Imablog Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.

Another step closer

Took another step towards PhD-dom yesterday when I registered for 3 courses and paid up tuition for them (ouch). Started with two courses for 4 credits, and then ended up adding a third 2 credit course when I learned that it was a required course only offered in the fall. I was originally only going to start with one class this fall to ease my way back into student-hood, but I figured since it's only offered once a year, I might as well get it over with and add the third course.

First courses on the docket: BIOE 800 (Seminars in Bioengineering), BIOE 801 (Biomaterials) and CGS 710 (Responsible Conduct of Research). I've heard CGS 710 (offered by MUSC) doesn't require a lot of work, so BIOE 801 is probably the one that I'll end up spending the most time working on.

Now to find the textbooks for the classes.

Zathras

Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other peoples' needs. Very sad life. Probably have very sad death. But at least there is symmetry

No one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind. Has even grown to like it. Ah yes.

BarCamp Charleston has a date and place!

Thanks to the folks at the Lowcountry Innovation Center, the first BarCamp Charleston has a place, and also a date!

We could still use help with organizing, so if you're interested contact us via Twitter, Facebook or join the mailing list.

If you're planning on coming to Barcamp Charleston, sign up here.

Don't just think about it

Do it, do it, do it

These murals were painted on one of the stairwells of the MUSC parkade at President and Bee St to encourage people to do a little more physical activity and get moving.

Movie meetup: Julie and Julia

Had a good time with tonight's movie meetup at the Terrace Theater to see Julie & Julia.

It's a movie about two women, from two different times but looking for the same thing: something to do. Meryl Streep puts in an excellent performance as Julia Child, and at points you forget that it's not Julia Child on the screen.

It's a lot of fun seeing Julie and Julia go through much the same experiences as the movie switches back and forth between the two characters. Whether their lives really ran as parallel as it seemed in the movie or if it was just done that way for the movie, I don't know.

Julie & Julia is a very enjoyable movie to watch, with lots of humour in it. Definitely worth seeing.

NFB fun

So apparently I owe Heather a morning for the time she spent watching this little animation short and others from the National Film Board of Canada. Naturally this caused me no end of amusement and pleasure. It's been posted in my blog before, but I just thought I'd share it again.

Logdriver's Waltz

I've always enjoyed the tune. It's one of those melodies that just sticks in your head. Here are a few more that I grew up with that you can waste time with.

The Egg

The Big Snit

The Cat Came Back

Raaawwwwrrrrr

It is Shark Week after all.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Went out to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra at the Hippodrome tonight.

Like any movie based on a comic book, there's lots of F/X eye candy, non-stop physics-defying action, plenty of boom and the requisite hot chicks in tight outfits.

It's a movie based on a comic book and cartoon series, so any expectations of a plot should be kept along those lines. Some of the dialogue also tends towards cheesy over-the-topness as should be expected, especially from the bad guys. However, don't let the source material make you think it's a movie for kids. The action tends towards the extreme at points, lots of violence, and plenty of stabby parts. Definitely not a movie you'd want to bring little kids to. It's really a movie for the big kids.

What did I think of it? For the type of movie it is, it was awesome. Where can I get one of those suits?

Did the Doctor make anybody else think of Keanu Reeves?

Lowcountry dog park tour: Park West dog park

Thanks to some misalignment in Google Maps, it took me a little bit of driving around Park West before I could find the dog park.

Located in the Mt. Pleasant Recreation Center in Park West, the dog park is a small fenced in area next to the tennis court. It's dominated by the retention pond in the center of the park, so there's not a lot of open field for dogs to run. However, if you've got a dog that loves water, that's not really going to matter much.

There are plenty of tennis balls around for dogs to run around and fetch, although most of them are in the pond so they'll need to be fished out.

One thing the dog park could use is a water hose to wash the pond water off the dogs when you're finished. There's also no water fountain for the dogs, so it's probably a good idea to bring your own water and bowl.

