Ship Graphic

I may not have mentioned this on the blog yet, but I really enjoy doing graphics work. I like design, and being creative, and I dabble in Photoshop and Illustrator and Quark. I used to do a lot more graphic design types of things when I had more time, but now I only get around to it occasionally.

Flying home from the conference I attended, I had no internet access (what did we do before there were digg.com and email to kill time?) and I had already finished my book. For a project I had in mind, I needed a ship graphic in .eps format. So I played around in Illustrator and drew a ship.



But then I realized I needed the image to be small, so this was too busy. Plus the lines weren't straight (I didn't have my beloved Wacom pad to draw on). So when I got home, I tried again.



This one I think looks cleaner, the proportions are better, and the overall image will scale down with more clarity.

Yay for creative outlets. Now if only I can squeeze in time to finish the project I needed the ship for...

Health Care Shenanigans

So a while back I had an allergic reaction to something, and I wasn't sure what caused it.

The week after, my face swelled up again. I realized that I had used my face lotion that morning, thereby solving the mystery.



After a bit of research (well, really I just read the Amazon.com reviews) it turns out that some people do indeed have this reaction to this particular lotion. It's rare, so I guess I'm just special.

I took myself to the doctor, who fixed me up with an injection and prescription for the next week. I was fine by the next day - the wonders of modern medicine. The doctor recommended I see an allergist to figure out what's in the lotion that my skin doesn't like, so I can avoid it in the future.

Good idea, I thought, so this week I called an asked for an appointment. I got one.

Feb 10th, 2010.

Well I can tell how far down on the triage list MY request is.... I think I'll just look at the ingredient list on the jar, and call it good.... :)

Passing Thought

It is small difference between being neck-deep in what you love, and over your head.

Conference Summary

Whew! I made it. Conference complete. I don't have the mental energy to put together paragraphs, so I beg your indulgence for bullet points.

- On my own personal scorecard, the winner of the best title of paper at the conference: Pendulum Animal Impact Testing. That threw me for a loop so much that I looked up the paper just to see what it was about. From the abstract: "The authors have developed a pendulum test incorporating an animal dummy to generate similar roof deformation to that experienced in real world animal impact accidents." Well, I guess somebody has to do it...

- My presentation this morning (at 8am - yeek!) went quite well, I thought. There were more hands up with questions than I had time to answer at the end of the talk. That either means people were interested, or people couldn't understand what in the world I was talking about. I'm hoping the former.

- I met two professors from World's Best School here, and met up with four other World's Best School students. My school was well-represented!

- I spent my days in sessions listening to talks, but in the evenings I was left to my own devices. Two nights I had to work (although I'm not actually AT school this week, homework is still due....) but two other nights I spent socializing. I was worried about the meet-and-greet type stuff, but it turned out to be quite enjoyable and I met some really great students.



- Wednesday night all of us World's Best School students went out for a nice dinner. I was acquaintances with these students (knew their faces from the department) before this conference but I'd never gotten to know them. Turns out they are fascinating people, and we had great dinner conversation. Also, the food was divine. We went to a Greek restaurant run by Cat Cora (of Iron Chef fame on the Food Network). Every dish we ordered was sublime. Perfectly seasoned, unique but balanced recipes. Delicious! I got the "Traditional Whole Fish"



and fortunately, the restaurant staff was available to show me how to filet the fish - I didn't know how to eat what was on my plate.... Now I'm an expert! We all sampled each other's dishes (fisherman's stew, rack of lamb) and although they were all excellent, we agreed mine was the best.

- I got to soak up the sun one afternoon out by the pool, and then slip into the hot tub after the sun went down. I could practically feel the stress melt away... I tried to store up as much sun as possible before I head back to the New England winter!

- I walked out and about one afternoon, and there was an outdoor magician putting on a show. I stopped to watch, and enjoyed feeling like a little kid again.

- The food situation at the conference was terrible. Bad planning all around - the logistics were all screwed up. On Monday, they ran out of food after half an hour (in an hour and a half lunch slot). I was in line, and had to wait 15 minutes before they showed up with more sandwiches. Then just as I was about to get to the front of the line, they ran out again. Another 15 minute wait, and they came out with pasta. I got one meager spoonfull (on a dessert-sized plate) and a pack of chips, and that was all for lunch. Boo.

Then Tuesday, you got a choice of sandwiches. I chose the roasted pepper wrap, and it turned out to be this tiny little burrito sized thing. Whereas the people who wanted Philly Cheese Steak got huge subs. Unfair!

On Wednesday, there was no choice of food - and just as I got to the front of the line at my station, that station ran out. Everybody in line had to move over to a different station and wait in line all over again.

