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November 29, 2012

“Stuff”

IMAG0053 — Here’s the DVD collection…and some strategically placed pictures…

I think I may be reaching a turning point (a fork stuck in the road). I think it’s been a few years coming, but hasn’t really crystallized until recently.

I want “The Avengers” on Bluray (~$25). I’d kinda like “The Amazing Spider-man” on Bluray (~$19).

But, I can rent each movie from Amazon for $3.99. And let’s be honest: how often do I watch the same movie twice within a year?

Perhaps I should back up a step. I love movies. I have four shelves (or five, if you count the DVDs not currently “shelved”) of DVDs, some TV shows, some motion pictures. I’ve got all of the Star Trek, Star Wars, The Matrix, Spider-man, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Evil Dead and Lord of the Rings (among countless others). I like having those at my disposal at all times. But, being completely honest, I haven’t watched any of the Matrix, Back to the Future, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies in the last 2 years. There’s always new stuff available, we’ve got Netflix bringing me a steady stream of content, my Hulu queue is chock full of hours of stuff I still need to watch before they expire…

…and along with all that, I’ve got a job, I still play video games, I have responsibilities at church, I’ve got chores around the house…and I’ve got a 2+ year old to play with for most of my time at home.

Some of this is simply derived from the changing times. When I started buying DVDs in 2000, there was no “Netflix”, and cable was only available in the “common rooms” of the dorms unless you paid extra for it. Movies were how we entertained ourselves. Granted, as a Freshman in college, your time is seemingly endless, so there are many hours to fill. Over the years, my DVD purchasing slowed to a trickle, around 2 or 3 per year, and we even traded in a box of them after we moved back to St. Louis just to make room on the shelf (which is good, because Meg got a ton of movies for Christmas last year).

But as the years have worn on, technology has changed, high-speed internet is more available, my free time has decreased on most nights, and I’ve moved four times in the last 7 years. And each box of DVDs serves as a reminder of how much stuff I’ve got. The DVDs by themselves take up multiple boxes, but we’ve also got tons of books (heavy ones, in fact…), we’ve got board games we rarely play, we’ve got musical instruments I wish I had more time to enjoy (though, I likely will in the near future, thankfully). We’ve got camping gear in the basement I get to use once a year if I’m lucky.

Some of these feelings have been stirred up by the Christmas season. This year, for the first time in many years, I didn’t buy anything on Black Friday (at least nothing on sale…). There were plenty of game sales, movie sales, computer hardware sales…but nothing was really appealing this time around. Also this year, Brooke and I decided against writing Christmas lists for ourselves (though we’ll make one up for Meg). We both have plenty of “stuff” sitting around the house. We’ve got clothes. We’ve got “toys.” We’ve got things we don’t have the time to use. That isn’t to say we don’t want anything for Christmas, but we’d rather not put a long list out there for our parents and siblings to fill out or draw from. A few thoughtful things are great: twenty is more than we need.

There’s a growing movement that gets revisited around Black Friday each year, and was recently discussed on my usual NPR program, OnPoint (I haven’t listened yet, but it’s in my queue…). There are folks out there who try to live on 100 items or less, making it something of a challenge to have literally 100 total items to your name (socks count as 2 “items,” if that gives you a feel for this concept). Now, we could never, uh, ever do that, but the idea behind it is still worth considering: if an individual can live on 100 items and find happiness, could we stand to get rid of some stuff, too?

So yeah, while I would love to have “The Avengers” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” on my shelf, I know I’ll just watch each one once and then pick them up again next year or in two years when their sequels come out. At which point, I could just spend $4 to watch it now and $3 (or less…) to watch it again in a few years. $7 is less than $25.

And it’ll save my Dad’s back to have a few less DVDs in boxes when he helps us move next time. 🙂

November 14, 2012

10.28.12 Dinner

Fancy dinner with some friends!

We had sourdough toast and goat cheese with our cocktails, but we forgot to take pictures of those. The cocktail was fresh orange juice, American Honey Wild Turkey, vanilla, and soda water. Kind of like a fizzy creamsicle. Then,
Wilted spinach salad:

Cast iron steaks, mashed potatoes, mushroom cream sauce, and green beans:

And, Pots de Creme, no pictures, but done before here and here.

November 13, 2012

10.27.12 Dinner

A noble attempt that failed miserably and ended in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These were twice bakes sweet potatoes with roasted corn and black beans in the filling. The recipe called for 4-6 chipotle peppers, but one would have probably been more than sufficient. They were so hot, Meg cried when she tried a bite 🙁

November 12, 2012

Review: Skyfall

After some pretty dire financial troubles for MGM, the holder of the James Bond franchise, they finally got around to producing and releasing the newest iteration in the series, Skyfall, with Daniel Craig reprising the role in time for the 50th Anniversary of Bond movies. The reviews have been pretty spectacular, and as I enjoyed the previous outings, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, I expected to be blown away. To be honest, I think it’s a very strong movie, perhaps the strongest in some key areas, but in the end, I still prefer Casino Royale, so far as Daniel Craig Bond movies go.

