balance at her level or ones similar to it. Work becomes life, life becomes work. One must make tradeoffs constantly. One might not feel like he or she is good at anything, but one needs to be comfortable with who he or she is.

So, in short, a great speaker, but too bounded by the topic assigned for her speech.

Call me Lewis....or Clark...

I successfully navigated the MIT tunnels today from the West side of campus all the way to the East! (Okay, Lewis and/or Clark in reverse then) I'm so proud of me =)

In other news, Cowboy Mouth was on Ellen this morning. They are one of my favorite bands, and I'm really happy for them. On the other hand, now their concert in Boston next week will likely be crowded. Dammit!

KFC + Disruptive Tech

This article details an advertising strategy by KFC that encourages users with DVRs to watch their commercials at a slower speed in order to decipher a hidden message. Very interesting way of dealing with a technology which most other advertisers have tried to ignore.

PDD Advice

Our lecturer today just gave great advice: When one sees duct tape on an existing product, it probably represents a latent need.

Funny, but true!

Like, totally, gag me with a spoon

From today's Daily Quickie:

"Johnny Damon's arrival at Yankees' spring training confirms that he might give Derek Jeter a run as the team's most popular player."

EW. Ew ew ew!

1. I actually like Derek Jeter. An absolute class act.
2. I actually do not like Johnny Damon. He was never among my favorites. Touting stupidity ain't exactly my thang.

Running with Scissors

I know I have been pretty bad about blogging lately. I still feel absolutely wiped out. I know, I'm such a wimp. =D

Yesterday, I somehow managed to find a needle I had lost after stitching my comforter....by putting my hand down on it and having it go pretty darn deep. Thanks to BT for the first aid. =)

The big news of today was that my backpack strap got stuck in my car's cup holder thingy. I had to walk into work holding my laptop like a schoolgirl with her books. Eventually, I got to school, parked at Sloan, and came up to SDM to get scissors. Some people are scared to run with scissors; I don't even want to walk with the darn things.

So I walked through the SDM building, through the corridor to a Sloan building, down three flights of stairs, and out to the parking lot holding the scissors facing downwards, safely protected by my fist, just like we learned in kidnergarten. I cut loose the backpack, and I was free!

Anyway, that should give you people enough ammo on me for a while. Now it's off to CEO perspective: Corporations at the Crossroads.

Absolutely disgusting

Just when I thought I couldn't feel any sicker, I came across this article. Please tell me that somehow, in some parallel universe somewhere, this whole Rev Phelps crowd is just a sick, sick joke.

Busy Day at Work

I had a very busy day today at work, with the exception of a quick jaunt over to the doctor for a strep test and to make sure that I wasn't contagious enough to be infecting my co-workers.

I bounced among three projects today: Ruby backend Oracle, J2EE backend eXist, and J2EE backend Oracle. Pretty cool. It's like being a multi-lingual translator sometimes. =) Then I got really tired, considering it was the most I'd been awake since Thursday.

Okay, brain sleepy. Me go now.

Cold --> Sore Throat

So my cold progressed into a nasty sore throat. Instead of meeting with Jonathan about joining his 50k team, I stayed at home, napping, drinking tea, and watching really bad tv. Fun thing about being sick: my normally brief attention span shortens itself even more, so homework is pretty much a waste. (Yeah, I used the same excuse as a kid.. ;))

Anyway, the day was not without some merit. This page I found through StumbleUpon is pretty darn funny.

Classes this Term

I have to say that my classes so far this term have been excellent. I was not expecting much from a couple of them, but am impressed with all of them. I also have great teams. Here is what I am taking by order of class (i.e. Monday-Friday, 9-5, etc)

Systems Optimization: This class is interesting so far. Students last year raved about the quality of the class and instructor. So far, they are correct about the instructor. Simchi-Levi is excellent. A 9-12 class is a bit harsh on the ol' attention span, but I try. The first homework was tough, but hopefully the second will be better now that I have learned the tool (Solver in Excel)
Team: Joe, John Haj, maybe Yaming and Yuhong

Disruptive Technologies: Excellent. Utterback is a great and engaging lecturer (as I wrote earlier this week. Not much more to say than that.) As for the team in this class, it seems as though it will be good. We all had to choose a disruptive technology for the possibility of presenting before the class. I chose Open Source, and was among the 25 out of 60 to present my technology. I had planned on joining Sam's team, but found a number of people asking me about joining up after class (we were given time to make teams).
Team: The only ones on the team that I know so far are Kevin B and Rajiv. Both are SDMers that I have not worked with as of yet. The other three members are Sloanies. We temporarily had Paul B, but he was stolen by Sam's team. (You boys just wait til basketball....elbows will be flying!)

