OK, had to steal the title from John McClane.
Paula and I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness over the weekend. We really needed a break after the events of the weekend so a movie seemed like a good idea. How was it? It was probably the best movie I have seen this year. Granted with this years movies, that might be damning with faint praise but it was a good movie. Were there problems with the movie? Sure. What movie doesn't have some problems? But for the most part it kept Paula and I engrossed for two and a half hours at a time we really needed to be distracted.
I meant this post to mainly be about the movie but I think I need to explain why we needed a break. It all began Saturday morning. About a year ago our hot water heater exploded causing about $30k in damages. We started noticing some similar "warning signs" last week and had the installers come out. They said the problem was with a hose that was blocking some piping, they had moved the hose and thought everything would be o.k. Well it turns out that hose was to our water softener and when it recycled water, all the pumped water caused a flood and ruined most of the ceilings in the bathroom and downstairs bedroom. This time we were lucky enough to be home so we could save the bedding, the floors and everything else, but the drywall is gone. We ended up paying a plumber to come out Saturday evening and just totally disconnect the water softener.
Sunday was difficult for different reasons. We ended up putting Buckeye to sleep Sunday afternoon. He had been a shell of his former self for the last few years and we decided to not drag it out longer than necessary. It was a very hard decision and Paula and I were both in tears, but we both felt it was the best option for him.
Anyway, after leaving the vets we decided we needed a distraction and the new Star Trek movie seemed the perfect solution.
The Good:
The cast was perfect lead by Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, and don't get me started on Benedict Cumberbatch. I have been a fan of his since I first saw the BBC version of Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery, and he was great as the bad guy in this movie
The effects were also top notch, but did not overpower the story of the movie
The Bad:
Some people (not me) are complaining about the casting of Khan. They felt it should have gone to an Indian actor. I can see their point, but I think in a part where the dialogue and intonation are so vital, you want someone with perfect English in the role...and unfortunately I can not think of an Indian actor that could pull it off.
Plot hole. OK holes. The biggest for me was the demotion/promotion of Captain Kirk. He is punished in the beginning of the movie for violating the Prime Directive and "loses" the Enterprise. He goes to a bar and is informed there that he is actually just busted down to being the Executive Officer(XO) of the Enterprise. While at the bar he is called to Star Fleet HQ and after an attack there that kills the new captain is immediately made Captain of the Enterprise again and able to pull Spock back in as his XO. What kind of punishment was THAT?
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Am I Doing the RIGHT Thing
Once again I can't sleep and so I sit here writing into a blog that no one but me will ever read. Talk about depressing. As I look back on the last couple of weeks the common theme that keeps coming up is simple - am I doing the right thing?
My life has had its share of disappointments and stress, but things could have been a lot worse. Paula and Xander are always there to pick me up and I am not living in a car or something. So all told I have had a successful life. But through it all I really haven't had time to plan for anything or had the time to stress over details.
As a kid I was a Navy brat. We lived up and down the East Coast, but honestly it never really impacted me. Mom and Dad would come in, say we are moving to XYZ, I would pack and that would be it. Easy peasy. When I graduated college I moved to Houston, but again that was done over the course of about 2 weeks and so everything was rushed. When I moved back to Ohio, same thing. Moving to Alabama? Hired on October 4th, living here before Halloween.
That all leads us to now. I am moving my family to a city I haven't even picked out yet. On top of that I am rushed because we have to sell the house, but at the same time it is the longest period of time I have had to contemplate a move since I went away to college. What does that mean? It means all the little concerns I experience have all the time in the world to percolate into full blown fears. Are we making the right choice? Should we just stay here? Will the house sell? How will we live if it doesn't? Will I be able to get into classes easily at the new school? Will Paula be able to get a job? Will Xander like his new school? Will he make friends?
Don't get me wrong. I am excited about the opportunity that has presented itself. I hope I am up to the task - I think Corey will make sure I am before the end of the summer - but until I start there is just no way of knowing. I think someone with my temperament - a self proclaimed "jack of all trades" will be just what the lab needs to get started. But I wonder about that too. And I wonder about my coding skills, my abilities and my general lack of self confidence.
So what is the answer? I do not know. I think I am making the best decision for the long term. Is it the "safe" option? Probably not. There weren't really any safe options presented, all of them had a risk. Staying at UAB might have been the safe option, if I was sure they would continue to fund my position after Dr. Soni left. Would joining Corey have been the safe option? Maybe. I firmly believe in what he is looking to accomplish and I think they can do it, but that does not mean they will and I could not afford to work the hours required for the salary he was willing to pay. And so that leaves the option I took...open ended employment, lots of chances to do things right...all for the cost of moving from our home of the last ten years, pulling my wife from her job and my son from his friends.
