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'For most laboratories, the measured radiance at 777nm is higher than the expected radiance. This may indicate a bias in the calibration of the SXR-II. But the mid-year comparison at NIST (Fig. 2.12, page 21) seems to limit this bias to less than 1%.'

Waiting at a traffic light. It turns green.

I'm carefully lining up printed sticky-backed paper (with numbers and shapes -- circles, squares, triangles) on a paper cutter.

'The original game of "Icehouse" was patented, but the patent was for the method of manipulating the pieces, not the pieces. They were paranoid about a large game company stealing their game design and selling it, so the patented *the game*. They weren't really interested in spending money trying to patent the concept of an elongated pyramid, and (AFAIK) still aren't.'

"See," I say, pointing at a graph on a sheet of paper, "all these people are going down like this and we're the squares."

I say, "I don't no, I, I'm sure he's gonna tick somebody else off at the party sometime."

Jim Butler is impersonating Jiminy Glick: "The other night he was interviewing Sharon Stone and he goes, Sharon STOOOONE!"

Listening to 'Didge Trio in E' by Voluminous Cacophony, while reading an article titled A New Calendrical System, by Pope Icky: '...and, to add even less palatable ingredients to an already gamey stew, people who actually believe in this person have placed his date of birth anywhere from four years to seventeen years previous to this Year One.'

Gina and I are looking at some small sores on Booda. "Well, put it on both of them," I say.

I put my glass of iced Vietnamese coffee down carefully on the table. Gina says, "Love you." I look across the table. She is smiling.

Listening to a soldier on the radio. He says, "It's a way of developing a relationship with the community, and to show the criminals that they're not in control."

'- Lojban is designed to be culturally neutral.
- Lojban grammar is based on the principles of logic.
- Lojban has an unambiguous grammar.'

Adjusting the dates and links on a web page of radiance data while listening to very loud didjeridu radio.

Logging out from the four:eleven list admin, and listening to ambient didjeridu music, 'Taksu' by Lights in a Fat City, while wondering why my four:eleven emails haven't mailed from the server.

"Persistance is what makes the impossible possible," says Anon. "The possible likely, and the likely definite. Did you know that, John?"

Wrapping up a vase in newspaper, outside of the New Deal Cafe.

"Good, that gives me time to get a haircut," I say to Gina, who is on the phone with my brother Thom. I hover the cursor over the 'Proceed to checkout' button on the computer screen. "Just kidding."

Walking quickly down the hall from the bathroom and thinking about First Friday tonight. A Bob Dylan tune, All Along The Watchtower, plays in my mind. I whistle a bar from it.

Standing outside John Marketon's office. He says, "Go! Stop talking! Start going!"

I move a book (Night Watch, Terry Pratchett; I guess Gina was reading here late last night) off the mouse pad enough that I can use the mouse. I move the mouse around to find the cursor on the screen, then click on the Mozilla icon. I'm thinking about the Toyota's starting problems.

Leaning back in my office chair, looking at at a spreadsheet of radiance values for Slick as I contemplate going home.

In the darkened cleanroom, calibrating Ursula sphere number 1.

Using my fingernails to pick some vegetable fibers out from between my teeth. Gina's sitting beside me on the couch eating the remains of a salad out of a big white plastic bowl. She's talking on the phone to her brother. She says "OK."

I'm folding clothes and listening to Studio Three-sixty on NPR. The interviewer says, "And I want to tell the listeners, since they'll hear the portentous sound of your voice, that you are speaking from your studio."

Waiting in the dark cleanroom for the 750 monochromator to finish its scan. Playing iRogue on my PDA.

Sitting in the cleanroom at a stainless steel table, talking to Molly Schmitz while my monochromator scans a sphere. "That's the way it is around here," I say. "You get two groups, sometimes you'll have three groups, and nobody's talking to each other."

I'm sitting in the cleanroom with my monochromator system, playing iRogue on my PDA. I descend to the 14th level.

Sitting beside my calibration equipment in the cleanroom; I don't hear the alarm.

Sitting on Margit's sofa with Gina. Across the room, Jun Ahn says, "Oh, the uh... not the Huguenots."
"No," replies a guy named Bill.