Product Design and Development: I was not expecting much from this class at all, but find myself really happy with it. In this class, we need to design and product a product (see Sorin's blog for more details). I am very excited about my product and team (no details yet =))
Team: Rachael, Paul W, and Biju.

Corporations at the Crossroads: The CEO Perspective (auditing): I'm excited for this class, but have only been able to attend one of the two lectures as I was sick last week. Apparently, Sloanies call this course "Clapping for Credit" (thanks, Dave!), but I'm not taking it for the credit, just for the clapping.

System Safety: This is probably not a course I would have taken if Nancy Leveson was not teaching it. I took her Software Engineering Concepts last term and loved it, so figured I would try this one out. It is actually very interesting. She details accidents such as the Challenger and air contamination in Bhopal, and talks about what could have been done to stop them. This class is Friday 1-4, so is at a bad time. However, Leveson realizes this and gives us ample breaks; we had two on Friday.
Team: Paul W and a woman from Lincoln Labs.

Okay, now that I have detailed each class and used the word "excited" more times than a third-grader would in his "What I Will Do with my Summer Vacation" essay, I guess I should go do some homework.

Soooo sick....

The cold I've been fighting has progressed into a sore throat. I forewent a weekend ski trip in favor of catching up on homework (that, plus it was going to be way too cold for me to be skiing). However, my illness-induced fogginess is making homework very cumbersome, so I'm blogging.=)

I am trying to rally for a pub crawl this afternoon with Jamie, Alisha, Liz, Lauren, et al, but don't know if I am going to make it. Dangit. I was really looking forward to it, especially after seeing everybody at our Valentine's Day girls' night in (which i just realized I never blogged about =))

Yay, Stupid Lawyer Girl!

Some people are unbelievable. Unbelievable, yet somehow entertaining.

Hungry?

How about a Rose of the Prophet Mohammed to go with your Freedom Fries?

Product Design and Development Presentations

Today in PDD, we had the initial product idea presentations. Teams were supposed to showcase a need, the market, and the mission statement. I am very impressed with the innovative thinking exhibitied by my classmates. We also got to meet the RISD students for the first time. They will be available to help with industrial engineering.

I am actually getting pretty excited for this project. I have a great team so far in Rachael, Biju, and Paul W. I can't share any ideas with you yet, as they are still top secret. ;)

The Quickie does it again

Today's Daily Quickie cartoon is hysterical. It really summarizes the problem with the swimsuit issue. It used to be a decent publication: as a woman, I could look through it and see swimsuits I might want to buy. When I got this week's issue, the first bit of text to catch my eye was "Heidi Klum Wearing Nothing But Paint." Hmm...certainly won't be wearing that this year.

Besides, where's my issue with Tom Brady in a fig leaf?

Ilana being Ilana

This morning I went to get in my car as I quite often do. However, it would not have seemed to the casual observer that I had ever gotten into a car in my life.

I somehow managed to hit my neck against the door. Hard! Like, right under my ear. It's been killing me all day.

There was nothing different from usual other than the fact that I am feeling slowed down by a chest cold.

Dude, how do I do these things?

"The way to the professor's heart is to bring in a unique lightbulb."

Professor Utterback just gave an absolutely excellent lecture on lightbulbs while wearing an apron with an image of a lightbulb on it given to him by his daughter.

He had an assortment of antique lightbulbs in class, and demonstrated the health of a few of them by putting them in a lamp his father had built in high school shop class. Utterback was very animated and obviously enjoyed the topic very much.

It was both interesting and inspirational. I can see why this class comes so highly recommended.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all! I love Valentine's Day. Any holiday centered on chocolate and telling people how much they mean to you is good with me. =)

Sooo sleepy...