So did I choose right?
My life has had its share of disappointments and stress, but things could have been a lot worse. Paula and Xander are always there to pick me up and I am not living in a car or something. So all told I have had a successful life. But through it all I really haven't had time to plan for anything or had the time to stress over details.
As a kid I was a Navy brat. We lived up and down the East Coast, but honestly it never really impacted me. Mom and Dad would come in, say we are moving to XYZ, I would pack and that would be it. Easy peasy. When I graduated college I moved to Houston, but again that was done over the course of about 2 weeks and so everything was rushed. When I moved back to Ohio, same thing. Moving to Alabama? Hired on October 4th, living here before Halloween.
That all leads us to now. I am moving my family to a city I haven't even picked out yet. On top of that I am rushed because we have to sell the house, but at the same time it is the longest period of time I have had to contemplate a move since I went away to college. What does that mean? It means all the little concerns I experience have all the time in the world to percolate into full blown fears. Are we making the right choice? Should we just stay here? Will the house sell? How will we live if it doesn't? Will I be able to get into classes easily at the new school? Will Paula be able to get a job? Will Xander like his new school? Will he make friends?
Don't get me wrong. I am excited about the opportunity that has presented itself. I hope I am up to the task - I think Corey will make sure I am before the end of the summer - but until I start there is just no way of knowing. I think someone with my temperament - a self proclaimed "jack of all trades" will be just what the lab needs to get started. But I wonder about that too. And I wonder about my coding skills, my abilities and my general lack of self confidence.
So what is the answer? I do not know. I think I am making the best decision for the long term. Is it the "safe" option? Probably not. There weren't really any safe options presented, all of them had a risk. Staying at UAB might have been the safe option, if I was sure they would continue to fund my position after Dr. Soni left. Would joining Corey have been the safe option? Maybe. I firmly believe in what he is looking to accomplish and I think they can do it, but that does not mean they will and I could not afford to work the hours required for the salary he was willing to pay. And so that leaves the option I took...open ended employment, lots of chances to do things right...all for the cost of moving from our home of the last ten years, pulling my wife from her job and my son from his friends.
So did I choose right?
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Iron Man 3
School is out for me, just waiting on grades and so my weekends, apart from housework are pretty open. I better enjoy it because summer school starts in about 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong - there is a lot of housework to get done. Especially with the move coming up.
Anyway, today, Paula, Xander and I took a break from housework to go see Iron Man 3 at the local theater. We went with one of Xander's friends, Dylan, and his dad to a early afternoon showing in 3-D. Xander really prefers to see movies in 3-D. If they are done well (which more are) 3-D adds to the enjoyment of the movie. Done poorly and it adds to the annoyance. This one was well done and I tended to enjoy the movie.
Iron Man 3 is a typical Marvel movie. It picks up at some point shortly after the events in the Avengers. Tony Stark is suffering from PTSD after the events of that movie and is afraid to sleep. During his downtime he has built a small army of Iron Man outfits. While this is going on a terrorist known only as 'The Mandarin' has emerged threatening the safety of the United States. Meanwhile, a woman (and honestly a man) from Tony's previous life as a booze hound has reentered his life. If you did not think all of those items were related, well you just having been paying attention. That is about all the plot I am going to go into but I will go into a couple of the problems I had with the movie. Both happen in the last quarter of the movie after Tony has uncovered all the myriad plots going on.
The first is the neutering of 'the Mandarin'. In the comics, Mandarin is one of Iron Man's chief villains. He was rated as the 81st best villain of all time, regardless of comic. In this movie he is a fraud. An actor hired to play a part and that just seems shortsighted. Here was a chance to give Tony a 'reuseable' villain in the same vein as Loki for Thor or Red Skull for Captain America (oh and raise your hand if you think we have seen the last of him). Instead the makers of this movie decide to make him a pawn of the real villains.
The second is the ending itself. Tony destroys all the suits, has the bomb shrapnel removed from his heart, and chucks the miniature arc reactor into the ocean. I know RDJ's contract is up after this movie, but did that mean they had to write themselves out of business. I mean I am sure Iron Man will show up in Avengers 2 but the way they ended this movie makes me wonder if there will ever be an Iron Man 4 - or if he will show up in Av3.
