tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-112759892011-07-28T23:03:31.847-07:00Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.comBlogger4001100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-89416040545659303152009-12-15T13:13:00.000-08:002009-12-15T13:40:09.575-08:00

Surprise!!!! I still know that this blog exists, I just tend not to have the time or desire to post anything to it. I've found that twitter and facebook have offered adequate ways to vent my frustrations. Until now.It seems that this semester is determined to suck every last drop of joy and interest I have in teaching. The students have been the most apathetic I have yet encountered and the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-41379885900277560152009-08-14T13:37:00.000-07:002009-08-14T14:08:19.383-07:00

Some bike rides are just turn out great, others are far from it; in the past week I've had one of each.Last Saturday I did the usual group ride at 8:00 am. As the first day of my week long break from work I wasn't too enthused to be getting up so early, but the ride is a good one and I rarely can sleep later than 8:00 or 9:00 anymore anyway. Well, this day that ride just went wonderfully. I

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-41325344022615304832009-08-01T23:42:00.000-07:002009-08-02T00:26:03.986-07:00

The past few weeks have have just been a blur. I was read somewhere, a couple of days ago, that it had been over a month since Michael Jackson had died. I was stunned by this because I was certain that it had only been a week or maybe two ago. But it seems when your days are dominated by writing grants the days just blur together.But I'm finally done! In the past two months I have completed

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-38307335148935295682009-06-29T16:22:00.000-07:002009-06-29T16:47:24.181-07:00

So if you are at a university and the weekly email newsletter has a link to the bookstore's "MAC-over" you probably assume it's some kind of Apple promotion. After all, most university campuses seem to have a deal with Apple computers for educational discounts. Sure, it's commercialization of the university, but an argument can be made that it is related to academics/education by virtue of the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-50032654491552017272009-06-24T22:21:00.000-07:002009-06-24T22:53:12.610-07:00

So I have been wanting to post this for a few days, I just hadn't gotten around to it until now. But a few days ago I got an email from the California Faculty Association; it was not good news. It seems that the California State University (CSU) system, of which I am a part, is getting hit with a huge budget cut this year; over $500 MILLION!For a bit of background I should point out that

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-42697121124869170052009-06-19T18:59:00.000-07:002009-06-19T19:28:47.253-07:00

The ride home from work today once again reminded me why I like bicycling to work so much. The ride itself is pretty unspectacular, there is a nice enough descent and a pretty good climb, then a whole lot of traffic lights; but it's the act of riding that makes it worthwhile.By the end of the day I was feeling pretty run-down and just in a bit of a funk. I think this has something to do with

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-1961114646516660572009-06-10T19:11:00.000-07:002009-06-10T19:38:14.856-07:00

So if you've been following my few and random twitter posts you're up to speed on most of what is going on with me; albeit in absolutely tiny context-less amounts. So this will be a bit of a recap, or for those with better things to do than wait for me to tweet, the whole story of what I have been up to.One of the things that I have been doing a bit more of lately is bicycling; mostly to work

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-16055255581044375962009-05-03T22:37:00.000-07:002009-05-03T23:10:44.041-07:00

Ok, so here's a little update from what has been going on for the past few week. I haven't been posting much here, but if you've been following me on Twitter I'm using that with a lot more frequency than I have been posting here. Of course, 140 characters is far from enough to say everything properly.Obviously the big news has been the swine flu. Things down here are pretty much normal, no

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-63803242425237988602009-04-07T23:12:00.000-07:002009-04-07T23:35:27.414-07:00

So I was finally able to get down to the park to check out some racing tonight. That had been one of the great things about living here that I hadn't taken advantage of, the velodrome is less than a mile from my place. So after riding home from work, getting cleaned up and eating Deirdre and I went down to the park.I have to admit that I was very surprised at the crowd that was on hand to watch

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-66253812392690276492009-03-25T22:22:00.000-07:002009-03-25T22:40:02.790-07:00

