{mountains}

The longer I live in Washington, the more I love the mountains and the water. I don't visit either often, but I love knowing they are near.

recently, a friend posted this image she had taken when visiting Seattle and the poem along with it. I love both, so I am remembering by sharing. 

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.

-Denise Levertov

{written about mt. rainier}

the eternal optimist

yesterday, as I was picking up shampoo for my roommate (you have got to try getting it on Amazon...save so many trips to the store!!) I stumbled across a nail polish called 'eternal optimist' -

also note the clear top coat - it promises 'Xtreme' durability...we'll see how it holds up at the rock wall...

not only is it is a nice light blush color, but now every time I look at my hands, I recall the name, reminding myself that I should keep an optimist's perspective on life. This is espically helpful when reviewing for my solar cell class test or doing solar cell class homework. 

I also recently purchased a new fun notebook for solar cell class review notes. I feel a smidgen better when I think about the class - at least I get to write in my fantastic notebook created from an old book!

if you can't read backwards/make up the missing word, it says "the young folk's shelf of books' :)

in all honestly though, you should know that it took me a solid 40+ minutes to paint my own nails. let's just say it's been awhile.

exploring fath & science

I'm finally getting around to listening to Pastor Richard Dahlstrom's sermons on the relationship between faith and science. I've only made it through the first one so far - Genesis and the Environment - and was reminded of this graphic that I ran across on the internet:

(via)

Incredible.

My thoughts on the sermons will probably show up in later posts, but you should take the time to listen to them as well, unless of course you go to Bethany and already heard them :)

you should also watch Prof. Cox's TED talk below

life, tangled

the way my life feels right now:

 I have good anchors, but the me in the middle is tired, stressed, confused, and conflicted.

Surprisingly enough, I have been getting enough sleep, 8+ hours a night.

But I think tomorrow is going to be a self-care/mental-health day - maybe sew for a little bit, clean my room, and maybe go see a ballet performance in the evening - even if I have to walk the two miles to get to the theatre.

umbrellas

(via)

not only is this so true - umbrellas for rain and sunshine - but it made me all nostalgic about the trip I took to the Philppines almost 2.5 years ago now. Wow! so long ago!

 
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear from the SPU team that recently served the same community on a study abroad trip that developed out of our trip. I was excited to see that the Seattle community continues to serve the people of Cuatro in Valley Golf, Manila, as well as working with the people serving through Kids International Ministries.

booth babes

ommph. I would audibly express my frustration, but my roommate is trying to learn how to nap (I know, who doesn't know how to nap?!) so I'm going to write about it. I'm also putting off finishing homework, but that's nothing new.

you all know how I struggle with appropriate dressing in a male-dominated science field, but there is absolutely no reason booth babes should exist.

'Booth babes' stir controversy at 2012 CES
(for some reason, BBC won't let me have an embed code, but you should click on the link and watch the video, it's not too long)

Booth babes are insulting to women working in the tech field and only encourage gender stereotyping and inappropriate behavior. Regardless of if a women voluntarily agreed to work as a booth babe, she should not be subject to inappropriate comments and behavior from men, as seen in the BBC clip. (I also hate the way women are dressed in most video games and sci-fi books, but that's for another post.) I also finding it insulting to attendees to just assume that they would not be interested in a product if they don't have a scantily-clad model holding it. The problem only doubles when models are hired and not expected to know anything about the product. A company engages an attendee by objectifying a woman and then can't the sell the product because the rep doesn't know what she is handling - awesome marking strategy PR department (a marketing team probably all filled with men, but I won't put it past a woman to set something up at a male-heavy expo) Someone attending something like CES is there specifically to find out about new products, so I really don't see the point of hiring booth babes to introduce new products. And to the gal in the red shirt who though what they were wearing was fine because they weren't practically naked and laying across the hood of a car - if the clothing isn't appropriate for the tech workplace, it shouldn't show up at a tech conference.

Violet Blue, over at ZDNet has a humorous and pointed discussion about what it would be like if booth babes were male. also awful was the number of men taking pictures of the women without a product in her hands (link is from another gaming conference where apparently booth babes were supposed to be absent. it's quite funny, actually). If you're a guy who would go ask about a product because of the women holding it, not because of the actual product itself, I never want to work with you. That behavior quickly translates into an uncomfortable atmosphere in the workplace and I want nothing to do with it.