Anyway, today, Paula, Xander and I took a break from housework to go see Iron Man 3 at the local theater. We went with one of Xander's friends, Dylan, and his dad to a early afternoon showing in 3-D. Xander really prefers to see movies in 3-D. If they are done well (which more are) 3-D adds to the enjoyment of the movie. Done poorly and it adds to the annoyance. This one was well done and I tended to enjoy the movie.
Iron Man 3 is a typical Marvel movie. It picks up at some point shortly after the events in the Avengers. Tony Stark is suffering from PTSD after the events of that movie and is afraid to sleep. During his downtime he has built a small army of Iron Man outfits. While this is going on a terrorist known only as 'The Mandarin' has emerged threatening the safety of the United States. Meanwhile, a woman (and honestly a man) from Tony's previous life as a booze hound has reentered his life. If you did not think all of those items were related, well you just having been paying attention. That is about all the plot I am going to go into but I will go into a couple of the problems I had with the movie. Both happen in the last quarter of the movie after Tony has uncovered all the myriad plots going on.
The first is the neutering of 'the Mandarin'. In the comics, Mandarin is one of Iron Man's chief villains. He was rated as the 81st best villain of all time, regardless of comic. In this movie he is a fraud. An actor hired to play a part and that just seems shortsighted. Here was a chance to give Tony a 'reuseable' villain in the same vein as Loki for Thor or Red Skull for Captain America (oh and raise your hand if you think we have seen the last of him). Instead the makers of this movie decide to make him a pawn of the real villains.
The second is the ending itself. Tony destroys all the suits, has the bomb shrapnel removed from his heart, and chucks the miniature arc reactor into the ocean. I know RDJ's contract is up after this movie, but did that mean they had to write themselves out of business. I mean I am sure Iron Man will show up in Avengers 2 but the way they ended this movie makes me wonder if there will ever be an Iron Man 4 - or if he will show up in Av3.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Is It Even Relevant?
Can't sleep so I thought I would write. Looking over my Facebook feed my "Right Wing" friends are all making comments about a quote attributed to the President. Apparently he made the comment that he wasn't the same young Muslim Socialist he used to be. The left is basically saying "He was joking..Duh". The right for some reason seems to think that "no..he has finally admitted it and we were right all this time". My thought is - is it even relevant?
Let's take it one assertion at a time - Obama is Muslim. He said he isn't, no "records" show he is but the right believes it. But so what! One of the founding rights of the United States is Freedom of Religion. I am not a scholar on this particular topic but I do not remember reading anything that said you could not be a Muslim and the President. And hey, I get it - 12 years ago Muslim terrorists attacked the United States. But I think the key word in that statement isn't Muslim...it's terrorists! To lump all of the billions of Muslims into one group because of the actions of a minority would be the same as saying all Catholics are child molesters and all Christians are the same as the wackos from that church in Kansas that stage protests at the funerals of soldiers. One group inside your religion should not define your religion.
Second assertion, Obama is a Socialist. Once again, there is no proof to this except that the right continues to harp on it. And again I say, so what. I would argue that most Democrats believe at least a little bit in the tenets of Socialism. Obama seems to get the claim applied mostly, as far as I can tell, because of his health care initiative. Similar systems are in place around the world, and yet none of those governments are called Socialist. In fact, the most "Socialist" thing I have seen in the past 10 years was the government subsidies and bailout of the banking and auto industry that was started under Bush. That had all the earmarks of "state controlled business".
Let's take it one assertion at a time - Obama is Muslim. He said he isn't, no "records" show he is but the right believes it. But so what! One of the founding rights of the United States is Freedom of Religion. I am not a scholar on this particular topic but I do not remember reading anything that said you could not be a Muslim and the President. And hey, I get it - 12 years ago Muslim terrorists attacked the United States. But I think the key word in that statement isn't Muslim...it's terrorists! To lump all of the billions of Muslims into one group because of the actions of a minority would be the same as saying all Catholics are child molesters and all Christians are the same as the wackos from that church in Kansas that stage protests at the funerals of soldiers. One group inside your religion should not define your religion.
Second assertion, Obama is a Socialist. Once again, there is no proof to this except that the right continues to harp on it. And again I say, so what. I would argue that most Democrats believe at least a little bit in the tenets of Socialism. Obama seems to get the claim applied mostly, as far as I can tell, because of his health care initiative. Similar systems are in place around the world, and yet none of those governments are called Socialist. In fact, the most "Socialist" thing I have seen in the past 10 years was the government subsidies and bailout of the banking and auto industry that was started under Bush. That had all the earmarks of "state controlled business".