More dog park photos.

Here's a Google Map to the dog park.

View Park West Dog Park in a larger map

TD2 2009

Just in time for when school starts next week we have the second tropical depression of the season.

FIRST LIGHT VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW THAT THE BROAD LOW PRESSURE AREA ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE THAT WE HAVE BEEN TRACKING OVER THE FAR EASTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC HAS ACQUIRED SUFFICENT ORGANIZED DEEP CONVECTION TO BE DESIGNATED AS A TROPICAL DEPRESSION. THE TROPICAL CYCLONE IS SITUATED OVER MARGINALLY WARM SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES AND THE VERTICAL SHEAR IS CURRENTLY RATHER WEAK. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST SHOWS GRADUAL STRENGHENING OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AND IS A BLEND OF THE VARIOUS NUMERICAL GUIDANCE TOOLS. AS USUAL THERE IS CONSIDERABLE UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE STRENGTH OF THIS SYSTEM LATER IN THE FORECAST PERIOD. IF THE CYCLONE MOVES FARTHER NORTH THAN ANTICIPATED BELOW IT WILL PROBABLY ENCOUNTER STRONGER SHEAR AND NOT INTENSIFY AS MUCH AS FORECAST. ON THE OTHER HAND IF THE SYSTEM MOVES FARTHER SOUTH THAN EXPECTED LATE IN THE PERIOD...IT WILL PROBABLY BECOME STRONGER THAN ANTICIPATED HERE.

Taking on the Spicy Tunas

Being a big fan of hot and spicy food, tomorrow Adrian and I (and whoever else wants to join in) will be taking on the Spicy Tuna Handroll Challenge at Bushido.

10 hand rolls that increase in heat from "Ghost Rider - It's a head-flaming ride to the danger room!" to "The Punisher - Pain is good! Prepare to be punished!"

I'm not sure just how really hot they are but judging from the people they show on the videos posted I think I can handle it. I suspect my main problem will be getting full by the time I reach 5 or 6 rolls.

If you want to join in or watch the spectacle, we'll be there at August 13 at 6PM.

Memo from Management

Re: Spicy foods.

Stop. Doing. That.

kthxbai
Me

Spicy Tuna aftermath

So I made it to #5 ("Pyro" - Make a human flamethrower out of yourself. You'll be hotter than a zippo!) at yesterday's Spicy Tuna Handroll Challenge before I got too full to eat anymore. Adrian made it to #6 and one of Zenko's co-workers managed to make it all the way to #7.

Had a pretty good turnout of people coming to cheer us on and participate in the Challenge. So much so that the sushi bar ran out of pre-chopped tuna for the rolls and had to run back and chop up a bunch more.

The handrolls made for the challenge are a pretty good size, and stuffed with a good bit of tuna. I usually don't eat handroll sushi, but they seemed a little short on the rice and heavy on the tuna to me. I'm sure they're made that way on purpose. If you let them sit too long, the nori wrapper gets a little soft and the handroll becomes a little hard to eat without having tuna squirt out the other side. And if you get any sauce on your hands, do not rub them anywhere near your eyes or nose when they start tearing or running.

I started off the Challenge with the first three rolls. Thanks to a small mixup in plate positioning and by the server, I ended up starting with #3 first thinking it was #1 and getting a pretty good sear going in my mouth. For a while I was thinking that if this was #1, I'm going to die by the time I reach #5. With #2, there was much less heat so then I started to realize that I started the rolls backwards.

The amount of heat and spice in each level isn't quite consistent either, although I suppose uniformity might be hard to achieve (and would probably be relative too). There's virtually no heat in #1, a little bit of spice in #2 and a very large jump going to #3. #4 I thought was only marginally hotter than #3 but the jump in heat going to #5 was similar to #2-#3.

