Blog Roots III

Periodically, I like to return to my blog roots and give a general update, so here goes: (Previous Blog Roots I, II)

T$ Update:

School and research are proceeding quite nicely. The first semesters of my time in Kansas were mostly slow, my research and other involvement did not keep me extremely busy. But then data collection for my thesis, supervising the rat lab, coordinating a student’s convention and other things kept me very busy. The same pattern is beginning to emerge here in Texas.

I’m working on several projects in the Aging and Cognition Lab related to metacognition, social aspects of age differences in memory, and student’s use of study strategies. I’m also very excited about a new project in the Environmental Psychophysiology Laboratory. I’ve written about the ERN here before; the new study is also related to the ERN. The study has the potential to make real progress disentangling several issues that have plagued interpretation of the waveform. The principle investigator (PI) has high hopes for its publication in a high-impact journal.

As is necessary to receive my stipend, I also teach a lab section of PSYC203: Statistics for Psychology, today we talked about independent samples t-tests. So far, it has been a fine experience, but mostly a back-burner activity, if I were the teacher of record I would feel more responsibility for the course.

Other News:

Was in Houston and Rice University over the weekend for the ARMADILLO cognition conference. Friday and Saturday there were talks all day and a poster session Friday afternoon (I presented some of my work on stereotypes and aging). Unlike other conferences I’ve been to, there was only one event at a time, whether it was a talk or a poster session. Meagan and I also enjoyed the Rice Village district, we had tapas Friday evening and visited the Chocolate Bar Saturday afternoon.

One interesting thing about Rice University, a private university with what must be an enormous endowment, is that its often referred to as the Harvard of the south. To students and faculty at Rice though, Harvard is the Rice of the north. UPDATE: I checked, Rice’s endowment is 4.7 billion dollars as of 2007. (wiki)

Meagan and I are hosting a Halloween party this Saturday. We’re hoping we can have as good a party as we did our last year in Kansas, which will not be an easy task. I think our costumes are a secret but I’ll definitely post pictures after the party.

TX Update:

Who knew it would rain so damn much in Texas. In September we had 7.4 inches of rain, over three inches above average, and this month we’re already at 8 inches, 4 inches above average!

Home Brew by Thanksgiving

Meagan bought me a home brewing kit for my birthday. My birthday isn’t until end of November but we both figured that it would be nice to be able to drink the home brew on my birthday, and so I got my gift early. I got a Better Basic brewing equipment set (w/ glass carboy) and a Caribou Slobber beer kit all from Northern Brewer.

Last night I boiled the wort and put it into the primary fermenter. The original gravity was 1.052. This morning when I woke up, about 10 hours after sealing the carboy, my airlock is bubbling like crazy. I’m beginning to worry about blowing the seal and making a mess. I wonder if I should put a blow-off tube on the carboy for the next few days (see the air lock bubbling). UPDATE: I’m told that if the Krausen (the foam at the top of the fermenter) does not reach the airlock, I shouldn’t be worried. (p.s. thanks to Aaron @groundrocket for advice on steeping specialty grains).

My amber beer should be ready by Thanksgiving, just in time for my parents visit.

Home Improvement on San Pedro

Meagan and I both agree, our recent home improvement landscaping project is not professional quality, but as a first try it’s pretty good. There are definitely things we would do differently, like adding edging or building up the base more.

Including the shovel, axe, tamper, brick pavers, paver base, paver sand, sandstone, mulch, flowers, potting soil, and patio furniture we spent around $500 (and many, many hours of labor).

You can't see the stump here.. But it WAS there.

Meagan Loves Leveling

Yes, we bought a tamper.

Our goal was entropy.

Searching for Entropy?

Ixora Flowers

Webster is not an LOL Cat.

Mexico is for lovers (Respete el límite de velocidad)

A Wedding Every Spring

What appears below is my recollection of the week leading up to Meagan and I’s wedding and the day of the wedding. I’ve been thorough for my own sake. It would be easy to forget a day or two of happenings when so much happened, I want to prevent this from occuring.