I am so sleepy today. I couldn't fall asleep last night and am dragging today as a result. I am in between classes right now; Systems Opt ended at noon, and Disruptive Tech starts at 2:30.

Hmmm....perhaps a powernap on the SDM couches?

For those who think they miss snow...

(Keith) This is a picture of my car in winter of 2003-4.

Of course when I tell you I'll give ya more...

...I write less.

Anyway, my weekend was great. It started off on Friday evening with cocktails and snacks at the MIT Museum. Every time I go to that place, I promise myself I will return soon. Hopefully, this time I will make good on that promise =)

Saturday I went shopping and for lunch with the mom. We had a great time, buying out much of Costco and eating at the Kebab Factory. That night, I went for dinner (thanks, Rachael and Chris!), then to a party at Gilon's. Both were a lot of fun, but a couple of hours into the party, I was exhausted and headed home.

Any outdoor plans for Sunday were shot due a blizzard we got up here, but I had an excellent time inside, watching the blizzard, being lazy, and finding new and different ways to avoid homework. ;)

Yup, I'll be paying for it tonight.

Expect a lot of random posts....

Now that school has started back up, I have homework to do. Since I am not quite in the swing of things as of yet, I am trying to perfect my procrastination techniques. I will therefore probably be posting a lot of nonsense.

Here is a link detailing the history of my softball team in Atlanta. I find it quite entertaining (certainly more so than my system optimization homework =D)

I know my classmates' shower habits

During an entertaining Product Design and Development lecture, the guest lecturer discussed how firms discover the habits of their clientele using a bathroom accessory company as an example.

I now know who in my class faces towards or away from the stream, who thinks they close or open their eyes, and who likes a cold or hot surge at the end.

Yup, I'm blackmailing all y'all ;)

I would not have made it through elementary school....

I cannot believe they suspended this kid for sexual harrassment. I know y'all will find this hard to believe, but when I was in first grade, I spent all of recess chasing boys and trying to kiss them. This continued at lower levels through the third grade (and sometimes between classes today at MIT, but that's a whole other story....)

I would have been suspended at least once a week.

Sign from Above: Sox Fan on Billboard

I found this article to be very touching. It discusses parents' reaction to a son's posthumous appearance on a Red Sox billboard.

Yet another reason sports are important to society: the joy on the man's face is unmistakable.

Kornheiser on MNF!!!

ESPN has added Tony Kornheiser to the MNF football crew. If you read this blog, you know I am not a bid fan of John Madden. Anywhere they went not including that man was a step in the right direction for me.

I really like the choice of Kornheiser (who will be teamed with Theismann and Tirico). He has a very sharp wit, but a little more common-mannish than Dennis Miller. I'm seriously pumped about this. YAY! This can even improve PTI, as Wilbohn can take little jabs at the Monday Night commentating. Ooo...this is going to be fun.

I guess NBC--Madden's new home--will be the only station I will be muting next season =)

From today's Daily Quickie

Only thing missing is the blindfold on the referee....wait...unless they gave it to Pittsburgh on purpose! =O

Procrastination

Okay, I think I have found perhaps the most ridiculous procrastination device yet. Playing sad/happy greasemonkey!

FireFox users may have the monkey installed, and his little face shows up in the bottom right-hand corner of the browser. If he's sad, click on him, and he's happy! If he's happy, click on him, and he's sad!

Happy greasemonkey
Sad greasemonkey
Happy greasemonkey
Sad greasemonkey
Happ--oo!--Sad greasemonkey
Happy greasemonkey!

Fine, fine. I'll go do my reading and stop playing with the monkey's emotions (and script enabling).

HEeeeelllooooo...la la la!

They just had the Seinfeld "Talking Belly Button" episode on television. I have been walking around all day saying, "Hellloooo! La la la!"

Ha! Now you will, too =D

Great term ahead

Today has been a wonderful day of classes. My morning class was System Optimization with David Simchi-Levi. He started off the class with an anology of the costs of producing and returns on beer vs. ale. We then used Excel to produce spreadhseets which helped to decipher data. Very cool.

Next was Disruptive Technology with Jim Utterback. I sat in on the first class last year, but opted for Complex Engineering: Engineering Apollo instead. That was an excellent class that has served me well at school and at work, but I am very excited to be in Utterback's class this year.