So now for the big question: will I finish? The thing about the Challenge rolls is that they're hot (really hot) but I didn't think the hot sauce (allegedly Dave's Insanity Sauce based on what another Challenge partaker who was sitting at the sushi bar told us) brought much in the way of flavour to the party. That makes it just hot for the sake of being hot which for me really isn't that much fun. #5 is about where the flavour ends and the pain takes over.

At this point I'm thinking about leaving it at #5 because I don't see much more fun in going on. If there was more flavour to the sauce I don't think I'd have a problem finishing. Call me a pansy if you will but if I'm going to punish myself with that much heat, I at least want it to taste good.

Pictures later on tonight when I get back to my camera.

Spicy Tuna Challenge Photos

Before they let you start the Challenge, you have to sign this disclaimer form first.

Matthew studying the disclaimer form

Adrian warming up with a soft shell crab appetizer

The first three tuna rolls. Our waitress told us they were 1, 2 and 3 from left to right. It turned out to be the other way around. No easing into the hotness for me. *whew*

I forgot to take photos of rolls 4 and 5

Adrian finishing off #6.

Zenko taking on #5 between bites of fried ice cream.

Pie pops!

Michelle (aka @Chells) was kind enough to share some of the pie pops that she made a few days ago.

Look at them, aren't they just so cyute?

The first one I tried was a stick-less whole wheat crust pie pop which was pretty tasty.

There was a one with what looked like a cherry icon. It was also very good too with a nice flaky crust.

These pie pops are just pure genius. Think about it. Pie! On a stick!

Thanks for sharing Michelle!

Gorilla Pod

I haz one. Woohoo!

Central BBQ

Tonight's Lowcountry BBQ meetup was at the relatively new Central BBQ in Summerville (903 Central Ave).

Aside from the bright yellow sign, it's a pretty small building that wouldn't be very hard to drive by without noticing (which would be too bad for you).

The menu at Central is pretty short and simple. From what I've been told, the owner puts on a batch of 'cue at night and stays open the next day until it's all gone so you're always getting fresh off the BBQ food. Don't think it can really get much better than that.

I opted for the large BBQ plate, which comes with a couple of generous scoops of pulled pork and two sides. Dug in before I remembered to take a photo of the plate.

The pork was amazingly good. Tender and smoky, I probably could have easily eaten another plate. There are four sauces available to choose from. I'm told the mustard sauce is excellent, but I rather enjoyed the Trinidad and Tobago Carribean BBQ sauce. It's sweet and tastes really good.

Central BBQ is definitely worth a visit, and if you don't live in Summerville, it's worth the trip. You'll want to get there early though before they sell out and close. Oh, and one more thing. Central BBQ is cash only.

Storm train

The next couple of weeks are shaping up to be interesting with Tropical storm Ana and Tropical depression 3 following close behind and quite possibly becoming Tropical storm Bill in the next day or so.

What I find interesting is the strengthening forecast. The 5-day forecast for Ana has it remaining a tropical storm until it reaches somewhere near Florida/eastern Gulf of Mexico/Cuba. TD3 however is forecast to become a hurricane by the end of it's 5-day forecast

Either way it looks like there will be some interesting weather to watch towards the end of the week and into the weekend.

Memo to Brain

Re: Biking

Hey you. Yes you. Remember me, the blob of goo that moves you around?

You do realize that it's been over 13 years since we did any serious cycling, don't you?

No, apparently not.

You also could have at least warned me Clemson had all these hills.

Let's try to take things a little easier next time, ok.

thanks
Body

Not so mandatory orientation

Made the road trip up to Clemson Sunday so I could go to the grad student orientation for the Bioengineering department on Monday. Brought the bike with me so I could ride it around campus and explore a bit.

Biking around Clemson turned out to be a good deal more challenging than I expected. My brain seems to have forgotten that it's been well over 13 years since my body did any serious cycling.

