I am now arranging my schedule from now until my graduation. Interesting how quickly several months can settle into stone so that you now know where you will be from one day to the next. Deadlines and funding dictate a defense date in late-May/early-June. The goal-line is now established. Time to finish the race.

Well, this b-day weekend ended up to be a lot more fun than I thought.

Friday night a friend and I went to Wendy's for dinner. There are only 2 Wendy's on the island and both are far from my place, so I almost never get to go there anymore. Then on Saturday another friend and I went to see the new Miyasaki film "Ponyo", which was a classic Studio Gibli movie: very cute without becoming cheesy. Also, my EVE Online Alliance participated in the grand tournament for the first qualifying round. We didn't win, but it was fun to cheer our team on, and we'll get another shot at it next weekend. Then, I was able to try out the new Cthulu boardgame I bought.

Overall, not too shabby. Now just another week of work before I finally go on "summer" vacation. :-)

Birthday has come, and big things are in the works. Should have a PhD and a published novel well before this time next year. Let's do this thing!

Germany trip went well. Got to tramp through some of the forested hills of Heidelberg and got a lot of novel writing done over the weekend.

I'm in Germany (Heidelburg)from now until July 28th. If you happen to be in central Europe, stop by and say hi. :-)

For the second year, just got back from my volunteer teaching at Maui Community College. The students were pretty good this year, although some assumed they knew a bit more about optics than they actually did. :-)

Just found The Phantom Tollbooth on YouTube. Now that was a good cartoon.

"Henceforth, and forthwith,
Let it be known by all,
Rhyme and Reason reign once more!"

Ever wish the lyrics of a song would actually match what goes on in the music video? Now your wish has come true:

Total Eclipse of the Heart (Watch out for spinning ninjas!)
With Arms Wide Open (My band is magic!)

Well, I figure it's about time I start looking for employment. I think I'll aim to start around the fall of 2010. That should give me enough time to finish up in Hawaii and then take a break for a couple months. I figure I can take one to sit around and catch up on writing projects since I never took a break between college and grad school.

Speaking of writing projects, got offered another chance to work on a short film script, so that should be fun. :-)

If any of you out there hear about any employment opportunities for an Astronomy PhD (i.e., teaching, research, planetarium, etc.), let me know. I'll probably give most things a shot at this point. :-)

Well, it's May. This month I will be sending off my Taurus paper to be published and start prepping for my summer teaching stuff on Maui. Wish me luck, it's gonna be brutal. ;-)

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir always does the best covers of traditional hymns, in my opinion.

Be Still, My Soul

God of Our Fathers

O Come, Let Us Adore Him

As a child, I loved the old Rankin-Bass Middle-Earth cartoons, especially the songs that incorporated Tolkien's poetry.

As an adult, I loved the visual look and epic scale of Jackson's LOTR Trilogy.

Now someone has been kind enough to combine them:

The Orcs Are Very Decent Singers

The first, refereed astronomy paper on which I am a co-author is now out:

Behold... Science!

It's about the activity of distant comets, and is based on researched I helped out with back in 2005. Next up, my first... first-author paper!

Look what I found!:

The Land Before Time Soundtrack

I'd almost forgotten how amazingly beautiful the music was to this simple but touching film. I nearly tear-up during certain parts of it. It reminds me how much I loved dinosaurs as a kid.

For those of you out there like me who grew up with the Legend of Zelda video games, I've found a site with a wide selection of re-orchestrated versions of all the memorable tunes. Starting from the original game all the way through Twilight Princess, it's a great nostalgia trip, plus quality music in its own right. There is also a collection of original soundscapes inspired by the games. Check it out!

The ZREO Project - Zelda Re-Orchestrated

So, got back from Colorado and GhengisCon 2009. Just like last time it was a blast: old college friends, no computer, and three days of beautiful board games. Also like last time, I found some games to buy and added them to my Amazon wishlist. Now just have to wait till I start getting my summer pay. :-)

I also brought back a cold, but oh well. :-P

A bunch of events upcoming this spring:
March -> Observing on UKIRT, Outreach classroom lectures
April -> IfA Open House, Planning for Maui Short Course
May -> Annual PDP Workshop in Maui
June -> Observing on IRTF

For those of you who have heard me praise and rave about the adventure game "The Longest Journey", here is you chance to see what all the fuss is about. I should be adding new videos once per week at the very least if not more often. Enjoy!

Let's Play The Longest Journey

So my friend Tiantian and I went on a hike this past Saturday on the Bowman Trail into the Ko'olau heights. This is considered one of the most difficult hikes in the area due to the narrow trail and the amount of climbing required. Overall, not a bad journey, but definitely the physically hardest hike I have ever done. Due to safety concerns (and for me exhaustion), we didn't make the entire 12 mile round trip (more like 80-85% of the full trail). However, Tiantian managed to get some nice photos of the surrounding valleys. I didn't bring nearly enough water as I should have, so shame on me. Fortunately, the weather was pretty much perfect, with partially cloudy skies, a nice breeze, and no rain. The path is so narrow and high-up that it would be suicide to try the trail when it's wet. Needless to say I put my work-boots and hiking staff to good use. Also, sure enough, I could barely walk on Sunday due to my muscles cramping up. But now on Monday I'm about at 60% of full mobility and had no problem doing my usual 2 mile walk into work. While according to the official medical record, I am at a weight that is considered "obese", I find it hard to believe given the amount of walking/hiking/climbing I can do. Maybe just the top half of me is obese. :-)

Pictures and a couple short videos of the event can be found here:
The Bowman Trail Hike

I love Mystery Science Theater 3000. I love video games. Now, someone has blended the two together exquisitely. Click the link and prepare to laugh. ^_^

Unskippable

If you spend enough time with me you'll inevitably find out how much I love Pachelbel's Canon in D. My personal view is that any song under which you can hum the Canon is a good song. Here is a funny rant by a guy who agrees with me about the prevalence of the Canon, but has a slightly different response to it. :-)

Pachelbel Rant