Baby Steps

Who needs one of those fancy baby walkers? My baby's an improvisor! 

Science Friday - White Edition

There will be a Harper's moon in the sky tonight. In fact, it will be the biggest Harper's moon of the entire year. The moon's average distance from Earth is about 238,855 miles, but tonight it will be only 221,560 miles away (due to the elliptical shape of it's orbit). This means that the moon will appear approximately 14% larger and 30% brighter than the other full moons of 2008.

On another note, I think God reads my blog. It snowed in Nashville last night. While it was only a dusting in this Yankee's opinion, I'll take what I can get. 

These pictures were submitted by viewers to the local news station.

Double Trouble

Let me tell you about the dogs we used to have. A couple of weeks after Rob and I got married, we decided that it would be a great idea for us to get a dog. He wanted a big dog and I always thought that Weimaraners were beautiful, so it was a pretty easy decision on what type of dog to get. We found a breeder and went out to his farm to visit the puppies (visit being the operative word). That night, we came home with two adorable little puppies. Why did we come home with any dogs, let alone 2, you may be wondering? Well, when we got there 1. the puppies were adorable (there was no way that we were leaving without one) and 2. I liked the girl puppy and Rob liked the boy puppy, so we got both. Great decision making. Anyway... we brought them home and they were wonderful. They were cute, calm, and well behaved (we didn't know it at the time, but they were calm and well behaved because they were sick - full of worms.) 

As most puppies tend to do, our puppies started to grow. And as they grew in size, their energy reserves grew as well. We did our best to tire them out. We walked them. We took them to the dog park. We encouraged them to wear each other out in the back yard. They were good natured dogs. 

At that time, Rob and I were working a lot. Our dogs spent long hours in their crates. Even though we tried to exercise them, it wasn't an ideal situation. In addition, by this time it was late fall. Our back yard was a mud pit. Every time the dogs went outside, they brought half of the yard back in the house with them. We were fighting a losing battle to keep our house clean. We had dirt and hair everywhere. I think that the air quality in the house was so bad that our house plants stopped growing. In addition, our sweet cat, Sage, was totally traumatized by the whole thing. I'm pretty sure that the only time she ventured down stairs was when the dogs were outside. 

It finally came to a point where I just couldn't take it any more. The dogs weren't living the kind of life that they should have been living and Rob and I were constantly bickering about the state of the house. The solution? We needed to find the dogs a new home. We called the breeder that we got them from. He said that he would be happy to take them back (long story short, he just got a divorce and his ex-wife took all of the family pets). Problem solved. The dogs would be able to live happily on a farm where they belonged. 

While I came to resent the dogs more than I liked them (I still have to be careful not to swear when I talk about them), Rob was really attached to them. It was difficult for him to let them go. Some day we'll probably have to get another dog. Rob is already plotting how he and Harper can gang up on me. Hopefully we will make better choices next time. Until that time comes, Sage and I will stick to our guns. 

Let It Snow

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

This Robert Frost poem is one of my all time favorites. While I am enjoying the mild Nashville winter so far (it was 59°F yesterday, and yes I know it's not officially winter yet), I do miss the lake effect snow of my youth. These pictures were taken (not by me) in Mill Creek Park - one of the best things about the town I grew up in. 

Wait A Second...

Have you ever felt that there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done? Well, good news - the powers that be are adding an extra second! On December 31 at 6:59:59pm (EST), a Leap Second will be added to the atomic clock. 

Historically, the second was defined based on the Earth's rotation. However, with the advent of extremely precise modern atomic clocks, the definition was changed in 1967. A second is currently defined as being the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods/oscillations of radiation from a Cesium-133 atom at the ground state (blah blah science words blah blah).

The speed of Earth's rotation varies, while atomic clocks are unwavering. On an average day, the difference is around 0.002 seconds, which amounts to approximately 1 second per 500 days. In order to synchronize the atomic clocks with the Earth's observed rotation, the atomic clocks are occasionally instructed to add an extra second – the Leap Second.

So, on New Year's Eve, kick back, relax, and enjoy your extra second. I know I will. 

Squished (Almost)

Well, after dissecting all day, I'm not sure that I have succeeded in coming up with something interesting to tell you. I will, however, tell you the story of how I got run over by a truck. 

Setting the scene:

When I lived in Cincinnati, I would use my bicycle to get around at school. At this time, I had to go between the medical school campus and the main campus, and the fastest way to do this was by bike. It was also during this time, that the university was in the midst of some major construction projects. 

The incident:

It was a Friday afternoon and I along with many other people were headed home for the day. I was in the far right lane, stopped at a red light. My plan was to continue straight through the intersection when the light turned green.  In the lane next to me was a cement pump truck. 

At the time, I was operating under the assumption that the truck was also planning on going straight as he did not have his turn signal on and he was not in the right-hand turn lane. When the light turned green, I proceeded to go straight. That is, until I met with the business end of the truck. He, in fact, was not going straight, but turning right - Right Into Me. I saw the whole thing happen in slow motion. I tried to swerve, but it was too late. My bike slid out from under me and I hit the pavement under the truck. Luckily, the driver realized that he hit something and began to break because I actually got (slightly) pinched under the back wheels of the truck. I still have the tire tread mark on my jacket to prove it. If he hadn't have stopped, I would have been squished. But I wasn't. In fact, as soon as the truck stopped and I realized that I wasn't dead, I hopped up and started yelling at the driver trying to explain to the driver that he didn't have his turn signal on and that he should be more vigilant about cyclists especially around the university. Several people (including two trauma nurses and the foreman of the truck driver's construction site) stopped to see if I was alright and call the police. The police came and basically told me that I needed to be more careful (thank you very much Cincinnati Police Department). Long story short, I had some bruises, a gash on my back, and a ripped pair of pants (pants that I still have in my closet because I like them and one day I will mend them). While I believe that the truck driver was at fault, I did learn a good lesson - cars/trucks always trump bikes. It doesn't matter if you have the right of way. They are bigger. 

Well, that was my attempt at an interesting story. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Separated At Birth?

Is it just me, or does Harper look a lot like Cindy Lou Who?

I have a lot of dissecting to do today (I told you my job was cool). While I work on it, I'll try to think of something interesting to tell you. Check back later to see if I was successful.