Okay, gotta run to Product Design and Development. They moved the classroom. =) More later.

Ok, that's it. I need more girls' nights out

I think hanging out with almost all men at work (90% male) and school (also 90% male) is beginning to have a profound and disturbing effect on me:

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be. You're lucky you like pink so much, or we'd swear that you were a dude (okay, I added this part in because I think I'm funny...another male attribute =D)

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Then again, it could just be the fact that I am a complete slob who doesn't remember her dreams in the morning (or, for that matter, where she put her keys....)

First day of school jitters!

Like the night before classes start every semester, I have insomnia. I've been like this since I was a kid. Back then, I'd be so excited for school to start I couldn't sleep. Now I toss and turn as I think about fitting my homework and classes into my work schedule. When's recess?

Code black!

Eve just reminded me of our delightful text conversation last night. There is no reason we should be the only two privileged enough to read it:

Eve: "if this is about aliens I'll be pissed!"
Me: "I am laughing my ass off at your comment. I think it's ebola"
Eve: "What's ebola?"
Me: "Most deadly virus. Ok gotta watch now."
Eve (after we hear there's a bomb in the building: "alien bomb baby"
Me: "I love you =)" (really, what more was there to say? sistahs rule!)

Good Pear

I just had an excellent d'anjou pear. It's really amazing how happy good fruit makes me. I guess it's because with something like chocolate, one is pretty much guaranteed a positive experience. However, fruit gives no such guarantees. A mealy apple can look as appetizing as a delicious one.

So far today, I have had a good peach, apple, and pear. I have had no bad fruit as of yet (knock on wood). Yay!

Weirdest....Superbowl...ever...

The final score:
Steelers (and referees): 21
Seahawks: 10

(Code black!)

I'm not saying the Steelers would not have won if they hadn't had the refs on their side, but damn! those were some one-sided, no-make-up calls.

(Code black!)

Also, since when is a gyrating 62-year-old sexy? Ew! Whenever they showed the drummer in the purple shirt, my stomach turned. Ew! The whole thing seemed like some weird performance recorded in a rest home.

(Code black!)

My favorite commercial by far was the FedEx dinosaur one. Magnifique!

Wow! Did you know Jerome Bettis is from Detroit?

Oh, you did? You must have listened, read, or watched some form of media over the last three weeks. So *not* as major a story line as the media is making it (I know, shocking...what else can they grab onto?)

I'm really not looking forward to this game, with the exception of close-ups of Ben Roeth(etc) and Shaun Alexander. Oh, and the commercials and company watching the game. But the game itself? Ick. I miss the Pats. =(

Jewelry and dinner

I had a great time at Laura's house at the jewelry party. I saw her sister Christina, and met many of her friends. When introducing me to one of her friends, Laura said, "You two know each other." When observing our quizzical looks, she added, "We went to the beach together." Still nothing. "The year after we graduated from high school."

That was 14 years ago for those playing along at home. ;)

Afterwards, I went home so my parents could take me out to One Bistro for my birthday. Dinner was delicious, and the company was great. =) My parents know the chef through one of my father's coworkers, and he came to greet us, later sending us dessert at the end of the meal.

My parents seemed to know about 25% of the people at the restaurant. We ran into a couple they knew from several years ago, who--upon meeting me--said, "Where's the husband?" Excellent. Thanks for that. I then greeted a former classmate's parents. Same line of questioning: "Are you married? Are you seeing anybody?" Okay, that's it. I'm sticking to the city where older singles are more accepted, even expected. =D

Things I have done today....

...instead of working on my thesis:

1. My taxes: start to finish, state and federal, including e-filing.
2. Shredded old papers (we're talking from Atlanta banks here, people).
3. Finally found a link to the Mohammed cartoons.
4. Blogged
5. Leaving soon for jewelry party.
6. Misspelled "jewelry."
7. Caught misspelling by looking it up at websters.com.

Thanks, Sam!

Last night Sam cooked an absolutely amazing dinner for a few friends, including me. It was so good I got a little carried away at about the fourth course and proposed to Sam. =D I'm afraid it might not work out though; I really want a Vegas wedding while Sam seems to be perfectly happy with City Hall and Foxwoods. Hmph. If Elvis ain't in attendance, it ain't happening! =D

The only entity to enjoy the meal as much as I did was my shirt, which insisted on sampling everything. Nothing says "fashion" like argyle with currant sauce.