The movie is centered around an attack on MI6, the British secret service organization Bond works for. The “attack” in question spans multiple components, from collecting the secret identities of agents (and assassinating them), to a bombing, to targeting MI6 officials directly, and so on. In short: someone intimately familiar with the inner-workings of MI6 is out to get them (for reasons you can probably guess…), and it’s up to James Bond to stop them.

The trouble is, many of these attacks are built upon new ways of thinking. A brave new world of espionage that has emerged in the last decade, one that the Sean Connery-era James Bond wouldn’t know the first thing about how to deal with. It is this theme that permeates the movie, possibly most evident from his interactions with the new “Q” (Ben Whishaw), a much, much younger tech nerd who seems like more of a hacker than a gadget producer. There’s even a clever crack about how Q Branch doesn’t make exploding pens anymore, a callback to an earlier era where brute force and explosions were an effective deterrent to terrorists. In today’s world, however, the terrorists don’t have to come within a few hundred miles to wreak havoc: they can do it from any computer screen.

Thus, much of the movie centers around the theme of James Bond being old and broken, useless in a today’s world. At the same time, that “new world” doesn’t know how to deal with a relic like James Bond, so the tension rises accordingly, leading to a few striking action scenes and some strong (and creepy…) moments between Craig and the villain, played by Javier Bardem. To be honest, I wanted a bit more “action” out of this movie, as I thought the previous movies had more “Bond moments” and more spectacular sequences (don’t get me wrong, they’re still there, but there just aren’t as many). At the same time, as is the message for the movie, this is a different time and it calls for a different Bond. Less action, more intrigue, and surprisingly little “Bond Babe” activity. Indeed, Daniel Craig was shirtless for longer in this movie than there were actual romance scenes to hold it in, a far cry from previous films.

In some ways, I see this more as a Bourne Identity-style spy movie, where there are action scenes, but much of it centers on the story and the characters. This isn’t a bad thing by any stretch, but it isn’t necessarily a Bond thing, either.

So, that’s where I fall on it. As a “Bond Movie,” I prefer Casino Royale. As a movie, I think it was very strong, had good writing, had good action, had a good payoff in the end, and had some excellent callbacks to Dr. No. It’s absolutely worth seeing, Craig is still a wonderful James Bond, and the producers have proven they can not only make a whiz-bang action flick, but can also take a more serious look at where in the world the character of “James Bond” fits. If anything, it proves the character is still relevant, but also that an old dog can most definitely learn some new tricks.

November 11, 2012

On Ending ‘The Connection’ at WHUMC

These remarks were delivered by me as part of a “testimonial” during our regular church service today. I thought it appropriate to post them here, as well. I’ll probably write more on the subject eventually, but for right now, just know that our regular Sunday morning church service, The Connection, will be ending next week as we consolidate the two regular church services into a single one, beginning officially in January. We have some details to work out on what this service will look like, but in short, what we’ve been doing at Webster Hills for the last few years will cease to be after next Sunday.

Brooke and I moved to St. Louis after graduating college in 2005 so I could start graduate school at Saint Louis University. We were both active in the Wesley Foundation at Truman State University and wanted to continue in the Methodist church after moving. We had a few criteria in the kind of church we were looking for, but above all else, we sought a church that had not only a worship service geared toward more “contemporary” music and liturgy, but specifically a service that did not occur at the same time as Sunday School. Of the churches in the southern half of St. Louis, the only option we found was Webster Hills UMC. While this was the initial reason to attend, we found the congregation to be warm and inviting, the music to be similar to what we knew from our days at the Wesley House, and the opportunities to participate and contribute to the overall mission of the church to be plentiful.

For the next several years, our experience with the band, service, and church as a whole evolved to encompass not only participating in the music, but the altar design, management of the media system, and more. In short, just about everything that goes on before and after this service, we have had our hands on at some point or another. Ultimately, we were involved in leading the band on an interim basis between our previous worship director, Yanela Sheets, and Ryan Gibbs, a period that also saw a re-envisioning of the service and this space, including the introduction of more comfortable chairs, carpets, the crosses, and other facets that has hopefully made this space and worship service more inviting to the regular congregants and newcomers alike.

To say that this service has meant a great deal to my family would be an understatement. Between 2005 and 2010, we put ourselves into what evolved into The Connection, and The Connection and its congregants became a part of us. However, in 2010, we moved to Iowa after I completed my graduate work, yet our new church home never felt quite the same. Webster Hills was still where we belonged. And as fate would have it, the opportunity arose to return to St. Louis in late-2011, and thankfully, there was still The Connection, with open arms for any and all who wished to participate.

I keep using the term “participate” because Brooke and I feel that one of the great strengths of this service, over just about any we have ever attended, is that everyone can contribute in their own way, everyone can come as they are, and everyone is welcome. In some ways, it’s the embodiment of Jesus’ most profound teachings: all people are welcome at the table, all they have to do is take that step forward and accept it.