Then finally today, they didn't run out of food (it was hamburgers). But the problem was they lined everybody up in two lines to get the hamburger. Then they put one table with condiments (lettuce, tomato, ketchup, that sort of thing) to one side of the serving lines, requiring you to pass THROUGH the line to get to the condiments. Then because there was only one table, there was a bottleneck and the queue backed up into the hamburger line and caused a huge mess. Then to get your drink, you had to go back to the other side of the room (again, THROUGH the hamburger line). And then there were no tables to sit at.

Bah. For an engineering conference, nobody thought to count number of registrants and compare to the number of sandwiches? Or was there no systems engineer able to work out logisitcal queueing flow? AND there was no coffee available after 9am. Really? Coffee should be available at a near-constant rate, I think. There's STUDENTS attending, for crying out loud...

- I looked good at this conference. I had to buy a couple pairs of dress pants and shirts last week for this purpose (I haven't worn dress clothes in a while, and I've lost weight so my old things don't fit). I wanted to get a suit, but I couldn't find one on short notice that fit me well. Despite that, I felt very confident and svelte in my sharp clothes. Nothing like a black pencil skirt, crisp white button down and kitten heels to put a spring in your step. They were partly bought with birthday money, so thank you to family for that!


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So other than the food, a successful experience all the way around. I have a pocket full of business cards of people doing things relevant to my work (although I have none to give them), and I've been inspired to try a few new things in my own research. Tomorrow it's home again, home again, jiggety jig!

Always Forget Something

Every trip I take, I always manage to forget exactly one item. Doesn’t matter how many lists I make, how early I pack, how much I re-check my bag, or how many extra things I bring – there will always be one thing missing. So I have relegated myself to just making sure that one item is not a critical item. So far, I’ve never forgotten anything I truly need.

This trip, the only thing I forgot was business cards. A bummer, but most students don’t have business cards anyway so I can get along. I’ve been listening to a never-ending parade of presentations since I’ve been here (it’s my job to attend talks and network, you know) and occasionally there will be one that is relevant enough I’d like to keep in touch with the speaker. So I usually wait until the end of the session, introduce myself, and ask a few questions about the presentation. If I’d like to follow up later, I’ll ask for a business card.

The only time I’ve felt bad about not having contact information is when I speak to presenters from Asian countries. The culture, it turns out, is quite different there. Relationships and pecking orders are highly important, as are (it turns out) business cards. The presentation of business cards is almost a ritualistic affair. I first learned this when I went to Japan in undergrad – it’s customary to accept the business card with a bow (the depth of the bow depending on your relationship to the giver), hold it in both hands and carefully look at it before putting it away. Here in America, those customs are relaxed, but the business card is still important.

So when I wanted to send one speaker from Japan a note afterwards to discuss how his work could be helpful to my work, I asked for his email. He insisted that he have contact information from me as well, so I wrote my name and email on a slip of paper and handed it to him. I felt rather embarrassed as I watched how he carefully accepted the torn slip, read it, and placed it neatly inside his suit jacket.

I mean, if I thought it was going to be that important to him, I would have at least torn the edges STRAIGHT….

But all in all, an acceptable item to forget. I have latptop, presentation, ID, money, and business clothes – since I bought a good book in the gift shop, I may not even need to come home. J

From My Hotel in Sunny, Warm Conference City

This week I am attending a conference (at which I have a paper to present) in a beautiful, touristy city with highs in the 80s all this week. I am here by myself (advisor opted out of this one), and I intend to fully enjoy all the networking and all the sightseeing I can possibly cram in.

Just this evening I wandered down to the hotel lobby to try and rustle up some dinner (avoiding expensive room service at all costs). I was complaining in my head that it's actually rather hard to eat when you are only one person - it's awkward to go to a sit-down place by your lonesome, but there aren't any fast food places close to this hotel. And just then, I ran into a colleague of mine from World's Best School. How cool - and what fortunate happenstance! He is here with his labmate, and they each have papers to present at this conference.

So the three of us went to dinner, after finding a suitable place (how many engineers does it take to read a map... gees...). I got along really well with the two of them, and it certainly makes travel more enjoyable to have familiar faces to socialize with. After paying an exorbitant amount for a modest dinner and a sad-looking banana, we made plans to scout out a grocery store tomorrow evening to stock up on fruit.

So cheers to friends in all places -

A poem for your pleasure

I must share with you a poem that my brother composed and sent to me. I adore my brother, and his quirky sense of humor tickles me pink. He was emailing to me and my sister with a request for style advice:

I need some clothes that would a woman render,
Helpless to my charms, but still not offend her,
So that willingly her heart she might dutifully surrender,
For this I need assistance from the female gender!

Now how can a sister not respond to that?

There is a shopping trip coming Christmas, I promise you bud!