Afterwards, I stopped by the Thirsty Ear quickly to visit with the 06's and see if they were singing any karaoke. They were not, and I found myself entering the serious stages of a food coma, so left after about 20 minutes.

Sox Tix Arrive

I got a wonderful surprise in my mailbox at work today: 20 tickets to the Sox vs. Oakland game on July 13. There is little better in this world than seeing 20 Red Sox tickets. They are truly a thing of beauty.

Those 06's Can Party

I continue to be impressed with the SDM 06's. They go out in big groups and always seem to have fun. Last night there were about 15 of them at Warren Tavern. We had a great time, closing the place down.

Thanks, guys, for letting this weathered old 05 join your fun! =D

First laugh out loud of the term

Exactly 11 minutes into this term, Jeff L had me laughing outloud due to a well-timed Grampa Simpsons quote. Good job, Jeff!

On a different note, whenever I have a really bad professor at this school, it reminds me of seeing a really ugly guy with a really beautiful woman. You know there's got to be some positive quality you just ain't seein'.

Took me 11 minutes to laugh, and about 6 to tune out completely. What a waste.

New semester starts

Spring semester has started with Product Design and Development. I have been warned repeatedly about the levels of quality and applicability of these lectures.

The professor just told us he doesn't "do names anymore." Way to endear yourself to us! This is going to be GREAT.


OOOoo...he just said that unlike last year, he will not be repeating what is in the book. Exciting, no? Graduated 05's?

January 29: Key West: Last Day: I am a Sox fan.

We left Key West early in the morning to go to Key Largo to enjoy Pennekamp. It was beautiful, and I was able to do some snorkeling (the seas were too rough for me to dive).

We asked a guy at the park where to go for lunch, and he recommended Hobo's. It was absolutely dive-y from the outside and adorable on the inside. Well, except that it was filled with pictures of sports figures, and we happened to be seated under Bucky F'in Dent's watchful eyes.

Being the nutty Boston fan that I am, I quickly covered the picture with those little mini menu papers they keep in the plastic things on the table. The waitress noticed and laughed. She asked if I wanted her to take it down. I told her it was okay, I was just kidding around. However, on returning from a trip to the ladies' room, I found she had removed the photo. Needless to say, she got a huge tip.

Before

After

We then drove to the airport for our sad, sad flight back to Boston. The bright spot was that Corey was sweet enough to come get us. Thanks, Cors! And thanks, Liz, for a wonderful, wonderful vacation! Let's do it again. Want to leave tomorrow?

January 28: Key West, Day 4: I am lazy

Whose idea was it to do Guinness, then margaritas, then beer??

Anyway, I went back to the Banana Cafe for a delish crepe. Tres bien. I then planted my hungover butt at the pool, where Miss Liz and Kaydub joined me.

After a couple of hours (and a couple of pina coladas--for medicinal purposes only of course), I went to take a walk and Liz took Kaydub to the airport. I grabbed one last key lime pie ice cream (yeah, I was disgusting on this trip), and walked to the Southernmost point and then to a craft fair. Liz met me, and we finished up some shopping and had lunch at an outstanding Mexican place.



One last night of sunset watching, and we went home for a night in before an 8:15am dive in Key Largo. After days of partying, we fell asleep to shows on the History channel about Apollo (Gene Kranz's "Failure is not an Option." It was awesome.) They followed this with a special about the Challenger, in honor of the twentieth anniversary of its loss. I can't believe it's been twenty years.

January 27: Key West, Night 3: I am a bouncer.

After the Sunset Celebration, we went back to Irish Kevin's. Unfortunately, they had the same exact singer telling the same exact jokes. We got irked and left to go meet the Navy guys and wife at the original Sloppy Joe's.

We weren't allowed in with drinks, so Liz and I stayed outside while our new friend (nicknamed Kaydub) went in to gather the troops. I was in a friendly-type mood, so struck up a conversation with the bouncer. He is usually the guitarist there, and was working the door for the first time ever.