As many of you know, this service will be ending next Sunday. While it disappoints me greatly, at the same time, I trust that the spirit this service has embodied will continue to thrive, just in another form, at another place, at another time. The opportunities to contribute toward the body and soul of this church are still plentiful, and as the sun sets on The Connection, something new is on the horizon, something that can and will do great things.

It’s been said that the night is darkest just before the dawn. Apparently, that phrase comes from the English theologian, Thomas Fuller, though honestly, I know it from Harvey Dent in “The Dark Knight.” Regardless, it’s a phrase that comes to mind in thinking about endings like this one, and the potential beginnings yet to come. Brooke and I have always sought to contribute as best as we can, using whatever talents we have available to us. The Connection afforded us that possibility, and we are eternally grateful for it. Though this service will be ending soon, we will look upon it fondly as some small thing we could do, together, to help bring others closer to Christ.

November 6, 2012

Neuroscience 2012

IMAG0244 — A shot from inside the conference hall, looking toward the poster boards.

Yeah, yeah, I know this happened almost a month ago now, but I’ve been meaning to post something about my trip to New Orleans and just haven’t had a ton of spare time to get it done. Better late than never, eh?

It’s been almost three years since I last attended the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting. On previous occasions, I’d gone to San Diego (2007), Washington, D.C. (2008), and then my last one in Chicago (2009). Ever since starting grad school at SLU, I’d heard stories about “the last one in New Orleans” (that will go undescribed here…), but unfortunately, due to Hurricane Katrina, the SfN meeting couldn’t return on schedule.

That is, until 2012, when, coincidentally, I had my next chance to go.

Taking a step back, the reason why this conference is held in a few specific cities is that there are only a few specific cities capable of hosting about 28,500 conference attendees. New Orleans was one such city, and taking it out of the rotation meant that Chicago had to be substituted, as it had a conference center large enough, and also enough hotels within a reasonable distance to hold all those people. Unfortunately, Chicago’s conference center just isn’t in a very good location and its overall configuration isn’t ideal for this particular convention (the locations of stair cases, the number of floors, etc). The logistics of handling 28,500 people can be handled much easier in New Orleans, San Diego, and D.C., at least so far as I’ve seen.

Regardless, I flew down on Friday, October 12th and returned on Wednesday, October 17th. I presented a poster during the very first session, Saturday afternoon, and had a bit more traffic than I expected to have, as most attendees are arriving on Saturday and/or Sunday and could easily miss my poster. Still, it was nice to get it out of the way early, freeing up additional time for the rest of the week. Overall, I attended some good talks, wrote plenty of notes, and got a few ideas on new experiments to run.

IMG_20121012_185344 — Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival

Of course, this is New Orleans, after all, so the meeting wasn’t where all the fun was had. I was splitting time between lab members from here at Wash U, and others from SLU. Mostly, that split depended on what time of the evening it was: if it was early, it was the Wash U crowd, and if it was late, it was the SLU crowd. One important exception was Friday night, after watching the Cardinals win Game 5 of the Wild Card Series against the Washington Nationals, we stayed out a bit late. That weekend, there was a BBQ & Blues Festival going on, so we stopped by for some good food and tunes on Friday and Saturday evening for dinner. They had it set up with a series of tents hosting a variety of different wares, and then a live stage with different musicians taking their turns.

I should remind you that Brooke and I took a trip to New Orleans in 2005, just after we got married and before Katrina rolled through, so I had already done much of the “touristy” things you’re supposed to do on a visit to the area. This time was more focused on the food and night life (and science, of course… :-)). I still stopped by Central Grocery for a muffuletta, had some Pasta Jambalaya at Crescent City Brewhouse, and had Po’ Boys from a few different vendors. Needless to say, the food was spectacular.

I tried an oyster, though. That was, perhaps, the absolute worst thing I have ever ingested. Never. Again.

IMAG0237 — Bourbon Street...er...late at night...

Again, last time around, Brooke was still falling asleep around 9:00 pm (well, she still does, to a degree, but she can stay up later now than she used to…), so we didn’t really stay out late. This time, however, I was hanging out with night owls, so we hit up a variety of different establishments up and down Bourbon Street and, believe you me, I was genuinely surprised at the number of people out at 2:00 am on a Sunday night in mid-October. I can’t imagine what it would be like during Mardi Gras. The number of folks we saw in Soulard for a single day for Mardi Gras in February was probably approaching what I was seeing on a given weekend in October in New Orleans, and I don’t think the number of people was directly related to the number of geeky scientists that also happened to be in town.

Regardless, I had a really fun time down in New Orleans. The city seemed a bit nicer than it was in 2005, the populace seemed genuinely happy to have us all there (28,500 people bring in a lot of sales tax revenue), and I think the conference, as a whole, was glad to go someplace warm, instead of Chicago. It was great to hang out with good friends in a different setting, learn some new stuff at a large science conference, and “get away for awhile” (though, Brooke did a good job potty training Meg in my absence!!). I hope I get the opportunity to go back sometime!

November 2, 2012