Kevin Kalmbach says, "What've I been doing?"
Kathy Fargo laughs and says, "Yeah, for the last ten or twelve years!"

I put the phone on its cradle, and go to the computer. It's playing Buenaventura by Outback on a didjeridu radio station at <joyousnoise.com>.

I tear open a bag of caramel popcorn, open my office door and enter. An Aboriginal tribal song is playing on my computer speakers.

In the cleanroom sitting at some monochromator instrumentation; I don't hear the alarm go off.

wed 21 may 2003

Driving Dippy; the NPR news anchor is talking about recent tax cut legislation.

tue 20 may 2003

"No no, the lamp produces more UV than the sphere, so you'd expect..."
- Anon.

mon 19 may 2003

Leo, on the phone, says, "What're ya talking about?"
I say, "It's a band..."

sun 18 may 2003

I bring my dijeridu slowly away from the microphone while I'm playing so that it "fades" while the drummers continue with their beat.

sat 17 may 2003

Driving car to the pet expo? (Didn't hear the alarm, durn it.)

fri 16 may 2003

"We rely on these things, bosons & fermions, acting the way they do because if
they don't everything falls apart."

thu 15 may 2003

"Is it OK to save it in here?" I ask.
"Yeah, it's OK to save it in there," Jim Butler answers.

wed 14 may 2003

I hold a tape measure by the tape end; the locked rolled up section is hanging  over a straight edge ruler held in my other hand, as I prepare to measure the distance from the monochromator's input sphere to the aperture of the sphere named Slick.

tue 13 may 2003

In the cleanroom, I grab a water bottle from a shelf. It contains about an inch of water. I'm really thirsty.

mon 12 may 2003

Looking at columns of numbers on a big spreadsheet, wondering if I got the lamp irradiance values in the right place at the detector overlap region.

sun 11 may 2003

I'm listening to Prospero in The Tempest, waiting for my cue. He says, "And as the morning steals upon the darkness, so their rising senses begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle their clearer reason."

sat 10 may 2003

Holding a pair of jeans to fold, I look to a pile of Gina's folded jeans on the bed. The top pair looks like mine so I grab it with my free hand. A guy on the radio is talking about how the death of a city's orchestra presages a bad economy for the city. I'm not listening to exactly what they're saying.

fri 09 may 2003

Editing a title in a graph. It says, 'Slick cal 20030423' I hit the return key and start typing 'Cooler' but it doesn't show on the screen. I hit the backspace key a few times and add a comma on the same line.

thu 08 may 2003

"So that's my conspiracy theory of the day," says Anon, on the phone.
I say, "Yeah!"
"And whether or not it's real, it's pretty good."

wed 07 may 2003

Looking over an email I'm about to send: 'She is trying to find advice and connections to enable her to transition from the science & engineering world into a youth service / community organization.'

tue 06 may 2003

Looking at the apple menu for 'Recent Servers' on a little mac in the cleanroom. (This isn't the right menu.) The list says:
'MacApps
Spectral
SSF
User'

mon 05 may 2003

"There isn't much left in Pierce City; when the storm left, all the homes were gone."

sun 04 may 2003

Sitting behind the scenes at a play, The Tempest, at the Greenbelt community theater, waiting for the right time to play the chimes. Prospero says, "They being penitent, the sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown further. Go, release them, Ariel."

sat 03 may 2003

"Ah, see we'd turn that way," Gina says, as we come to a stoplight. I say, "It's nine point four right now."

fri 02 may 2003

Gina is vacuuming, some Beatles song is playing loudly, and I'm looking through the Consumer Reports site for information on stereo receivers.

thu 01 may 2003

Rubbing my itchy eyes, I'm thinking of maybe discontinuing the Heap archive on the Ginohn website. I look up at my computer. The top window says, 'Virtual PC "Joms23"'.

wed 30 april 2003

I look up from my PDA. The monochromator has just finished its scan.

tue 29 april 2003

'By the time that got under way, Kohilas already had been at Ikaros for about six hours. He had to start the lambs early because they take at least four hours to cook.'
- SunSpot.net article: 'Day for family, feasting in Greektown'

mon 28 april 2003

Adjusting the lamp target jig so that the laser hits the crosshairs.