Unfortunately for the bouncer, there were two doors. He'd have everything under control at one door, and someone would sneak in the other. It was actually pretty funny, but ya couldn't help but feel bad for the guy. At one point, he told one dude he couldn't go in with his drink. The guy said, "Okay," but when the bouncer went to the other door, the guy walked right in. I walked in afterward and said, "Excuse me, but I think the nice bouncer asked you to stay outside with your beverage." Okay, it doesn't seem funny right now, but it was very entertaining at the time...even rule-breaker-drink dude laughed.

Just before we were going to leave for the next bar, a guy walks by with a Red Sox cap. Key West had so many dang Pats and Sox fans, but I had to say, "Go Pats!" (yes, I know they're momentarily stopped), and "Go Sox!" to each one. Well, this guy decides to stop and chat. He agreed to look for us at the next location, the current Sloppy Joe's.

It is important to note at this point that MensaBoy had become the butt of all our jokes. We would raise our fists to heaven, drop in a 3-point stance, yell "You're a great American," and tap our hearts and heads rapidly. Eventually, we have our whole table--Navy folk, Soxboy, and friends--doing it.

Guess who else we saw doing it...yup, he was out on the dance floor, fist to heaven. It took a while to get across to everybody that they needed to stop making fun, especially to the Soxboy, who at 24 and drunk was ready to take on the big man. I seriously cannot put into words how very funny this all was to us. Anyway, those guys were back there, so we said some quick hellos and enjoyed the rest of the night on the dance floor.

January 27: Key West: Day 3: I am a sun-bathing shopper!

I should probably mention that Liz and I really wanted to go diving, but the winds were very strong each day. We made and broke reservations every day, and Friday was no exception. Sigh....

We therefore had an excellent brunch at Banana Cafe and then sat our butts down at the pool with a couple of pina coladas (Garth: "Braiing mee....TWO pina coladas, one for each hand.") After we had finished our strenuous sun bathing, we changed and walked down Duval for some good, down-home shopping and gallery-gazing.

We went to the Sunset Celebration in Mallory Square, where I saw a man I remembered from last time who trains cats. They were so cute.

January 26: Key West: Night 2: I am a Great American!

After changing from the cruise, Liz and I walked down to Sloppy Joe's for a snack and drinks. I actually ordered a sloppy joe...it was quite delish!

I know I have a rule about blogging about boys, but this night was waaaay to entertaining to ignore. So we're sitting at a table by the door, and a group of men come in. They start talking talking to us. They're nice but pretty drunk, so we ask for our check with the next beer to move to a different table (we wanted them to hear the check request and take a hint). The waitress informed us they had picked up our tab, and we were all set. They left us alone anyway, so we stayed at the table.

I later bumped into one of them by the dance floor. He was very nice and good looking, but definitely lacking in the intelligence category. This, of course, makes for high entertainment near the high seas. Please share with me:
-- His opening line to me was, "I love your hair. I could do a triple lindy off of it." (Hunhhh?)
-- "Do you look in the mirror every day and say, "I am a GREAT American?"
-- His friend, noting his height (about 6'6") and mine: "If you two have kids, they will be in the NBA or NFL."
My response: "Good, because they probably won't be getting in to MIT."
-- "You know why I'm successful? Because I've got brains (madly taps temple), and heart (madly taps chest). I've got both (taps both manically...he may have been trying to communicate via morse code. I have no idea).
-- "You have the best hair. People pay thousands of dollars for hair like that." (For those that have never had a perm, I'm guessing a good one costs about $100).
-- "I'm in the CIA" (Wait...this is after telling me he was from Canada. My response: "The Canadian Intelligence Agency?")
-- "I can spot a Vietnam Vet a mile away. (Pokes older man walk by) You were in 'Nam, weren't you?" (crazy thing is that the guy really was in the war, and MensaBoy had never met him before).
-- "You must have gone to the best college. What is that one....Princeton?"
Me: "What exactly about me looks WASPish?"
-- Gotta note here that he told me his life story many times. ("I'm the youngest of eight boys. I had to fight!" He'd making little fighting gestures. He was quite the thespian.)
-- "I'm old enough to be your father!"
Me: "You're 40. I'm 32."
Him: "So when I was 12 years old, doing my paper route, you were 3!"
Me: "No, I was 4."

