Magazines for travel reading

I recently endured a six hour flight and this time I didn't bring my Nintendo. Maybe I'm growing out of my video game habit. I've been trying to read more; I like this new reading habit. Being slightly claustrophobic, I hate doing work on a cramped airplane. So, no work or video games. Something new I'm trying is reading magazines. I'd like to read a magazine directed towards thinkers as opposed to a populist news magazine like Time or Newsweek. The major literary magazines in America seem to be The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper's Magazine. I've tried reading The New Yorker and I don't really like it. I prefer non-fiction and there are too many creative pieces in it. I tried The Atlantic and that was good. Maybe I'll pick up Harper's Magazine next. I've also read some interesting things in The New York Review of Books and The American Scholar. My favorite technology magazine is Technology Review

Why the New York subway has no recycling bins

I was wondering why the New York subway had no recycling bins, so I wrote to the MTA and asked. This was their response.

Response (Melissa Glasgow) - 10/26/2009 01:34 PM
This is in response to your recent e-mail to MTA New York City Transit suggesting recycling bins in the subway system.

We appreciate your interest in improving mass transit. You may be interested to know that all subway refuse is recycled on a post-collection basis. This method of post-collection recycling achieves the aim of totally recycled refuse from the subway system at a moderate cost, and eliminates the need for recycling receptacles in stations. Nevertheless, your suggestion has been referred to supervision in our Department of Subways for review.

If you have any further suggestions, you may contact Customer Services at (718) 330-3322, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., daily, or write to Customer Services at 2 Broadway, Room A11.146, New York, NY 10004.

We take the concerns of our customers very seriously and thank you for having taken the time to contact us.

Pedro M. Mojica
Associate Transit Customer Service Specialist
Know before you go, use Trip Planner
www.tripplanner.mta.info

Link of the day: Yahoo search pad

This looks like a fantastic way to compile research and share it with others, especially for travel plans. To see what I mean, check out the demo video. Great job, Yahoo.

Public communication, web 2.0, and all that

I'm not the most wired person out there, but I think I'm definitely above average. The web presents enormous opportunities to communicate with the general public and connect with people who have specific interests. This is very different from personal, one-on-one conversation, which I discussed in an earlier post. The idea of an interactive, user-defined internet is frequently called "Web 2.0."

I'll discuss some of my personal experiences with Web 2.0. (See Tim O'Reilly's article for an in-depth discussion of what Web 2.0 means.)

• Blogging
  Well, this here is a blog! Blogging is a great way for me to practice writing and expressing myself. If you're a really popular blogger like Tim Ferriss, you can have very lively conversations with your internet audience. No one really talks to me about my blog. Not that I really expect anyone to, given that I write about random topics of personal interest and make no effort to connect with a target audience. But if you want to communicate with people via blogging, you can definitely make that happen. Even if it's on a small scale like sharing infant photos with the family.
  I really like using Blogger because of the tags, anonymity, and free storage space.
  
• Facebook
  I like Facebook a lot. I will frequently double-post on Facebook and Blogger. I post on Facebook to let my friends know about a link I like. It's much less intrusive to do so via Facebook than via email. I also get faster feedback. When people log onto Facebook, they know consciously that they are having fun and blowing time. They are in the mood to respond. Facebook is viral in the sense that when people see one or two comments to a posted link, they themselves feel compelled to join in the discussion. In contrast, email is this awful catch-all for communication. My email is probably sandwiched in between a reminder about a meeting and a message from the boss. I also post on Blogger so that I can have a personal record for myself.
  The main difference between Facebook and other Web2.0 tools is the sophisticated privacy tools on Facebook. So depending on the user, Facebook is not as "open" as other platforms.
  