sun 27 april 2003

"Uh oh," I say, realizing the badminton birdy is missing its rubber head. It hits my racket, bounces straight up and comes down. I hit it again. "Uh oh!"

sat 26 april 2003

Flipping through some channels on TV, I stop on a young woman talking to the camera: "They buried us in sand. And if you were thinking what I was thinking, you'd be thinking, I'm buried in sand."

fri 25 april 2003

Looking at a description of a watch: 'All day Indiglo display, Night-mode feature Long-wearing polyurethane Strap'.

thu 24 april 2003

Eating corn chips and reading a travel advisory from the CDC: 'Most cases of SARS have involved people who cared for or lived with someone with SARS, or had direct contact with infectious material (for example, respiratory secretions) from a person who has SARS.'

wed 23 april 2003

Working in the cleanroom; I don't hear my alarm.

tue 22 april 2003

I remove my cleanroom hood and hang it on a hook in my locker.

mon 21 april 2003

I pick up some chocolate, wrapped in foil, open my desk drawer and toss it in.

sun 20 april 2003

Carrying my eucalyptus dij, I walk past a small basketball court. There's one guy, young and bald, dribbling a ball from one basket to another and making shots.

sat 19 april 2003

"Lazarus! Hi, Lazarus! Hey..." I say, as Lazarus barks loudly at another dog in between wagging his tail hello at me. I crouch and he sniffs my face as I scratch his head and say, "Lazarus, shh..." He keeps barking.

fri 18 april 2003

'Let us start by assuming that the cosmological fluid is homogeneous and also that at every point all directions are equivalent; that is we have isotropy (note that homogeneity does not imply isotropy.)'

thu 17 april 2003

From the hallway, I open my office door with my left hand and lean over to pick up a package marked for UPS pickup with my right. It's lighter than I expected.

wed 16 april 2003

Looking at some scribbled notes that end with lines from 'TUE' leading to 'TAXES' and 'FIRE', followed by another item, 'THUR'. (What did we do Thursday, besides going to the Looneys'? Oh, yeah, I stayed home sick.)

tue 15 april 2003

I'm talking to Molly Schmitz. I say, "Because everything I've seen or heard can be described in the natural world."

mon 14 april 2003

Carrying my sunglasses and sweatshirt, I walk down the hallway toward the restroom.

sun 13 april 2003

Scanning through a Consumer Reports list of ink-jet printers

sat 12 april 2003

'Click Import 1099's if you'd like to import your 1099 information.'
I click 'Skip'.

fri 11 april 2003

Asleep.

thu 10 april 2003

'He drew the bunch down, released it and struck it twice with his left fist.
"Open. Open," he said.'

wed 9 april 2003

Looking at Google News. The last headlines were loaded 2 hours ago:
'A Crashing End - Newsweek
The end game is near, says US - The Hindu'

tue 8april 2003

The 'Save As' window shows a filename '20030327121900Slick.TXT'. I highlight 'TXT', hit the caps lock key and type 'txt'.

mon 7april 2003

Scanning a paragraph from an email I'm writing: 'My guess (based on noise equivalent radiance) is that we could calibrate a source that had an output of at least 2 W/(m².sr.µm) at 400 nm and stay within 10% uncertainty. We cannot provide data below 400 nm or above 2400 nm. This is bounded by our 746-ISIC system capabilities in wavelengths below 400 nm and by NIST standard lamp data limits above 2400 nm.'

sun 6 april 2003

Walking near the Washington monument with Gina, Marlene, and Margit. "This guy," I say, "I was walking behind him like this," and I pretend like I'm ducking behind someone as I'm walking, "and he was going..." I make annoyed, don't-follow-me looks over my shoulder.

sat 5 april 2003

"John's gotta go poop," says Gina, giggling as we walk slowly up a grassy hill, "he's got a turtle head sticking out..."

fri 4 april 2003

I leave the trash bin open and go back to the kitchen counter looking for more trash to throw away, thinking it's probably full enough to take outside.

thu 3 april 2003

John Marketon and Dad are staring intently at a small Happy Hour menu, held between them.

wed 2 april 2003

John Marketon says, "Now there are other Raytheon divisions around here but I don't know anybody in them."

tue 1 april 2003

Talking to Dave Glenar on the phone. I say, "We could send another source, that is we have a four foot hemisphere that has been shipped before."