It would be great to hear your recollections,  so, please, please, please add them in the comments.

The Wedding Week

The week in South Dakota leading up to Meagan and I’s wedding was pleasant. Sunday I went walleye fishing with my dad at the Platte Creek recreation area and realized one of my favorite things is watching the prairie grass blowing in the wind. Being on the river in the early cool morning is so quiet. Later a good old friend and I made first contacts in a over a year. Wednesday for my bachelor party, Mike had arranged camping and rock climbing in the Palisades State Park. Other than a racoon eating a few of our tortillas it was a wonderful time. Rock climbing is so exciting. Thursday, we had a suprise birthday party for my mother. All 10 members of our immediate family were there. Finally on Friday, we had a rehearsal at the winery and ate at Mexico Viejo in Vermillion for dinner. Robbied hosted a poker game which I attended but lost badly. As we played in Robbie’s three-season room it began to rain, hard. Given our wedding was to be outdoors the next day I was quite concerned.

The Wedding

Meagan had spent the previous evening in Sioux Falls, so I arrived alone in Vermillion about 10:30 and went directly to the winery. The venue was quiet, I had no idea what to do. Ryan came down the elevator and said he was going to the USD bookstore so I went along. Later we met with my parents at their hotel room and decided to get lunch at Mr. Smith’s Bakery in Jones’ Food Center (some of the best sandwiches on the planet). On our way Jones, Meagan called and asked me to meet her at the Winery, we had to make the decision, was it to be an indoor or outdoor wedding?

A year ago, we planned for an outdoor wedding but also had a contingency plan. The week prior to the wedding was absolutely beautiful, sunny, clear, light breeze, and warm, but looming in the 10-day forecast was a 70% chance of rain for our wedding day, 6/6/09. When I met Meagan at the Winery about 11:15 we had to make a decision, it had rained all night and into the morning but it wasn’t currently raining, although it probably could have started any second. It was also a brisk 50-something degrees, it felt more like a Fall day than a late Spring day. Despite overcast skies and the possibility of rain, we decided to carry on with the outdoor ceremony.

Meagan left for the salon again and I stayed at the winery to help with the preparations. My dad and I finished setting up the chairs and Gary brought truckloads of decorations (e.g. flowers, vines, etc…) down the hill to the ceremony site. Meanwhile, my Mother, Meagan’s grandmother and other relatives kept busy with the indoor decorations.

Around 2:15, I was standing on the front deck of the winery and saw Meagan and her Mother enter the parking lot. I knew I wasn’t supposed to see her so I went inside and up to the room where we (the groomsmen, fathers, and I) would all be getting ready. As we got ready, the photographer’s assistant snapped photographs (I’m sure they’ll be some of the dullest photographs on record.)

Afterward, the men all migrated to the 3rd floor deck where we could view the Missouri River Valley. It was passed on that Meagan was ready and would be coming out shortly. I stood in waiting, oh the anticipation. She walked out of the French Doors and looked stunning, it was wonderful to see her and know the day had finally arrived. The photographer said we matched perfectly, perhaps she was referring to our coordinated clover accessories, her sash and my tie, but maybe she was referring to our Gestalt. I think the latter, Meagan and I make a good team.

After pictures on the 3rd floor deck, we went down to the cermony site for pictures with the bridal party. When we were done with pictures we returned to the winery and stood near the back door. Now the ceremony starts, mostly everything went as planned. The music was nice, and the readers Shannon and Meagan’s grandmother Marge did a great job. Each reading had infinitely more impact on me standing with Meagan on the day of our wedding compared to when we chose them.  The one thing that went awry was our candle lighting, I was able to light the candles but they almost immediately went out. What can I say, it was windy.

Following the ceremony and receiving line we took family pictures and went to the reception area to take a picture of Meagan and I fake-cutting the centerpiece cake. The dinner was good and included: dinner rolls, lettuce salad, rice pilaf, mixed vegatables, pasta salad, turkey, & roast beef. Of course there was cake for dessert.