• Flickr
  Photography is only a minor hobby of mine, so I don't spend too much time on Flickr or not as much time as some people do. I use Flickr pretty much the same way I use Blogger, to keep personal records that happen to be public. The main reason I chose Flickr is the excellent interface for tagging and viewing photos.
  Sometimes I'll get some nice, unexpected comments on my (amateur) photographs. That's the magic of tagging and geotagging on Flickr. It's so easy for people to find photographs of a specific location or specific tag. Two of my photos have been chosen for the Schmap online travel guides. I think it's because I did such a detailed job of tagging my photos. There are probably better photos out there, but mine were easy to find. I'm glad to pitch in my bit to make Web 2.0 the great resource it is. Flickr allows me to explore other people's interests and photographic creativity. Many photos, including mine, are licensed under Creative Commons so they can be re-used for non-profit purposes. I'm not too familiar with the social aspects of Flickr, but it appears there's quite a community there. You can join all sorts of groups. I was asked to submit photo to a Sharpie pen group!
  
• Forums
  I'm a member of the ModSquadHockey forum and I used to hang out a lot in musical forums like Finishing the Chat and BroadwayWorld. Reading forums is a fantastic way to quickly acquire knowledge for a new hobby. I figured out how to pick my own hockey equipment and learned what theatregoers look for when they attend a play or musical. I'm still a member of the hockey forum because I really liked the atmosphere on the board (vigilant administrators are a must) and I periodically answer questions. I try to give back.
  
• Wiki
  Wikis can be interactive but not on the level of blogs, Facebook, Flickr, and forums. The interaction is with the members of the wiki who write and modify the contents of the wiki. My only experience so far is submitting reference cards to the Starting Strength Wiki. I did get a nice note from the Starting Strength Wiki administrator, praising my contribution. I'm interested in doing more with wikis but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Complete notes on Fisher Files, Sequence II

I finally got around to finishing my notes on all twelve episodes of the Fisher Files, Sequence II. Here are links to the notes to each episode.

• Episode 1: Imposter! - Some perspective on why you shouldn't be so hard on yourself.
  
• Episode 2: Screwed! - How to resolve conflicts with colleagues.
  
• Episode 3: Your thesis - How to plan and write your thesis.
  
• Episode 4: Postdoc - How to get a postdoc and how to be a postdoc.
  
• Episode 5: Travel - The cost of travel and how to make travel easier on yourself.
  
• Episode 6: Junior faculty positions - How to look for junior faculty positions and put together your application, how to manage your interview and visit, and how to negotiate offers.
  
• Episode 7: Giving a talk on your work - Some general advice about giving good talks and some specific advice about how to give different types of talks in academia.
  
• Episode 8: Getting tenure - How to go about getting tenure.
  
• Episode 9: Teaching - How to prepare for your first course, how to manage the logistics of the course, and some general advice about good teaching.
  
• Episode 10: Vacation - Why you should take a vacation, what counts as a vacation, and how to plan for one.
  
• Episode 11: What to work on - How to get funding, how to work with collaborations and students, and how to use your department/university as a resource.
  
• Episode 12: Summary - Main points of Sequence II.
  

Notes on Fisher Files, Sequence II, Episode 5 - Travel

Here are my notes on the Fisher Files episode entitled "Travel."

• Three questions to ask before you travel:
  
  1. Why are you going?
     
  2. Do you need to go? (be honest with yourself)
     
  3. What is the cost?
• The cost and why travel sucks
  
  • Count on spending $200/day in addition to plane tickets, hotel costs $120/day and food/transportation costs $80/day
    
  • Count on losing half a day before and after the trip
    
  • You will need to reschedule things (e.g. appointments) that you would normally do when you are gone on the trip
    
  • Airports and airplanes are physically bad for you (bad food, crowded, noisy, bacteria)
    
  • Uncertainty about when you will get somewhere, waiting time is stressful
• Ways to make travel better
  
  • Take a direct flight, minimize time on airplanes
    
  • Carry-on your luggage and don't check in any luggage if possible
    
  • Don't forget chargers and adapters for electronic equipment
    
  • Rent a car; it's much more flexible and reliable than a taxi or public transportation
    
  • Pay extra $20 for GPS unit if you're in unfamiliar territory
    
  • Method to fall asleep: count breaths (1 - exhale, 2 - inhale, 3 - exhale, ... , 10 - inhale, repeat)
    
  • When you get to the hotel, immediately unpack and make yourself at home (hang things up, tidy up)
    
  • Eat well and sleep well (otherwise you are at high risk for getting sick), Peter likes to carry apples and water
    
