Science: Solstice Eclipse

One of my goals has been to see a total solar eclipse.  I have observed a partial solar eclipse before, although it's not quite as dramatic.  The light does turn kind of murky and you can see the partial crescent of the sun using a pinhole (or in the flickering of light filtering through leaves), but there's not the dramatic blackening of the sun.

On the other hand, in comparison lunar eclipses are almost like a dime a dozen since the Earth's shadow is so much larger.  You don't get the complete disappearance of the moon, but you do get the arguably more terrifying event of the moon turning blood red (the moon turns red due to the scattering of light around the Earth's atmosphere---think of it as if all of the sunsets and sunrises around the edges of the Earth are focused on the moon).  I can only wonder at how frightening solar and lunar eclipses would have appeared to people thousands of years ago.

In any case, there will be another lunar eclipse coming up.  The eclipse should be viewable across all of North America, starting at 1:33 am EST with totality at 2:41 am EST.  For all the armchair astrologers out there, this lunar eclipse will actually happen on the the winter solstice on December 21.  This is a pretty rare event and the last time this happened was in the year 1638.  I'm sure this has all sorts of wacky portentous omens, but the practical effect is that it's so cold and late outside that I probably won't venture out to see it myself, although this could make for a spectacular image over fresh fallen snow.  Oh well (we don't even have any snow here yet anyway).

For those waiting for a total solar eclipse, you might have to travel around the world.  NASA has a list of total solar eclipse events coming up.  For North America, it looks like 2017 might be the next best bet.  Maybe I should start booking my tickets now...

Photography: Autumn Falls

This was the first week that we had truly frigid temperatures on the East Coast (sorry Midwesterners, but we were still living in the 50s as of last week!)  It hasn't snowed yet, but the temps have dipped below freezing and there's a bite to the wind now.  After seeing all of the snow hitting the rest of the country, I suppose it's only a matter of time before it's our turn.

Still, despite the relatively late start to winter here, it's been a pretty wet, mild autumn (see previous post regarding our leaking roof).  As a result, the window for viewing fall foliage was pretty short---there was literally only one week where the leaves were ablaze in color.  Both the wetness and the mild temperatures worked against a colorful display.  Cold temperatures are required to stop the production of chlorophyll in the leaves, which is the chemical which makes the leaves appear green (chlorophyll appears green since it has evolved to maximize absorption of red and blue light).  Dry weather decreases the concentration of sugar in the leaves, which accelerates the formation of anthocyanins, which are bright red (think of bright red maple leaves).  Some leaves will also have carotene, which colors the leaves yellow, and leaves with both will appear bright orange.

One of the things that I missed the most when I lived in California was the lack of seasons, particularly autumn, so this year was particularly sad.  Still, we were able to head out one weekend to catch a fleeting glimpse of fall's colors.

Home Alone

We are now living in our first real home, the first place that we aren't just renting but actually have a vested interest in.  That's not to say that we haven't rented some pretty nice apartments in the past---our place in Irvine was as slick as anything you would expect in Orange County.  But the flip side of owning a home is that suddenly you care a lot more about maintaining it, keeping it clean, and making sure everything stays as good as new.

At least those things that you can control.  This year we found a pretty bad water leak coming from our ceiling.  It started off as a small water stain but now it's gotten so large that it's trickling down the wall, the paint has started to peel, and drops of water fall from the ceiling.  The trick is that we're part of a condo community, which is kind of like a halfway house between renting and owning.  It's as if you're still stuck at the kiddie table.  The plus side is that the community association is responsible for the building exterior so we didn't need to repair it ourselves.  The downside is that if the community association is bad, there's not much that you can do.  Even worse is that they're not responsible for damage to the interior.  It took us forever to get the property manager out to even look at the damage (and only after we threatened to call a lawyer).  And then they claimed to fix  the roof several times before, but we never really knew exactly what they did since we were always away at work.  The only way to check if they actually did their job was to wait until another big rainstorm hit and see if it still leaked.  Which is exactly what happened last week---after claiming that they had fixed the roof several months ago, we heard the tell-tale drip wake us up.

Well, today they finally sent a contractor out who finally may have found the source of the damage.  I had to stay home alone to make sure that they actually did something---and they actually did tear off the roof and repair the leak from the outside.  Still, we'll have to wait until it rains again before we're sure, which may not be until spring...

Interestingly, our place is only about 5 or 6 years old and we've already had this problem.  Some of our neighbors have also had serious problems.  The thing is, the buildings look nice, but I guess you never know what's behind the walls.  It's all superficial.  I guess that's a life lesson right there.  But I wonder, are they just not building things the way they used to?  We live in an area that has many houses that are over a century old.  It's easy to say that those classic houses were built better with better materials and with better work---you know, back when men were men and had hair on their chest and houses had roofs that didn't leak, not like now when everyone just goes for the cheapest shortcut.  But is that just rose colored glasses romanticizing the past?  Maybe all of the terrible quality houses have already fallen over by now.  These are things to keep in mind if we ever move to a new house...

Raveled Travels

This week was kind of a turning point for me and my wife.  This was her last week at her current job before she starts her new position at a new company next week.  Before this week, we had lived together for over five years.  During that time, we were pretty lucky.  We first met while attending the same grad school.  After we graduated, we were both able to find postdoctoral positions at the same school as well.  And finally, when we went looking for jobs, we were both hired by the same company at the same site.  We were incredibly lucky in that the two body problem was never really a problem for us.  Despite criss-crossing the country all that time, we were able to live and commute together for over five years.

This was the first week where we started to have separate commutes and the first week that I had to drive to work alone.

It's been a little weird.  I think that we had gotten so used to each other since we had spent so much time together---we lived and worked together so we literally saw each other nearly constantly.  It's strange to spend so much time with the same person and suddenly find yourself alone.  One the one hand, it's a lonely feeling when you're left by yourself.  On the other hand, it's a rare time where you can spend getting lost in your thoughts.  Listening to others is an art, but in this modern age of distractions I think that listening to yourself has become a lost art.  Plus, I think that this will be good for our relationship---I think we were spending so much time together that we were in danger of getting too familiar and bored with each other.  This adds a little bit of the unknown that we've been lacking.

The other benefit is that now I can play the music I want to on the ride home...