Following the dinner we were introduced as the new married couple and danced to Phil Phillips and the Twilights do Sea of Love. Meagan and I had taken a few dance lessons  and were comfortable doing the foxtrot. The dance went great, we definitely made mistakes but we were both enjoying it. Then the bridal party dance to Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s I’ll Roll With You and finally the Mother-Son, Father-Daughter dance to Bobby Darin’s Mack the Knife.

People  were slow to get to the dance floor but within an hour or so the dance floor remained populated until the very last dances. We all danced to an interesting song by MGMT and at one point all of our friends and family (that were still there) surrounded Meagan and I while we danced to Garth Brooks’ Friends in Low Places. Periodically the DJ instructed the circle of people around us to take a step in. It was really nice.

As we exited the winery, our friends made a line of sparklers for us to walk through (a total surprise). I’m still not sure who was responsible for that…

Gift opening occured the next day. Meagan and I were both pleasantly surprised by the generousity of our friends and family. We received many thoughtful gifts.

Thanks everyone!

Le Tour 2009

Back from Vermillion, got married you know.
Back from Playa Del Carmen, had to honeymoon you know.

Great News. Got connected to the internet and was a offered a free month of cable TV coinciding perfectly with the Tour de France 2009. I’m so excited. Don’t try to reach me from July 4th to July 26th.

Too Bad Vino was banned.

Slow-Ride Foghat Concert

You might remember the English band Foghat from the 1970’s for songs like “Fool for the City,” their cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” or the classic “Slow Ride.” But you might not know they’ve had 21 different lineups since 1968. Meagan and I saw the current iteration of Foghat last night at the Wolf Pen Creek outdoor ampitheatre with one original member, Roger Earl on drums. 

The concert was mostly boring, songs about getting drunk and wanting to make love to people… The guitar solos were gratuitous and the singer was a failure. No surprise, their encore was “Slow Ride” which is featured prominently in the movie Dazed and Confused and is one of the easier songs on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It started raining so Meagan and I starting making our way back to our bikes but stopped in front of the stage for a final listen. I was infinitely more impressed with the band once we were directly in front of them, they were all old and they played their instruments well. 

Their second album went gold, probably for the clever-clever album art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the day, Meagan and I rode in our first organized bike ride of the year. It was a relatively short 18 miles on mostly flat country roads northeast of Bryan, TX. It was a benefit-ride for Junction 505, a group that provides assistant for individuals with disabilities. They also provided us with Blue Bell ice cream, Shipley’s doughnuts, and hot dogs.

Hunt

I’ve heard a lot of nasty stuff about feral pigs in Texas. They’re not native and their population growth is akin to rabbits or rats. Hogs are capable of reproduction at 9 months and they can have two litters a year. Apparently the hog population in Texas is 2,000,000. They also demolish crops, they ‘root’ around and make new growth near impossible. When growing stuff is hard enough in this soil type (clay) wild hogs are the bane of many a farmer. 

Still, I’m not sure they deserve to die for it, but I did shoot two last saturday. It was the first time I’ve hunted. Gary and I got into the first blind on a ranch near Piedmont, TX about 5am. A large boar appeared like a shadow in the dark about 6am and Gary shot and killed it. We saw a skunk, a bobcat, two cardinals and a bluebird but we didn’t see another hog until 4pm when we moved to another blind. A group of 20-30 (herd?) came out of a timberline and trampled down right in front of our blind. I shot a medium-sized sow with a rifle and Gary shot a sow with a muzzle loader. After tracking them down to their retreat, we returned to the blind and waited. Again, a large group came down from the same spot in the timber but this time stayed on the other side of the pond (about a 190 yards away). Gary noticed one limping and said if they got closer I should take a shot at the injured hog. They didn’t get closer but I took a shot anyway. This is the picture:

Afterward, we went back to the lodge where a cowboy and the owner quartered the hogs while we drank beer and talked about the hunt. My nerves were still settling down and my face was wind-burned.