I also found the model's comments on women not being interested in technology telling about what she values and how the low visibility of women in tech makes entering the filed intimidating. I don't believe girls will see science and technology as a viable career to pursue until we get more women doing high-profile awesome things in a non-exploiting manner. Which is tricky, because minds, values, and attitudes in the industry have to change now before more women will join. I'm not sure what exactly to do to help this change happen, but I think that starting by mentoring girls and showing them how they can excel in those fields and supporting women like my friend Meredith, who is blazing trails through the tech industry.

for more discussion about booth babes, there are some other articles that have popped up on the internet:
another ZDNet one
one from The Guardian - apparently women were dancing in thongs at CES....really?!!!
from The Atlantic Wire
CNET (via huffington post) posted an except of a Women in Tech Panel - and look how awesomely they all were dressed!!!

and a whole ream of photos of booth babes - can you tell what they are marketing?
oh wait - there's more
and look! some gadgets, but don't forget the booth babes.

I'm done ranting now, but if you read all the way through this, I'd be interested in hearing how you would/do respond to the idea or presence of booth babes at a conference.

Also, no relevant pictures in this post, because the only related pictures would be of scarcely clad women, and I don't want that on my blog. But I can give you a cute kitten picture!

I would totally check out a product if a marketing department used kittens to sell it.....

{young} women in science

so encouraged today - learned that the winners of Google's new Science Fair were all female.



slightly discouraged at the rate of rejection from the people the girls reached out to for assistance, but I'm not sure if the rejections were based on their age (13-18), type of experiments, or because they are female, so I won't judge the rejectors too harshly.

and nope, this contest was not targeted towards women/minorities, it just happend that these intelligent, curious and persistent women found the mentorship, support, and encouragement to continue working towards doing great and innovative science.

excitement vs. math

remember when I was really excited about my solar cell class??

yeah, that was after day 1. My feelings have rapidly u-turned, as illustrated by this graph I drew on my phone:

I'm currently on hour 7ish of working on the homework assignment, and have yet to answer even a single part of one of the two problems assigned. I apparently don't understand anything about lasers, flux, blackbody radiation, solar cells, etc and both my textbook and the internet are not helping. at all. Also, I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person in the class who used excel to do the last homework.....I never had to learn any sort of higher-level math program (MatLab, Mathematica, etc) in college. Learning one of those programs is on my list of things to do, soon.

And thanks to the holiday on Monday, I don't even think I'll be able to meet with my prof to discuss the homework. also, I lost my husky card yesterday which made Friday not a fantastic day at all, excluding the time spent rock climbing. That was fun, but since I lost my husky card, I can't go climbing again tomorrow, as was my plan.

At least today is Saturday.

what actually happend on my 'winter' break

I fall into the red slice of the pie chart

(just found this today, so appropriate)

read one book

got ~1/3 of my sweater knitted

slept

everything else is still on my to-do-eventually list.

{building} art

I should be in class right now, but thanks to the admin who showed up over 30 minutes late to our meeting regarding some fellowship application paperwork, I had to skip class :( Skipping grad courses makes me nervous, especially since this prof is new and there is not book for the course....

Anyways, as I walk from the bus stop to my building (~30% of my commute is spent walking) I pass by this fantastic building called Anderson Hall. Last night I noticed that one of the upper stories was lit up, revealing what appears to be a beautiful gothic-style hall. I'm not in the college of Forestry (clearly), so I'm going to try to explore the space without too many people noticing I'm there. I don't even know what the space is currently used for, so that complicates things a bit.

anderson hall {pre-giant-bus-stop now residing near it}

As I was looking up the building online, I stumbled across the UW's Digital Collections, full of historical photos and many original architectural drawings. Look at this incredible drawing I found of the Space Needle:

And the pictures come with interesting descriptions, including this about the Space Needle:

Set on the only section of the fair grounds that was not owned by the city, the site did not have the height restrictions of other exhibits/pavillions at the fair. The lot, 37-by-37 m, was purchased by private investors for $75,000 and is still privately owned.

and this was supposed to the be a bank at the World's Fair:

What a cool building! I haven't actually determined if this structure was ever built, but I'm think that it probably was not constructed, mainly because I can't find any info on it....but there is going to be some exhibitions this coming year to celebrate the 50 yr anniversary of the World's Fair, so maybe I can find out more later! (also, I've always secretly wanted a circular house...)

even the floor plan is something I would frame!

shampoo

my roommates are going to laugh as soon as they start reading this.

but today was the first day I felt like I stepped into a fuller utilization of the internet.
or got really lazy, depending on how you look at it.

