Happiness...

... is lauging over assignments to be graded:

"... it would seem that even the natives knew of Honolulu's temperate weather conditions."

Currently making my day:

Uppljóstrun dagsins

Fylgdi fordæmi tölvuóða tónskáldsins og tók prófið:

Stuðningur við Sjálfstæðisflokk: 12.5%
Stuðningur við Framsóknarflokk: 20%
Stuðningur við Samfylkinguna: 37.5%
Stuðningur við Vinstri-Græna: 50%
Stuðningur við Frjálslynda flokkinn: 38%
Stuðningur við Íslandshreyfinguna: 60%

Skoðanir þínar eru í mestu samræmi við skoðanir Íslandshreyfingarinnar!

Þessar niðurstöður koma lítt á óvart... nema þá kannski stuðningurinn við Framsókn... á dauða mínum átti ég von.

Gaman líka að því að ég fæ nánast sömu niðurstöður og tónskáldið. Það er bara vel við hæfi þar sem það var jú á æskuheimili hennar sem ég fór fyrst að spá í stjórnmál... þá sirka 5 ára.

Pirr pirr pirr pirr!!!

PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!

Reykjavik - the last dayz

Al: Is the volcanism in Iceland Mid-Ocean-Ridge volcanism or Hot Spot volcanism, Georg?
Georg: Are you sitting down, Al? It's BOTH!!

(Al Pacino, as himself, president of Iceland
Georg, a really bad guy)

So, the students in the class that I'm TAing this semester had an option to do a little presentation for the class on a disaster-related topic for extra credit. The presentations were given today. One group had created a movie proposal, where the evil president of Iceland, Al Pacino, sets out to destroy Reykjavik by a volcanic explosion on Heimaey. They acted out various scenes and my favorite is the one above. The facts may be all messed up but these guys were so funny, I was almost in tears by the end of their presentation.

Smart

Today I attended the last lecture in the last class I am taking for my minor in environmental engineering. Then I get back to my desk and read in the news that they're going to use wastewater from beer production to produce electricity. Excellent timing. At no other point in my existence would this news item have meant anything to me, but now it does. Gaman að því.

This class has been pretty hard, probably because I missed the first few weeks b/c of my field work in the Philippines. And sometimes I'm just not so sure why I'd want to learn about biologically treating dissolved poop. But hey, it's not as bad as it sounds... and I finally understood the details of some biochemistry stuff that's been eluding me for a long time. Plus, I might one day actually get a job with this education. That's always a bonus.

Oh, and even more importantly: This is probably the last class I will take EVER (at least at Cornell...)!!! Here's cheers to that!

Soooo annoying

I hate this: Every day I come in with the best of intentions to get loads of work done. Then I run around chasing my tail, going to classes or to the post office or sending some vital emails or heaven knows what until it's... 1:30pm and the workday is almost over and I, you guessed it, haven't gotten anything done. This drives me nuts. So I start blogging. What's the matter with me??

(Kannski það sé skrifstofufélaginn sem snýtir sér og sýgur horinn upp í nefið til skiptis, milli þess sem hann kvartar hástöfum yfir óréttlæti heimsins og ber lyklaborðið eins og allir stafirnir væru leiðbeinandinn hans...)

Money money money!!!

I got word today that my application for a small grant from the biogeochemistry program here at Cornell had been accepted and that they would give me every dime I asked for. Predictably, that made me VERY happy. Now I can go and buy that flow meter for my Philipino colleagues so they can not only sample my rivers many many times but also measure the discharge in them at the same time. Hurray!!

The (Ithaca evening) sun

Remember this post? Well, yesterday the temps went over 25°C and today, even if it was cooler, the sun shone and brung (I mean, seriously, why not??) out the best side of campus. Things change fast in Ithaca, don't they?

Iceland today

In response to the latest news from Reyðarfjörður and Alcoa's new smelter, I'm broadcasting Iceland's true identity today:

The birthday and the defense

Yesterday wasn't all mourning, though.

My darling sister Lára celebrated her 20th birthday yesterday. Wow, I can't believe that it's been so long since I first met her!! I was 13, after all, when she was born and I guess I functioned in some ways as her mom... which was an incredible experience for someone so small as me and one that I'm glad that I had... although it was probably too much for me at the time. So, my "little" sister isn't that small anymore - and I wish I could have been with her on this very big day. Til hamingju með afmælið, Lára mín!!

Also yesterday, my dear lab mate Julie defended her PhD thesis, no less! She did a fantastic job in her public lecture and then underwent 2 hours of closed examination by her committee members. Later a bunch of us went out for dinner and tonight the celebration will continue. Congrats, Julie!

Latest news from Ithaca

Check this out

Too close to home

A former postdoc with Shan's research group here at Cornell recently accepted a faculty position at Virginia Tech. He teaches a class in Norris Hall on Monday mornings this semester.

It was therefore no wonder that when Shan and his friends heard that the Virginia Tech shootings had taken place in Norris Hall that they got very concerned. They tried to contact their friend and fortunately the email came in: "I'm ok, I'm away from campus and all my students had the morning off". Phew.

This whole incident is so disturbing. I've found myself distracted from work, surfing the news sites, watching one video after another. The one where you hear the shootings made me absolutely physically sick.

Another friend heavily criticized the media for sensationalizing the incident and others like it, claiming that it only serves to fulfill people's voyeurism and give deranged people bad ideas. I tend to agree with him.

The snow II

The glamorous view from my office window.


Brought to you by my fabulous Nokia 6131/6126.

Macy

Don't y'all just LOVE Macy Gray?

The snow

Winter isn't going anywhere here in Ithaca. Town is now draped in heavy, wet and impossibly white snow, at a time of year when people are usually pulling out their shorts and sandals.

The forecast told us already last week that the weekend would see some snow. Last night, it was just raining. Then I had this dream that I was going to school and to get there, I had to wade through dirty slush up to my neck. I decided it wasn't worth it, turned around and went back home to snuggle up with a cup of hot chocolate in bed. Oddly enough the slush didn't make me wet, dirty or cold, but it was still real slush. A guy walking next to me through it was really hell-bent on making it to school and started swimming. I couldn't relate to that. Then, when I woke up, town was shrouded in white and oh so pretty slush.

So, am I dreaming for dagláts? Or am I using the weather as an inspiration for expressing my feelings towards life, death and the universe (read: grad school)?

Not that life, death and the universe are that bad these days. No, in fact I find myself pretty psyched about my work these days. Not to mention the fact that Audrey Raines is ALIVE, just like I predicted. See, I'm outsmarting these 24 people. Yes!

Ok, so things are starting to look better...

or worse. Depending on how you choose to interpret the picture I just posted.

The good part is that I can now finally, finally, FINALLY send pics and e-mails from the über-fancy schmanzy phone I bought in the Philippines.

The bad part: I look like I got kidnapped from a freak show in that photo. Then again, maybe I was. At birth. In which case I'm glad the truth has finally come out.

So, why haven't I been able to send pics and e-mails from the phone? The guy at the Cingular store sure didn't know. He didn't know either that Nokia 6126 is called the 6131 in Southern Asia. Neither did I know that the 6131 is called 6126 here. Armed with this new knowledge I consulted my best friend Google and found everything I needed to know with her. All hail and praise to Google. J'aime Google.

Oh, and btw, that green sweater I'm wearing in the freak show photo... I knitted it last winter.

Scary in the lab

It certainly looks like it!

Finally s-th works on this phone. Yay!

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Test

Now... Does this work?

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