Sunday afternoon I spent a couple of hours getting lost riding around the campus. I had meant to try to find the Rhodes Engineering building where the orientation was supposed to be, but I missed the left turn at Albequerque and got lost in one of the many residence areas. Fun riding around, but the campus turns out to be a lot hillier than I was expecting. Wasn't much good for anything else after all that riding.

Monday morning I got back on the bike despite my protesting sore butt (think a new seat for the bike is in order) and rode around a little bit more. Made a stop at the book store to pick up the texts for my Biomaterials course and also managed to find the Rhodes building. Killed a few more hours and then it was time for the orientation in the brand new bioengineering building.

Turns out the mandatory orientation wasn't so mandatory for those of us in the Clemson/MUSC joint program, although they did seem to appreciate the fact that I made the trip up for it. The trip wasn't entirely useless though. I did get to meet some of the other grad students, some of the faculty and the grad student coordinator. She's the most important person of all to get to know because she's the one that Knows Stuff.

Apparently there's an MUSC orientation that I need to go to next week. I wonder how mandatory that one is.

First lecture

Yesterday was my first Biomaterials class (BioE 801). Just an intro to the class so nothing too big. The list of topics the class covers looks pretty cool though: ceramics, polymers, bioactive materials, biochemical, cell and tissue interactions, a little bit of tissue engineering. 5 other students in the class with me. A passing C is > 70%, but grad students are expected to maintain > B grade average (> 80%).

I have a seminar class Monday afternoons and for the month of September, Monday, Friday and Saturday Research Principles course through MUSC.

I see lots of reading in my future.

An afternoon at Sullivan's

Made it out to Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island for lunch with a friend today. Not sure why it's taken me this long to get out there. Don't have too many occasions or excuses to head out that way I guess. Poe's makes a pretty good (and huge) burger.

Afterwards we went to wander along the beach. It was a nice afternoon out on the beach, and there were plenty of people around. Kite boarders were out in force.

Does anybody know what this happens to be out near Station 29? It seemed like some kind of fortification for a cannon or some other ocean pointing artillery.

With a little more sand and a little less ocean, you could pretend to be living on Tatooine in this house.

Sea oats blowing in the wind

BarcampCHS: What is it? Who is it for?

Two very common questions asked by people who have never heard of Barcamps. Fortunately, both are fairly easy to answer.

What's a Barcamp?

The barcamp.org website says a Barcamp is

an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.

while the Wikipedia entry describes one as

an international network of user generated conferences - open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants.

What does all that mean?

Simple.

Invite a whole bunch of people (which includes you) to meet, and tell each of them that everybody else is there to learn what he/she knows.

Who is it for?

Well, that's an even easier question to answer.

It's for you.

Ok, so what kind of topics will there be?

Excellent question. There will be topics on whatever people (you) want to talk about.

Barcamps, because of its origins, are often tech related but by no means are restricted to that. Considering the wide variety of talents and interests in the Charleston area (particularly in the arts), there's a good probability that BarcampCHS will have a broad range of topics. We're looking for talks, presentations, workshops, demonstrations on pretty much anything you want to do.

So, if you want to give a workshop on belly dancing, great! Sign up and propose a Belly Dancing 101 workshop, or even a series of workshops! Want to learn how to knit? Suggest it as a topic you'd like to see and see if someone picks it up. Or even better, find a friend who knits and have them sign up to lead a session! Just got a fancy new DSLR camera and have no idea what to do with it? Suggest a Photography 101 session. Want to try out that new fangled Linux operating system? Want to give a session on blogging or offer a social media board certification course? Pottery? Advanced systems administration? Ruby/Python/PHP/Perl/Haskell/Lisp/(Obj)C(++|#)? How to run a small business? Glass blowing? Blacksmithing? Sign it up!

Hopefully you're starting to get the picture now.

If you want to give a talk or demonstration on something, you'll be able to post it on the BarcampCHS website (coming soon). You can also just show up the day of BarcamCHS and write down your presentation topic on the scheduling grid.