mon 31 march 2003

Leo is talking to me on the phone. He says, "They're like, some of the few that are independently owned."

sun 30 march 2003

On the phone with Jenny; she says, "I'm kind of leaning away from going."
"You really think it's gonna go below freezing?" I ask.

sat 29 march 2003

Walking with Gina, Joey, and the dogs - Booda, Trixie, and Sandy - on the fence path in the woods. Gina says, "Yeah, food tastes better when you have to work for it though."

fri 28 march 2003

'defeated the 64-bit int
the acid hit'
- iRogue game on my PDA

thu 27 march 2003

I glance quickly from the lamp power supply to the monochromator readout to the computer screen; everything looks fine, the system is sampling at 1060nm.

wed 26 march 2003

John Marketon tells Molly Schmitz, "Alright, your new name for today is Giggles."

tue 25 march 2003

I type 'Sure, I think.'

mon 24 march 2003

In the cleanroom with Gerhard, aligning the SeaWiFS transfer spectrometer.

sun 23 march 2003

Sitting with Skip on the back of an open, mostly empty, moving van. I'm drinking seltzer water from a glass. "I imagine that they're probably good for each other," says Skip. "They -- they have a shared nuttiness."

sat 22 march 2003

Pulling up English ivy from around a tree.

fri 21 march 2003

Typing an email:
'Hi Steve,
I ran some lamp scans; the data are attached. L030318a through L030318c are'

thu 20 march 2003

As techno-new-age-ambient music plays in in the background, Jim Butler says, "If these apertures are lost, I might be looking for a new job I think."
Molly Schmitz says, "Why, is that a good thing?"
"I don't know," he says, "I'm busy drooling."

wed 19 march 2003

I'm reading a weather report at <http://www.chart.state.md.us/>. A line reads, 'Chance of rain near 100 percent.' I say it out loud, like a weather forecaster: "Chance of rain, hundred percent."

tue 18 march 2003

I select 'Zoom' from the 'View' menu, to make my graph larger.

mon 17 march 2003

In the cleanroom, preparing the 746 monochromator for an overnight warmup.

sun 16 march 2003

"What, are you committing?" I ask.
Gina says, "No. I'm asking."

sat 15 march 2003

"Well mostly what they do is they calculate the numbers that it puts out, or the kind of numbers that it should put out," I say to Leo, as we're walking with a big crowd down a street in DC.

fri 14 march 2003

A window on the screen says, 'Downloading BBEdit_7.0.3_Update.dmg.bin'. I'm hoping it's the right operating system.

thu 13 march 2003

Sitting in a bar, composing a haiku (something like 'snow falls on ski tracks').

wed 12 march 2003

I say, "So yesterday Gina called me and said she found a repair place."

tue 11 march 2003

I open my email window. The highlighted mail from Rachel Schwartz has a subject line that says, 'Submit an Article to psst!'

mon 10 march 2003

Looking through a macro listing: '.T16.Text = Sht(0).Cells(5, 8).Value'

sun 9 march 2003

Grey says, "It has a current dial, that you can set the current."

sat 8 march 2003

Bruce Beard says, "OK, corn is what you choose; on which boat?"

fri 7 march 2003

Reading the City Paper, News of the Weird: 'When the detector relentlessly beeped but no metal could be found on her, she scheduled an X-ray and dicovered that a 12-inch-long surgical retractor had been left inside.'

thu 6 march 2003

John Marketon says, "See you next week, see you tomorrow, ta ta," and leaves the office.

wed 5 march 2003

I look over Brandon's shoulder as he scrolls down a web page. He says, "Let's see, company forms, right?"

tue 4 march 2003

I copy the phrase, 'reduce the uncertainty in the the PEP’s relative response' from a web page, and search my tool bar at the bottom of the screen for the Stickies application.

mon 3 march 2003

I'm talking to Leo on the phone: "Even yesterday I slept until six or seven."

sun 2 march 2003

Having a creepy dream. There's a small room one can walk into, with someone outside keeping track of visitors on a ledger. Strange black and chrome Geiger-like designs adorn the room. There's one chair you can sit in to contemplate questions or problems, and the room will answer. Things in the room shift and change appearance when I enter. A small post begins to transform into a robot or a guard, facing the chair.