  • Go to the grocery store and pick up some simple food so you can eat what you like, when you like and in non-public places
    
  • Treat yourself a little; don't be a miser
• Don't travel at all if you're just exchanging information, use technology like Skype, IM, video conferencing
  
• Misc
  
  • Don't tell your spouse/friend/etc how horrible your trip is going to be and how you don't want to go; tell him/her how important and valuable the trip will be to you
    
  • Getting tons of work done on the plane (because of no distractions) is a myth
    
  • Reality is probably: 1/3 time, get work done, 1/3 time, reading or other pleasant task, 1/3 time, just lost time
• Organization
  
  • Keep receipts in a zip lock bag while you are traveling
    
  • Unpack immediately when you get home and take care of travel reimbursements
    
  • Send thank you notes to people afterwards

Nintendo DS Lite as a travel sanity device

I was looking for the entries in Lifehacker's Show Us Your Go Bag series and I noticed that many people keep a Nintendo DS Lite in their go bag. I realized that I can bring a DS Lite with me when I travel to drive away the blues and the torture of being in airports/airplanes. On my very last trip, I took the DS Lite with me and played Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. One of my flights was delayed by almost two hours; thank god for Nintendo. I had told everyone that I had given up video games, but I guess I can make an exception for traveling (yay, a treat!) (My new rule is that I'm only allowed to play my DS when I travel.)

Non-science daily reading

I try to maintain a balanced perspective on life, despite leading a demanding life in science. Most people I know, including myself, read the news. I favor the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The liberal tone of the New York Times balances with the pro-conservative flavor of the Wall Street Journal. In terms of depth, I spend extra time on sports (go San Jose Sharks!) and technology news. For some literature, I read the Writer's Almanac, which gives me a bite-sized amount of poetry and history (mostly leaning towards dead white people). Finally, I look at some photography blogs including David Kleinart (nature), Stuck in Customs (high dynamic range), and A Walk Through Durham Township. Looking at exotic images transports me to a new place.

Travel checklist

I'm hopping on a plane tomorrow and in the spirit of GTD and lifehacking, I've made my own travel checklist in LaTeX. (I used LaTeX rather than ordinary text so I could make those cool checkoff boxes.)

Here's a screenshot of the list:

Thoughts from March Meeting

I returned yesterday from the March Meeting extravaganza in Denver. It was my first experience, so I thought I'd record a few thoughts and reflections.

In most of the talks, I was completely lost, sometimes because I just didn't know the topic, other times because I had no idea what the motivation was (being exhausted didn't really help). It was cool to see how many interesting things were going on. My new resolution is to read as much as I can, so I can enjoy the talks more next year. I was also overwhelmed by how popular my research topic was... (gah) 15 hours of superconducting qubit talks!

I was very fortunate to be placed at the beginning of a packed session. It helps when you have cool results and your supervisors are famous. :) I feel like I really nailed my talk (all the practice paid off). My slides were beautiful; I was fluent and didn't forget anything. I will have to work on coming across as more charismatic and less anxious, but that is just a minor issue. Unfortunately, in stark contrast to the success of my delivery, the question and answer session was a complete disaster. I finished right on time (10 minutes), so people had (ugh) plenty of time to ask me questions I couldn't answer. Yet another thing to work on.

My favorite part about March Meeting was hanging out with friends (both people in my own group and friends in other corners of the country). During the day, I was running from talk to talk and panicking about my own presentation, but in the evening, I drank beer with friends. It was so much fun that I tried to call all my different groups of friends and find a continuous stream of drinking buddies into the night.

A special bonus treat was getting to see my advisor give a prize talk and seeing my name appear on the third (?) slide. I wasn't even born when my advisor did his prize-winning work, so I was flattered that he thought of me. I guess you can die happy when you've done fantastic research, that research has been recognized in the community, and you're surrounded by your loving spouse, friends, and students/postdocs. My advisor was so happy to the point of getting choked up; may we all hope for such a dream to be realized.

Testing the Nintendo Wii

I decided to visit the Nintendo World Store again -- so that I could try out the new Wii system!