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Volunteering for Tennessee
So my lab and I had a meeting to discuss future plans a while back. Some will be staying at UAB for a while, some will be spinning off their own company, I was stuck. The lab as we currently know it is changing in the fall, but I am still a year away from my PhD. That severely limits my mobility and while I would love to stick with UAB through the end of my degree, it was beginning to look like that would not be an option. Our lab is fully funded through the end of September, but after that, no one is quite sure what will happen, but it does not look promising.
At the meeting a lifeline was offered to any who wanted it, and to everyone's surprise, I was the only one that bit. I volunteered to move to Tennessee. Seems we are starting a new lab at Tennessee Tech and while my role is not spelled out, I will pretty much be the head honcho there. It is really a great opportunity and we always knew we would probably be moving after my graduation anyway so this just moves it up a couple of years. I will be able to continue taking classes at Tennessee Tech, transfer the credit down to UAB and then finish up my dissertation research remotely and finish off the PhD.
The family will move up with me, though we are not sure if we want to live in Nashville or Knoxville. We have scheduled a weekend getaway to both cities to see which one we like more. Early money is on Nashville but that could change depending on how we like both cities.
At the meeting a lifeline was offered to any who wanted it, and to everyone's surprise, I was the only one that bit. I volunteered to move to Tennessee. Seems we are starting a new lab at Tennessee Tech and while my role is not spelled out, I will pretty much be the head honcho there. It is really a great opportunity and we always knew we would probably be moving after my graduation anyway so this just moves it up a couple of years. I will be able to continue taking classes at Tennessee Tech, transfer the credit down to UAB and then finish up my dissertation research remotely and finish off the PhD.
The family will move up with me, though we are not sure if we want to live in Nashville or Knoxville. We have scheduled a weekend getaway to both cities to see which one we like more. Early money is on Nashville but that could change depending on how we like both cities.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Up From the Ashes..
We are working on a military training project at work dealing with the training of Army Combat Medics. It is really interesting stuff, and more importantly for me, it was beginning to appear that this could actually be my research project for my PhD. Corey had even started to push me more into the administrative role in the project...things like pushing IRB approval through, monitoring the test results, that sort of thing.
The more I started looking into the project however, the more I began to realize it was not the best option. First, there is not a "control" group for the research, so we can not prove our training was particularly effective. Second, we have no way of communicating with the medics after they leave the lab to see if the training was helpful in any way. And finally, we had planned for 100 participants, and will end up with only 15-18, so we will not have any way of producing statistically relevant output. That means the wonderful papers we were supposed to write are instead going to be glorified white papers. So we will be able to explain what we did, and what we saw, but not enough to get me a PhD.
Anyway I discussed all of this with Corey this morning and over the course of the morning and afternoon we settled on a plan of action. Originally we were going to do a rather simple research project showing the effectiveness of Mixed Reality training simulations. Take 200-300 people, break them into a control group and a "Augmented training" group. The augmented group would have access to a VR training simulator that also stressed the participant. The goal of the experiment would be to have them come in a few days after training and seeing how they did and proving the Augmented training works.
I had a problem with this scenario though. Our main thrust of the research was that the stressors help improve learning aptitude and that would be lost in the VR training discussion. So, after trading ideas we changed our plan. We really have no doubt that training with VR improves your ability to learn. We are all about immersive training so we better feel that way. So in our newly revised plan, group A will get a "Field of Daises" VR simulation, group B will get a "total chaos" VR simulation. After a few days, we will test and see if our thought is correct - does learning under outside stress improve your ability to learn.
Should provide me with plenty of research material, it is meaningful for what we are doing, and actually is "doable". So here we go - Up From the Ashes, .Grow the Roses of Success
The more I started looking into the project however, the more I began to realize it was not the best option. First, there is not a "control" group for the research, so we can not prove our training was particularly effective. Second, we have no way of communicating with the medics after they leave the lab to see if the training was helpful in any way. And finally, we had planned for 100 participants, and will end up with only 15-18, so we will not have any way of producing statistically relevant output. That means the wonderful papers we were supposed to write are instead going to be glorified white papers. So we will be able to explain what we did, and what we saw, but not enough to get me a PhD.
Anyway I discussed all of this with Corey this morning and over the course of the morning and afternoon we settled on a plan of action. Originally we were going to do a rather simple research project showing the effectiveness of Mixed Reality training simulations. Take 200-300 people, break them into a control group and a "Augmented training" group. The augmented group would have access to a VR training simulator that also stressed the participant. The goal of the experiment would be to have them come in a few days after training and seeing how they did and proving the Augmented training works.