sat 1 march 2003

Lying on my couch and channel surfing. Two guys on some sit-com are sitting on a couch. One says, "Yeah I'd like to."
"Would you really?" asks the other.
"Yeah, but right now I have to run upstairs..."

fri 28 february 2003

I flip up the lid on the toilet and unzip my fly.

thu 27 february 2003

Asleep in my bed.

wed 26 february 2003

"Rhyming," I say out loud to myself.

tue 25 february 2003

I open an Excel window and make sure I have three sheets. I highlight one of the sheet names to rename it.

mon 24 february 2003

'Unless the POP schedule can be delayed (unlikely, apparently) this means, unfortunately, that the POP preparation activity must take precedence over other activities this week.'

sun 23 february 2003

(Is it two words? I always forget.) I hit the Go button on the IMDB search bar. A page appears, and I read,
'A search for 'blade runner' found the following results:
Most popular title searches:
   1. Blade Runner (1982)'

sat 22 february 2003

I close the washer door and turn the timer on the dryer to an hour, while remembering a quote from a blog I read earlier ("Lady, I *am* that housekeeper.")

fri 21 february 2003

Talking with Jack Li on the phone. He says, "For example if I'm looking at 500 nanometers then -- I have a bandwidth of 10 nanometers..."

thu 20 february 2003

In the darkness, I pick out a slight outline of the focus knob on the exit tube of the lamp box. "No, I can see it," I tell John Kolasinski. I approach it carefully, making sure not to bump into any part of the setup. "I'm going to go very slow."

wed 19 february 2003

'the arrow misses,' says iRogue. (It looks like the creature dodged. It's probably a bat.)

tue 18 february 2003

I lean back on a camp chair at the top of a big snowy hill, and watch some guy ride down the hill on a bright green plastic sled.

mon 17 february 2003

Writing an email to Catherine Hardy: 'Then we hiked over to our friends Dorian and Amethyst's place and ate and drank more.'

sun 16 february 2003

Screwing a loose knob back into a cabinet door, using my thumbnail to hold the screw on the other side. Thinking maybe I should attach those brass handles I saw a half hour ago when I stored them in a box.

sat 15 february 2003

"We gave those kids everything, and they turned into little John Walkers," says an announcer on South Park. I'm looking in the refrigerator, and decide to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

fri 14 february 2003

John Kolasinski says, "You wanna get those UV goggles?"
I walk towards the air shower. "Yeah, we left 'em out here, right?"
"I think so."

thu 13 february 2003

Leaning carefully over the THOR instrument, I fit a four-inch diameter input sphere to the FRMS port of the Hardy six-foot sphere, thinking of ways to attach it, which aperture is best (probably should have the large one on the port side, but I can't make that fit), and whether any of this will work at all with such a small fiber optic as a source for the smaller sphere.

wed 12 february 2003

Looking at a line of code, 'SinF1(3) = "Q"' and wondering, why Q?

tue 11 february 2003

"This is big stuff," says Jim Butler, as his pinball bounces around the screen.

mon 10 february 2003

Scanning down a spreadsheet of customers, looking for Vanderlei and wondering how current the list is.

sun 9 february 2003

"Oh, so I got a bunch of bad ones. See? Dozen roses and a box of --"

sat 8 february 2003

Sleeping. 

fri 7 february 2003

While opening a paper bag of ground coffee, I mutter to myself, "I not smart."

thu 6 february 2003

Writing a note in my PDA: 'There's Fizz, Fuzz, Fizzy Fuzz, Poop, Mini Poop, Tear-ass and Rattler.'

wed 5 february 2003

Testing a new slide show viewer. I click to a picture called 'Frank Shawn Dawn'.

tue 4 february 2003

Driving through a parking lot, listening to the news on NPR. A reporter says, "Chirac and Blair may have a convergence in the future, because the two men need each other."

mon 3 february 2003

Reading a program listing: 'ReDim D2Yin(NOriginal), U(NOriginal), D2Yout(NSplined), DYout(NSplined)'.

sun 2 february 2003

I hold a little bunny toy in front of Booda's nose, poke it towards him and make little bunny barking noises. "Ruff! Ruff ruff!" 