First, I tried out the Wii controller on the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess game. It was pretty intuitive, but it takes some practice. I only got a ten minute session in which I tried fishing, drawing a bow, shooting a clawshot, and swinging Link's sword. The fishing was kind of tricky; I didn't figure that one out. The rest of the motions were pretty easy to perform. For example, to swing the sword, you whip the remote (will that cause RSI after hours of play?) and to do a spin attack, you shake the nunchuck. To make Link walk, you just use the analog stick on the nunchuck (the same as using the analog stick on a traditional controller). I had trouble getting the red crosshair to show up when I wanted to draw the bow or shoot the clawshot. An employee told me that problem is that the sensor bar was too low and that he complained to his boss about it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of myself playing the game, but here's a photo of a boy aiming the clawshot.



Then I headed over to another section of store where they were demoing the Wii Sports game. In the main menu, you can choose from five sports: baseball, tennis, bowling, boxing, and golf. You can also pick an avatar for yourself (which Nintendo calls a "Mii" -- ha ha).

I watched a woman play tennis for a little while. She swung the remote like a tennis racket to simulate hitting the ball.



Golf and bowling sounded boring, so I opted for ten minutes of boxing.



The controller motions were extremely intuitive, fluid, and fun to use. You hold the nunchuck and remote in each hand as if they were boxing gloves. You punch with them in the air to hit your opponent. To protect yourself, you draw the nunchuck and remote together (just like blocking punches in real boxing). Here I am playing.



Here's a little boy playing the boxing game with the help of an adult (his father?).



I only played twenty minutes on two Wii games, but I came away with a very favorable impression. The controller is easy to use and while it didn't blow me away, it does bring a refreshing, new perspective to the video game world.

Travel plans

I really hate traveling, but being in a new place is fun. This evening, I took a look at the U.S. map and picked out a few places I'd like to visit.

• Philadelphia
  
• Providence
  
• Newport
  
• Upper State New York
  
• Montreal
  
• Arcadia National Park
  
• Cape Cod
  
• Martha's Vineyard
  
• Chicago
  
• Seattle
  

Heartland hockey camp

I came back from Heartland hockey camp a week ago. What an experience.

The camp is run by former US Olympian and NHL player Steve Jensen. I arrived at camp late on a Saturday night. Waking up Sunday morning, I got a good look at my new surroundings (rural northern Minnesota). The camp is completely devoted to hockey -- comprising of a dining hall, administrative office, dormitory, rink, power shooting range and recreational facilities (tennis court, roller hockey court, and lake).

This is the room I woke up in. Yeah, the dorm rooms were sketchy looking, but servicable.



The interior of the dorm was decorated with photos of Coach Jensen from his Olympic and NHL days, as well as a few junior teams he's coached.





Besides Jensen memorabilia, I saw appropriate NHL decorations on the dorm walls.



The walls were also covered in motivational sayings, particularly in the weight room. A bit hokey, but cool.



We campers ate all our meals in the dining hall attached to the dorm. The food was actually pretty good.



I then explored outside. This is what the dorm exterior looks like.



Just a few steps from the dorm, the rink!



A closer look at the statue in front of the rink (the hockey player even has stitches on his forehead.)



I guess if you are bad, you will be eaten by the "Heartland security guard."



There is a power shooting range next to the rink. We went there every morning to practice our wrist shot, backhand, and slapshot.



In case you still have energy after skating 3 hours a day, you can play roller hockey.



If you only have a little energy, you can play mini-golf.



I heard that there was a lake across the street from the camp. So I walked over. On the way, I passed this sign (unfortunately I forgot my ID).



The lake was well stocked with toys and boats. You can go fishing in the lake and even water skiing.



In the distance, you can see the "ice berg." It has handles on the side so you can climb up. At the beach, there is a sign listing a bunch of rules, including that you are not allowed to play "king of the berg."



Yes, that is a water slide. I watched a fellow camper go down it three times. I hate swimming, so I acted as "life guard."



So this is the bizarre, whimsical place I ended up in for my one-week vacation. It was essentially a kids camp for adults. But that was fine with me, after all, I still play Mario video games. I was the youngest person there (most people were in their 30s and 40s), but everyone was young in spirit.