I had a problem with this scenario though. Our main thrust of the research was that the stressors help improve learning aptitude and that would be lost in the VR training discussion. So, after trading ideas we changed our plan. We really have no doubt that training with VR improves your ability to learn. We are all about immersive training so we better feel that way. So in our newly revised plan, group A will get a "Field of Daises" VR simulation, group B will get a "total chaos" VR simulation. After a few days, we will test and see if our thought is correct - does learning under outside stress improve your ability to learn.
Should provide me with plenty of research material, it is meaningful for what we are doing, and actually is "doable". So here we go - Up From the Ashes, .Grow the Roses of Success
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
That is just crazy talk
I really enjoy the show 'Castle'. I have always enjoyed Nathan Fillion as an actor dating back to his run as Caleb on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. That show deserves its own post but that will have to come later. For now we are talking about Castle.
The premise of Castle is pretty far fetched but it is lighthearted and a good diversion on a Monday night so it is tolerated. For those of you who do not watch the show Rick Castle (Fillion) is a mystery writer who, in the pilot, is suspected of murder because the crimes are very similar to his books. He helps the lead detective (Kate Beckett) solve the crime and then, in a twist everyone saw coming, strikes a deal with his buddy the mayor to get unlimited "ride along" privileges with the detectives. By applying his own logic to the crimes he is able to go from civilian nuisance to valued team member - all by solving the crimes the way he would write them given a chance.
So, I am up tonight watching a repeat of Castle when a conversation I had with Paula comes to mind. She seemed to think that I should write a book. I had a 10-15 laugh about that one. Lets be honest, any book I write would be a jumbled mess of nonsense. I have a head for trivia, and I am working on my degree..but that still has never stopped my brain from being a confused mess of random ideas.
But like every insidious idea that has ever been planted in my skull, this one, shuttled off to one side, has found some ground and threatens to grow into a crazy tree. I guess this means in addition to all of the other fun things I plan on doing with my time, I need to start figuring out what kind of book I want to write and mapping that out. While I trust my ability to write and I have a decent imagination, I would be lying if I said the thought of trying to write something did not scare me.
Here are the possible genres and my initial thoughts
Mystery
Pro: Lots of true crime to use as inspiration, make a good repeat character and you can do a series
Con: Have to come up with something no one has seen before or else you are derivative
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Pro: My personal favorite, I work in an area that could easily be considered Sci-Fi already
Con: Most fantasy is extremely derivative, have to come up with new Science AND a compelling story
Horror
Pro: Another favorite of mine
Con: I just don't think in the macabre mindset. Horror has really moved to the gory for gory sake in the last 10 years
Non-Fiction
Pro: Plenty of true life to talk about, both now and in history
Con: Lots of research and for most things all you can hope for is a rehash of someone elses story
The premise of Castle is pretty far fetched but it is lighthearted and a good diversion on a Monday night so it is tolerated. For those of you who do not watch the show Rick Castle (Fillion) is a mystery writer who, in the pilot, is suspected of murder because the crimes are very similar to his books. He helps the lead detective (Kate Beckett) solve the crime and then, in a twist everyone saw coming, strikes a deal with his buddy the mayor to get unlimited "ride along" privileges with the detectives. By applying his own logic to the crimes he is able to go from civilian nuisance to valued team member - all by solving the crimes the way he would write them given a chance.
So, I am up tonight watching a repeat of Castle when a conversation I had with Paula comes to mind. She seemed to think that I should write a book. I had a 10-15 laugh about that one. Lets be honest, any book I write would be a jumbled mess of nonsense. I have a head for trivia, and I am working on my degree..but that still has never stopped my brain from being a confused mess of random ideas.
But like every insidious idea that has ever been planted in my skull, this one, shuttled off to one side, has found some ground and threatens to grow into a crazy tree. I guess this means in addition to all of the other fun things I plan on doing with my time, I need to start figuring out what kind of book I want to write and mapping that out. While I trust my ability to write and I have a decent imagination, I would be lying if I said the thought of trying to write something did not scare me.
Here are the possible genres and my initial thoughts
Mystery
Pro: Lots of true crime to use as inspiration, make a good repeat character and you can do a series
Con: Have to come up with something no one has seen before or else you are derivative
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Pro: My personal favorite, I work in an area that could easily be considered Sci-Fi already
Con: Most fantasy is extremely derivative, have to come up with new Science AND a compelling story
Horror
Pro: Another favorite of mine
Con: I just don't think in the macabre mindset. Horror has really moved to the gory for gory sake in the last 10 years
Non-Fiction
Pro: Plenty of true life to talk about, both now and in history
Con: Lots of research and for most things all you can hope for is a rehash of someone elses story
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