Like I wrote, he was entertaining and not bad to look at, so I hung out with him for a bit, but eventually tired of his antics and went to sit down. When I'd look at the dance floor, he'd just be standing there, fist to the ceiling. Oh! And he kept getting in a three-point stance. I shit you not. Remembering back to his glory days of college football.

I have finally decided it is time to have my Loser Magnet surgically removed. I'll let y'all know how the operation goes.

January 26: Key West, Day 2: I'm a model!

Liz and I woke up at a reasonable hour to head to the mythical free cruise. We got to Fury's offices at the appointed time (9:15). When we walked in, a girl asked, "Are you two models?" I responded, "Oh...we get that all the time!" I think I'm funny sometimes.

Well, turns out we were the models. We sat outside laughing our little butts off about our luck until 10am rolled around and it was time to board. On boarding, we met two other girls being "models." On the other side of the boat was a wholesome, all-American family with two sons and a daughter. They had food and drinks for us on board, but we had to do some photographs first. I was a "friend" with the other two girls, while Liz played a wife to someone. The friends got to pretend we were being handed snorkel gear. I had to smile madly at the man handing me the gear. It was kind of like being on a date with a guy who thinks he is very entertaining, but you find yourself quickly tuning him out and just sitting there smiling like a dope. Needless to say, I played my part effortlessly.

It was really windy on the water, so we didn't do any of the watersports. We did have a nice two-hour cruise. We disembarked, and headed to the hotel pool to lie out. On the way, we stopped to fill our Fat Tuesdays containers with libations. We spent a few hours at the pool, a couple on the beach, then headed back to the dock for a "Thank You" sunset cruise. They had good, tart margaritas. An excellent time.

January 25: Key West, Day One: I am 32!

After sludging through some ice/snow/rain combination and the subsequent de-icing of the plane (causing a 1:15 delay), Liz and I were off to Key West. We picked up our car at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, then started the drive. We stopped in Key Largo for lunch on the water.



Once we got to Key West, Liz took a nap, as she was nursing a nasty cold all week. I went for a walk, stopping by an ice cream stand for some Key Lime Pie ice cream. It was my birthday...I deserved it! We were staying at the Southernmost, so we had a great location on the ocean and duval. It was very soothing to watch the water.

Once Liz woke up, we set out for downtown. We went to one of my favorites, Fat Tuesdays, and grabbed daiquiris to aid us on our walk. At one point, a handsome young man stopped us on the street and asked how long we were in town for. When we told him we were there until Sunday, he started telling us about a photo shoot his company, Fury Catamaran, was doing for their brochure. They needed people on the boat to parasail, jetski, snorkel, and just look like they were having fun. Liz and I jokingly agreed to go on...seriously, he was offering all this stuff for free! How could we believe him? Regardless, we had a great laugh.

From there, we went to Irish Kevin's to celebrate my birthday evening with Guinness, Jaeger, and good live music. We ended up sitting with a group of Navy dudes and one of their wives. Liz told them I went to MIT and it was my birthday (Every time I mention someone knew at Key West, just assume Liz told them I go to MIT. I swear...the whole island knows now! =D)

Yada yada yada, it was fun, then we went home and crashed.

Worth the wait...

I am flying home from a wonderful few days in Key West, and will blog more soon. =)

Happy Birthday, me. Love, Theo?!?

Theo's back?!? Are you kidding me? After all that, huh? Hmmm....guess I'm happy to have him back, but could have done without all the drama. It's like dating someone who abruptly dumps you, then wants to get back together. Hmph. I guess we'll take him back...there are only so many cute single Jewish men left in the world....

Leavin' Primetime

Tomorrow is my birthday. Usually I get sad when I am leaving a prime number. However, this year, I am leaving 31. That means on my birthday 1/25 (or 5^3), I am turning 32 (or 2^5). I haven't been this excited since I turned 27!

Besides, after 32, nothing but good numbers for the next five years:

32: 2^5, Kevin McHale, Barkley with the 76ers

33: Larry Bird
34: Barkley with the Suns, the number I wore when I captained softball and basketball in high school, 17 * 2 (i love 17)
35: Backwards is 53, the number I wore my first three years of hoops
36: 6^2
37: Prime