If there's a particular topic or item you want to know more about, you'll be able to suggest it and maybe someone will step up and give a talk or demo on it.

BarcampCHS will be completely free to attend. Just bring yourself and whatever you might need to put on your talk/demo. Come prepared to have a good time, learn something knew and show other people something new (to them). Register now!

We're also looking for sponsors. If you're interested in sponsoring BarcampCHS or know someone who might be interested in a sponsorship opportunity, contact us!

Dragon*Con

Yes, I'll be going to my very first con next weekend.

Going to be meeting up with a couple of friends from back home so it should be a fun time.

Woohoo!

Searching for a PhD project

The Clemson Bioengineering department normally wants PhD students to come up with a proposal and do the qualifying exam within 18 months of starting. Since my plan is to do course work and research concurrently, I need to come up with something sooner than that.

I've been rolling around a few possible areas in my head and doing some literature searching to see what's been done.

One obvious area, given our brand-new-state-of-the-art-only-3-in-the-US dual source CT scanner, is dual energy CT. There's been some work doing tissue discrimination and characterization using dual energy CT, but not too much. I could also spend some time studying some of the dosimetry characteristics of doing dual energy CT.

Another area that I would like to explore is phase contrast imaging, although that generally requires a synchrotron source and fairly specialized detectors. Plus I'm not sure that would fit in with the Bioengineering group very well.

There's another idea about CT dosimetry that has been rolling around in my brain for quite a while now, but it's going to take a fair bit of work to flesh out properly and see how feasible it is. If I can take this concept, formalize it, test its validity and make it easy to implement, it could potentially change the way patient radiation doses are determined by the CT scanner.

That would be a lot to do for a PhD, but even if I only accomplished half of it, it would be a big thing.

BarcampCHS website is live!

Thanks to Chrys, the BarcampCHS website is now live and ready to take your ideas for sessions, workshops and demos!

There are still a few small things to be added, but the important bits are ready to go.

What are you waiting for? Go sign up and add your sessions!

A Barkley Happy Tail

I always love hearing from the people that adopted dogs I fostered. This was sent in for a Happy Tail entry from the people that adopted Barkley earlier this year.

Imagine that after years, you've decided to expand your household pack to include a companion for your 9-year old Lab, Maggie. Given Maggie's small size, you search the Lab rescues for another small one so as not to daunt Maggie. Having learned of Barkley, a 60-lb lab who was rescued from a shelter, the pack drives 8-hours to meet him at the Wild Heir South Carolina lab rescue.

You haven't taken into consideration that he was 60-lbs when you learned about him, i.e. a few months prior when he was only 9-months old. You arrive to find a 75-lb giant of a Lab who leaps over couches in one bound. ("He's not 60 pounds anymore...") He puts his paws on your shoulders and looks you in the eyes. But Maggie, whom you feared would be quite displeased with a year-old clumsy brother, is delighted with him, and you can't help but be either.

Barkley appears to have no qualms about leaving South Carolina with unfamiliar people and dog, in an unfamiliar SUV - leaping in the back (momentarily). He merely views the back seat as an exercise hurdle to get to the front. ("uhm, he's in your seat." ) You open the door, take him around to the back. By the time you're back in the car, he's back in the front. Repeat two more times.

He never appears confused or anxious about arriving in a new home. He paces the bed every night ("Did we get an insomniac?") until you realize he just wants on the bed. After that, you - and Maggie - are pillows for him to lay across while he sleeps. When it comes to sleeping, he never applies "lay down" but rather falls across you from a standing position. He buries his nose in your neck for the entire night.

All dogs are friends, all squirrels are foes, and moles are to be to be carried carefully in one cheek. ("What's in Barkley's mouth?) Leashes and Maggie's collar are edibles ("Why isn't Maggie's collar on? Why are her ID plates on the floor?") His Nylabone and tennis balls are pacifiers. Water is for slobbering across the kitchen, requiring you to put a rug down. Maggie's head is for drooling on. Vacuums are a terror, causing you to have to replace the Plexiglas door he broke through to escape one. (He wasn't injured.) Couches are for you to sit on - with Barkley's entire self on your lap. Maggie is his most beloved big sister and best friend whose side he won't leave.