A Holiday in South Dakota

I was delirious when I said I was looking forward to cold weather in South Dakota while we were back. On the drive north, Meagan and I talked about the psychological make-up of the people who populate areas like Canada, Alaska, SD, ND, MN etc… I grew up thinking people who lived in the way north were crazy (the psychological makeup) but coming from Texas and seeing fields of snow blowing and negative degree temperatures in South Dakota is also crazy, as such people here must be crazy. Everything is relative.

However, I did enjoy a few things about the cold weather. Scooping the sidewalk with my father and using the snow-blower was most definitely a highlight. The snow blower has an excellent range, so does my farmer-blow, I wish I had a picture of both. 

Whenever I get a chance, I also like to use Gary’s four-wheeler. Robyn and Gary live on land by the Sioux River so it is fun to head down to the river and tool around in the wooded area that leads up to it. I’ll usually get stuck but manage to remove myself somehow. Over the holiday I scared up at least a dozen of South Dakota’s bird, the pheasant. A little later on, I went across the road and into the ditch (on purpose). It is fun to drive over the field approaches and have the feeling of jumping, although Gary’s four-wheeler is a sportsman ATV and is heavy and stable (like Bowser on Mario Kart). Adding snow to the “jumping” equation turned out to be good and bad. After I jumped the approach I banked into the ditch incline and made a sharp left turn, I was successful doing this the first time only. The second time I was thrown from the four-wheeler into a snow bank. I was fine, the snow padded my landing, but the ATV was tipped on its side. A motorist stopped and helped me right the ATV. There was no damage to the machine or myself. 

Meagan and I, and our mothers, were able to figure out much more details about the Wedding. We went to the Winery on two occasions to figure out the menu, decorations, cake etc…  We also saw the barrel room which was neat. In all the wedding plans are coming along nicely, now we need to plan the honeymoon. 

A few of my favorite gifts include: 1) The new Kanye West album 2) A Leatherman multi-tool 3) An umbrella 4) A Cohen Bros. box set 5) And a 32′ Samsung LCD TV

Blog Roots

As I originally conceived it (link) this blog was supposeed to be a little like Twitter. It was supposed to contain updates, other news, and a state update, which usually amounted to be talking about the weather, exciting I know. While I haven’t strayed too far, I have sometimes neglected the objective. Let me return to my roots. 

T$ update:

I’ve been done with classes for over a week now. My first semester went off without a hitch, honestly I can’t believe its already over. The cognitive psychology course I took was always interesting and helped me think more on the topic. I’m happy I didn’t test out of statistics for two reasons. First, I recognize statistics is the language of science, as such one must be fluent. Any review of statistics or opportunity to learn new techniques should be snapped up. Second, multiple regression was mostly unfamiliar to me, now it is not. Furthermore, advanced topics such as logistic regression and path anlysis were wholly unfamiliar to me, now they are not.

Research my first semester was intense and continues throughout winter break. Without classes I’ve been able to focus on a side project regarding the history of psychology. I am tracing the intersections of psychology and the White House Conference on Children and Youth from 1909-1971. Probably the most notable intersection was a paper by Kenneth Clark on racial identification in African American children (aka the “Doll Studies“). Later this paper became a central point of the NAACP’s case in Brown vs. Board of Education (wiki). My other projects on metacognition, stereotype threat, perceived social support, and cognitive writing continue and are nearing the end of data collection.

Other News:

Christmas shopping and wrapping is done! Meagan and I are leaving for Nebraska and South Dakota tomorrow to spend the holidays with family. I’ve been helping Meagan with the baking a little bit (i.e. retrieving flour from the grocery store or mixing ingredients when her arm is fatigued). Webster continues to jump on the kitchen counter, I scold him when he does but I don’t think he cares, cats…

TX update:

Per a previous blog, readers know it has snowed here. The snow didn’t last long. Now we’ve been socked in the last three days, the fog makes it dreary but keeps the temperature up (currently it is 74 degrees).