There was no TV, one modem connection for internet access (provided you brought a laptop); all hockey all the time.

For five days (Monday through Friday), we honed our hockey skills. The 50+ campers were divided into a beginners and advanced group (I was in the beginners group). A typical schedule was wake up at 8 am, breakfast at 8:30 am, power shooting practice at 9 am, an hour of ice drills, lunch, classroom video review for an hour, another hour of ice drills, a one hour break, and a one hour scrimmage. (The schedules were staggered so that one group would be doing power shooting while the other group was doing ice drils, etc.) Then we had dinner at 6 pm and afterwards you could go skate and play more hockey if you wanted! Some nights I did work on more hockey skills, but other nights I went to the bar and hung out with my fellow campers (yup, there is a bar inside the rink, overlooking the ice -- kind of surreal drinking beer and watching people playing hockey).

I'll try to describe some of our workouts. Power shooting was focused on learning good form. The mechanics in all hockey shots are basically the same, but it is unbelievably hard to do everything right simultaneously. You have to plant your feet correctly, flex the stick blade, transfer your weight, and aim all in one motion. I have the most trouble flexing the blade and I was frustrated that my shots were always low (everyone says that's a good thing, but lifting the puck definitely looks cool). We had our shots video taped, timed with a radar gun, and evaluated in the classroom. There was one coach (Jerry) whose job was to do all the video taping and photo shooting.

Our ice training sessions were intense (see this page for video examples; the closest example to adult camp would probably be bantam camp). Coach Jensen outfitted his rink with an audio system so that up to two coaches can wear a headset and everyone can hear their instructions all over the rink. Yup, that means that we would hear Jensen screaming "No, we do not go to the net with one hand on our stick" or the coach would tell me "you forgot to do your backwards crossover" and all the other campers would overhear. We had a great ratio of 4-5 campers per coach, which meant we got a lot of personal instruction. Some of the drills I had seen before, but there were quite a few new ones. There was a lot of emphasis on forward-backward transitions (change the direction you're moving without changing the way your body is facing). I had the most fun doing the obstacle course which involved jumping over a hockey stick and sliding under another.

Jensen had quite a few contraptions for improving our stickhandling. One was the "triangle." You had to stickhandle through the triangle, using the toe and backhand of your blade. Another was the "poke checker." It's a teepee that has a puck hanging from a string. You skate up to it and poke check the hanging puck. We also used this thing that looks like a bridge. You skate around the ice (sometimes backwards) and then have to push the puck underneath the bridge.

Coach Troy had a few evil drills. One was the leg burner (you drag your skate edge across the ice). Another was bouncing the puck off your inside and outside edge and picking up the puck with your stick (umm, that's practically impossible?). Troy also had us do some power skating stuff that I had seen before.

Coach Jerry came up with a lot of "fun" drills. For example, all the players would skate from one end of the rink to the other while four poke checkers would try to take their pucks away. Another drill was the classic "monkey-in-the-middle." Jerry even had us all take penalty shots on the goalie at the end of practice.

In the beginning of the week, we mostly worked on skills -- skating and stickhandling. It was exhausting because Coach Jensen would have us rotate through 5 or 6 stations. The idea of using stations was certainly efficient since all 20+ of us campers were skating the entire hour and getting an exhausting workout. In the middle of the week, we progressed to half and full-ice drills. I was a bit disappointed with the inevitable standing around that comes with these drills, yet relieved to get a bit of a break. We learned some basic tactics including cycling and the triangle offense. Coach Jensen got a little frustrated with our lack of fundamental tactical understanding (we were embarassingly bad at times), but he was extremely patient, gently progressing from 1-0 to 2-0 to 1-1 to 2-1 to 3-0 and 3-2 read-and-react drills. When we did a good job, he would yell "A+!" into his headset.