Maggie, now 10-years old, is a pup again. Post-breakfast is Labrador wrestlemania, as indicated by the joyous sounds of thunder throughout the house and by every rug accordionned against a wall. She loves an ambush - hiding under a desk or chair and leaping out at him with a playful "snap snap" of her ferocious fangs. Every play session begins with each giving each other nose licks, and then pandemonium ensues. She lets him chase her just long enough to gain momentum and turn on him - the chased becomes the chaser - and he seems as delighted as she. She has taught him that the first thing to do every morning is check the tomato plant for new green tomatoes, thus ensuring we never get to eat a ripe one.

Such is our life with our beloved rescue Lab, Barkley. If you rescue a Lab, you will be blessed to have the same love, affection, fun and frivolity as we do.

At the roller derby

Made it out to catch Charleston's very own roller derby team, the Lowcountry Highrollers in a match against the Greenville Derby Dames this afternoon.

It was my first roller derby experience, and it didn't disappoint. The action wasn't quite as continuous as I expected, but was still fun to watch and pretty fast paced. Plenty of shoving and take-downs. Before the match started they did a slow speed demonstration to show the rules to the audience (very helpful for newbies like me). It still took me a little bit before I really figured out what was going on and what to watch for.

The crowd that showed up to watch was larger than I expected, which I suppose is a good thing. What's up with all the little kids sporting mohawks though?

I picked a spot up front in what's known as the "suicide seats", named because apparently there's a good chance you might end up with a roller derby girl wiping out or sliding into those seats and who ever is in them. No such luck this evening though.

The derby track

Getting ready to start off a roundjam

Zooming around the bend

Score card girls

In the penalty box

Not quite sure why these guys were dressed like this.

The final score

Post match congratulations

See the rest of my roller derby photos here.

0x186CE miles

Today I went past 100000 miles on my 2000 Camry. I think it happened when I was on my way out to Summerville to check out the next dog park in my Lowcountry Dog Park Tour. On my way back, remembered I was close to 100000, and when I checked it was reading 100026 miles.

Still going pretty strong. No major issues with the car yet, although I do need to get the brakes and shocks done, and a couple of new tires for the front. Just the normal things wearing out.

Lowcountry Dog Park Tour: Wassamassaw Park Dog Park

Just inside the entrance to Summerville's Wassamassaw Community Park are two fenced dog parks on either side of the road. The signs say that the one on the left (as you're entering) is for big dogs (> 20 lbs) and the one on the right (as you're entering) is for small dogs (< 20 lbs).

Both areas are roughly the same shape, long and rectangular, providing a good amount of room for long ball throws.

The park is pretty new (opened August 2008) so the grass is still largely intact, although there was a small muddy section near the middle that was probably started by a dog trying to dig something up. Looks like the park designers took drainage into account, as the ground slopes down toward a line along the middle of the park and towards a stormwater drain.

A few trees provide some shade, and several benches are available for people to sit on in both dog areas. There are also a couple of poop bag and disposal stations in each dog area.

One significant failing of the dog park is that there is only one water fountain, and it's located outside the large dog area. That means if you want to water your dog, you'll have to leash it, exit the park, get water and then go back in when you're finished. Or you can just wait until you're finished with the dog park and let your dog drink on your way out. Why the water was placed outside the dog area, I have no idea. I suspect the small dog area was put in as a bit of an afterthought, which would explain why there's no water fountain for the small dog area.

Not sure what the dog population is like in Summerville, but I'm sure once more people find out about this dog park, it'll be come very popular.

See the rest of the dog park photos here.

Here's a Google Map to the dog park

View Wassamassaw Park Dog Park in a larger map