the perfect christmas gift

oh, if only I had received this for Christmas instead... (hehe)

btw, I'm back in Phoenix and already back to work. *sigh* lots to do. big big meeting on the 10th that we need to prepare for. also, training for the half-marathon which is in two weeks (yikes!). oh, and I need to work on my thesis. right.

nerdy math crafts

hehe. wow this is super nerdy. I love it. I want to knit a hyperbolic plane!

merry christmas!

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. mine was surprisingly pleasant and pain-free. which is good. I got a bunch of books (one Vonnegut and some others on physics), some music, some jewelry, an audio recording device (for the interviews and other stuff I will have to do for my dissertation research), and lots of gift cards. oh, and an iPod shuffle (which is awesome - thanks Jody!). I also had lots of good food and spent some quality time with the family. the one down-side was the weather: it was quite warm - like almost 80. another typical southern california christmas and kind of hilarious when I think of other parts of the country that are snowed in. while it is nice, it also makes it hard to believe that it's winter.

something to think about

I ran across this interesting article yesterday from marketwatch.com about the wealth gap in the world. I think especially at this time of year when we're seemingly ready to just buy buy buy whatever we feel we "need", it puts up a bit of perspective at just lucky we are to be where we are.

some Christmas spirit

(and an excuse to procrastinate a little bit instead of writing a paper.)
I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit. the semester is winding down (I am currently working on my final paper for one class) and everyone is starting to talk about plans for the break. Hwi and I put up some Christmas lights in our apartment the other day, I watched Miracle on 34th street last night (the second half in color and then the first half in black and white), and I keep getting phone calls and emails asking what I want for Christmas (for the record, peace on earth and good will towards ALL people would be nice). also, today's New York Times had an article about the house that was featured in one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story. also, for another laugh, check this parody out.

almost there...

so it's December already. how did that happen? and why did it take so long? anyway, I have about a week or so left of the semester (my one and only paper is due on Wednesday, but I have other stuff to do until probably the 15th). I am really looking forward to getting some work done on my thesis over the break. I have a presentation to do the week before classes begin again and then there's a big conference in San Diego that I'm going to towards the end of February. so that will be good. I have a lot of work still to do, but I am making tons of progress and it is going really well I think.

Thanksgiving was pretty nice last week. I drove to LA to see the fam. the driving part was not exactly the most painless it has been (going there, I ran into a ridiculous amount of traffic once I hit LA - of course). but it was good to see everybody and dinner was great. I came back just in time to go out for Lynn's birthday last week.

in other news, I really like this "new" Beatles cd, LOVE. it is from the Cirque du Soleil show and although I was hesitant at first, I am really digging it. it is a new and interesting take on some of my favorite songs. they mostly fooled around with transitions between songs and didn't screw with the actual songs too much in most cases, which I think was wise.