How? By buying my shampoo on Amazon.

yep.

Typically, I use Amazon for books, shoes, or other kind-of specialized items (i.e. a bike light for my helmet, gloves with conductive fingers) But, thanks to fantastically free prime shipping, I can skip getting in my car, driving to a local store, spending time finding shampoo, getting distracted by all the other items in the store, and don't have to pay for the gas that it took to get to store. Now, in two days, by the time I run out of shampoo, a new bottle will be waiting on my porch. or my bed, if my roommate is nice enough to bring it inside before I get home. also, I'm pretty sure it would have taken more than two days for me to find time to drive to the store (thanks grad school).

Next step - Amazon Fresh? :)

roommate looking at me with a somewhat disapproving expression regarding my use of Amazon...

{art + friends = balance}

it's been four really really long days. and it's the first four days of the quarter.

mostly, I've been dealing with my new TA assignment all week. Due to poorly written lab handouts, I've spent time going physically through the labs myself, trying to decipher what the instructor intended. Fortunately, my chemistry background has made this a bit easier, as my MSE lab is basically a chem lab. It's been really interesting seeing how much the students don't remember about chemistry. I've been giving them a bit of grace, remembering that they only have had two quarters of gen chem, two years ago, but I'm going to have them watch this video before coming into lab next....

It even has fun music!

But, today is Saturday - woke up to my alarm at 8:40am, freaked out for a moment, said "kali - it's 8:40!" thinking she was late to work, and then remembered it was saturday (sorry for waking you up...)

Today was SAM day with Sarah! She's off to Indonesia with the Peace Core soon and I'm trying to keep good balance in my life by taking time for non-school related activities, so we bussed downtown to the SAM to see the 'Art of Asia' exhibit.

I really enjoyed the art on display, as I love asian art. There was an interesting mix of cultures represented, though ironically, no Indonesian art. As I am both a font and textile geek, I loved all the tapestries and scrolls. Apparently the following is the most important important scroll in the SAM collection:

Most interesting was the description that the characters can show excitement, exuberance, and even be a small surprise as you're reading - that is definitely more emotion than can come across in this very straight and proper Arial font....even modern calligraphy doesn't convey much emotion.

The textiles were fascinating, including the summer robe above. The blue was rich in color, and the embroidery was all golden. Incredibly, the robe was in the pristine condition, including the mesh sections along the arms. I just love textiles. 

In other news, I finally broke down and bought a paper weekly planner. I tried so hard to be paperless and take advantage of all my various electronics, but it was surprisingly difficult to track everything. Still on the hunt for a good planner app that interfaces with both my computer and my phone in a simple manner. In the meantime, I'm going to use this Moleskine planner with some great cover art: 

I've also spent copious amount of hours installing linux on my baby tablet pc. windows XP was just too cumbersome. 2 re-installs later and many minutes on the internet, I finally got the screen resolution fixed. it's the small victories in life.

My wonderful day ended with a lovely gathering of friends around a crockpot of soup, some TJ's cornbread, and homemade pazooki :) 

Thanks for filing our home with love, warmth, and laughter.

Q2

Today marks the first day of my second quarter in grad school. wow.

I met all the students I'll be TA-ing for over the course of the quarter: 38 boys and 8 girls. I guess that is engineering for you. Interestingly, all the TAs are women. Hopefully I didn't scare/annoy them too much with my page-long email and extra work I just assigned....it's going to be a fun quarter.

I think, however, that the most interesting part of my quarter is going to be this intro/get-everyone-up-to-speed photovoltaics course I'm taking from the Chem E department. I realized as my prof was giving his intro lecture that I had already read and cited a paper he wrote in my quarter report and some of my fellowship applications. Pretty sure I wasn't aware that the author of that paper was at the UW. Mainly, I'm just more excited than ever to work in the renewable/alternative energy sector. Solar is a very viable technology for energy independence, good stewardship of our natural resources, etc, etc, etc. While sitting through this class, I was almost overwhelmed (that sounds more dramatic than reality) with excitement that I possibly get to spend my career researching solar energy conversion. Kind of nerdy, I know, but I'm slowly realizing that I'd be very okay with staying in the solar sector. There are just so many interesting aspects - from the materials, to the processing, the device design; even energy policy is something I've been looking into .

favorite picture from the intro lecture:

notice the color over seattle? yeah. I just laughed when this popped up.

probably going to have to move to do this solar energy career.