sat 1 february 2003

I stop looking at a page titled 'Web Design Training Online,' decide that's not what I'm looking for. Behind me on TV I hear the NASA STS-107 program director saying, "Does that answer your question?"

fri 31 january 2003

'More pictures, since we spent Rash's birthday at Yosemite. I've updated my travelogue again with the best of my photographs. Here are a few thumbnails to wet your whistle:'

thu 30 january 2003

'She was patient with his eccentricities, yet shared much of his taste for adventure. He managed to get her into the United States with Matthew Sands as her sponsor, and after some time the pair were married.'

wed 29 january 2003

'What am I missing? ... Or ... are they missing something?
Any suggestions, corrections or comments are welcome. I'll put your answer
| ------------- here ------------- |
if it seems like a plausible one.'

tue 28 january 2003

I drag a large black number '6' over a grey circle shape.

mon 27 january 2003

Holding a floppy disk in one hand and rubbing my eyes with the other, I head toward my office door.

sun 26 january 2003

Jenny says, "What time is --"
Gina says, "Le'me see his watch. It's uh it's uh..."

sat 25 january 2003

"Might walk the dog with you, with us, something?"

fri 24 january 2003

"And so that is the history of how we came to believe in flat rotation curves and therefore dark matter."

thu 23 january 2003

Looking at a notefile. The last line reads, '16:04 G030123n  4 lamps'.

wed 22 january 2003

I type '16:09 pa=2' into a notepad file.

tue 21 january 2003

In the hallway, I hold an empty mug in my hand as I wait for Anonymous to hang up the phone so I might get a cup of tea. I idly read a bullet from a poster on the wall: '4 Spectralon calibration targets circulated among 2 metrology labs.' Anonymous says, "OK, goodbye."

mon 20 january 2003

"River," says Kristin Matherly.
"And a mammoth," says Liam.
"And a mammoth, yeah..."

sun 19 january 2003

I'm looking at my online banking screen, waiting for a history report for my savings to come up. The page I'm on now says 'Account Name: Owner name unavailable'.

sat 18 january 2003

Carrying the Greenbelt standard, a florescent lime green sign on a bamboo pole with scarves, I walk toward a double line of busses and I turn to see if the other Greenbelters still see us.

fri 17 january 2003

As I show a woman named Gail how to get into a cleanroom suit, I say, "I grab onto the front of one of these sleeves, and this part right here..."

thu 16 january 2003

"Do you have a schedule for when you can get some results?"

wed 15 january 2003

Looking through a list of dates in a spreadsheet to see if Gerhard Meister is logged for using the Slick Sphere last April.

tue 14 january 2003

As we walk down the hall, Georgi laughs and says, "I will show you. Hah heh heh..."

mon 13 january 2003

From Camexoti, I drop down the back button menu and highlight 'The catalogue of UK Entrances to Hell'.

sun 12 january 2003

Gary Bumbalough says, "Yeah, I got some of those books, I just haven't read 'em yet." He gives a short, quiet laugh.

sat 11 january 2003

"Yeah, but then you'd have to spend three turns doing nothing," says Kory.
I say, "Oh, only from this pile?" I point at a spot on the table.
"Yes," He says.

fri 10 january 2003

Playing iRogue; I decide to not go after the floating eye. I move toward the north exit.

thu 09 january 2003

Watching a growing sculpture. My watch alarm sounds, beeping in perfect time to the background sounds.

wed 08 january 2003

'Smith said that supply and demand allow prices to find a natural level, like water in a pond.'

tue 07 january 2003

"OK, I did no calibrations in December," I say to Jeff Newcomer on the phone.

mon 06 january 2003

I control-click the Print Center icon. A list appears above it:
'Keep In Dock
Show In Finder
Quit'

sun 05 january 2003

"Do you want waffles with apricot jam?" I ask.
"No," says Chris.

sat 04 january 2003

"I was raised in the bowery but everything I learned about Ireland I learned in the orphanage."

fri 03 january 2003

"Ya know?"
"Yeah..."
"I'm not gonna go."

thu 02 january 2003

"Five years ago I was saying yeah the cost of these will go way down," I say, "but it hasn't come down as far as I thought it would."

wed 01 january 2003

Walking on a very wet path through the woods, with Gina and Booda ahead of me.

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