Each day would end in a scrimmage. The first few scrimmages were a riot since they were video taped by Coach Jerry and "commentated" by Coach Jensen. I remember our very first game, I had the puck and Jensen yelled into his headset "shoot it!" Kind of bizarre that he was telling my opponents what I would be doing. At the end of a terrible defensive play, Jensen stopped the action and had us watch an "instant replay" on a gigantic projection screen in the rink (nicknamed the "Jumbotron"). I've never played a game where the coach yells "Get back! Get back!", "Oh come on, you've got to put the puck on the net" and you can hear his voice amplified all over the rink. Definitely a bizarre experience, but very educational.

On the last night (Friday), we had a fancy meal with prime rib and other delicacies. Coach Jensen even served us wine! If that wasn't enough, after dinner, we enjoyed a bonfire (soaked in beer of course). This is what the bonfire site looks like in the daytime.



The next morning, we had one last scrimmage including the coaches!



A shot of Eric, our young goalie. His parents also attended camp.



Some of my teammates on the bench. We were the yellow and white team.



Before I left camp, I received a panoramic photo of me and my fellow campers and coaches as well as a report card with ratings on my shooting speed, skating speed, and skills. Coach Jensen really gives you your money's worth!

Some things I need to improve on:

• Backward skating
  
• Forward-to-backward transitions and vice versa
  
• Stickhandling, stickhandling, stickhandling
  
• Backhand shot
  
• Shooting while moving on the ice
  

The priorities here are skating first, stickhandling second, and shooting last. I've heard many people say that the majority of being a good ice hockey player is skating and I agree. Fortunately, my forward skating, turns, and agility are pretty good. I just need to get better at backwards skating. If I do, maybe I can switch from forward to defense.

Needless to say, everyone (myself included) wanted to come back next year. One guy has been going to adult Heartland hockey camp for 13 years!

Hello Garden!

Last night, I went to Madison Square Garden for the first time.

Here's a shot of the flashly sign outside:



I went to see the New York Rangers (blue/red) play against their rival, the Phildelphia Flyers (white/orange).



I paid for a really expensive seat, but it was worth it. I got close up views of non-stop hockey action. Here are some shots of the Rangers during their warmup:




Here's the scenic view from seats higher up:



Using my Powershot S400, I managed to snap this shot of the puck being dropped at a faceoff. That Flyer on the left side of the faceoff circle is either incredibly fast or jumped the whistle.



Alas, the Rangers lost 3-2 in overtime after leading by 2-0. At least Jaromir Jagr scored a goal.



Here I am in front of the net after the end of the game.



For the record, I think Madison Square Garden is a great arena. There weren't too many advertisements or concession stands. I felt like the focus was on the event and not on selling things.

Trip to Nintendo World

Due to the nice East Coast weather in recent days, I made a trip to Manhattan to see the Nintendo World Store.

Before I entered the store, I had my obligatory photo with Super Mario:



Inside, I saw fancy GameBoy Advance SPs in brilliant metallic colors:



There were a few historic exhibits including this GameBoy that survived the Gulf War and still plays Tetris:



Of course, I didn't leave without playing some demo games on GameCube!

Future projects

It's summertime -- that time of year when life becomes less hectic for us academics and we have time to think about the course of our lives. I've decided to post a few of the long-term (non-academic) projects I have in the pipeline:

1) Work out more often and build a ripped body (well, maybe). I currently go to the gym three times a week, but my workouts aren't too serious.

2) Build a Linux box (down with Microsoft!)

3) Learn more about personal finance and investing.

4) Score another goal in an ice hockey game. I have one so far.

5) Ice skate on the Netherland canals.

6) Visit Maine and Arcadia National Park.

7) Visit Italy and see Michaelangelo's sculptures.

I have a dream...

One of my favorite pastimes is ice skating. This evening, I was thinking that I should skate in as many cities as possible. So far the list is:

• Boston, MA
  
• Cupertino, CA
  
• New Haven, CT
  
• San Jose, CA

I was thinking of trying Rockefeller Center in New York City next. Judging by the crowds I saw today, I should go early in the morning on a weekday for maximum enjoyment.

My ultimate dream is to skate on the frozen-over Netherland canals. Unfortunately, the last freezing over was in 1997. But when it does happen, you can skate for kilometers on end. For more information about ice skating in the Netherlands, check out these links from Travel Intelligence Co. and the Holland Ring.