I've come to a bit of a realization of late, I just don't have the impetus or really even the time, to write dedicated meaningful blog posts lately. It kind of sucks, because from time to time there are things that I would like to share with you guys, but for the most part it just doesn't seem like the topics would make meaningful posts.So, I'm succumbing to the darkside and I've signed up for a

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-16700151295340168132009-03-21T00:16:00.001-07:002009-03-21T00:55:34.824-07:00

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted on here but who really cares. A lot has been going on, mostly work though so it's really not that exciting to talk about. So instead I will take this opportunity to point out that I fucked up this afternoon. On the way to a dinner with some fellow faculty members I managed to run into a car, with my car. Actually, more accurately, I pulled out into the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-21349263957680654682009-02-21T14:00:00.000-08:002009-02-21T14:14:36.656-08:00

So I was just in the middle of grading midterms after having been to the dentist this morning to get some cavities filled; yeah, talk about a fun day. As is expected, the anesthetic is slowly wearing off and I can feel my face and jaw properly now that I've been home over an hour. As the feeling began to return to my tongue I noticed that things didn't feel quite like they are supposed to. My

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-89800883669686104122009-02-19T20:35:00.000-08:002009-02-19T21:38:11.799-08:00

So did anyone else hear the news that North Dakota has passed a new bill wherein any "any organism with the genome of homo sapiens" is considered to be a person, protected by all state laws and rights. The idea behind it is that this way a fetus is now considered to be a person, obviously making the legality of abortions a big question now. Now ignoring the fact that a fetus really isn't a

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-24694378130292613822009-02-02T21:49:00.000-08:002009-02-02T22:43:02.324-08:00

So after about a month of not riding my bike to work I decided that it was time to get back to it. The reason I chose to stop riding was mainly due to the lack of light on the way home, plus it was getting pretty cold in the mornings. I have mentioned before that I'm now a wimp about the cold right? It now feels like anything below 10 C is downright frigid. But now that things are nicer, I'm

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-13949109843557357232009-01-31T11:55:00.000-08:002009-01-31T12:58:56.832-08:00

So as an academic researcher I'm dependent on outside sources of funding to pay for my research; thankfully not for my salary, just for the tools/chemicals I use. Fortunately what I do most of the time isn't all that expensive. Now that I have the main instruments for my research lab the chemicals I use are needed in very small quantities and typically don't cost much; though some can easily

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-46700494490370808162009-01-25T12:59:00.000-08:002009-01-25T14:02:48.552-08:00

Now I'm not sure how many people are aware of this, I know that I certainly wasn't before I began teaching; but the act of teaching a class really does seem to be similar to a theatrical performance or acting. Of course, having done nothing like acting other than distantly remembering being Joseph in some church Sunday school Christmas thing, which obviously doesn't count for much. After all,

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-592518378534620702009-01-21T21:32:00.000-08:002009-01-21T22:57:50.685-08:00

Well, it was nice while it lasted, but we all knew that it was coming to an end. The glorious time between semesters when a prof doesn't have to follow any real schedule; work that you feel is important gets done rather than needing to prepare lectures or grade assignments. But of course it must always come to end at some point, such is the life.I was surprised at how much time off I had

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-19005376925372013672009-01-14T21:16:00.000-08:002009-01-14T22:28:19.110-08:00

As I've said in prior posts, lately I've been spending more time in my lab. I've also said that I'm enjoying the process quite a bit. What I haven't mentioned are some of the things that I have seen my students doing in the lab that make me wonder what on earth goes on when I'm not around.Some of the more interesting and head scratching things that I have noticed in the past week are below.

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-49027087330083319632009-01-09T20:27:00.000-08:002009-01-09T21:00:32.021-08:00

Today was a good day, for the first time in far too long I got back into the lab and actually did some of my own work. At the same time I was able to observe some of my students doing their work as well... let's just say that I should be doing my own work much more often. Sadly it seems that what I need to teach my students most is common sense, of all things, why that?Anyway, let's not focus

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-70377314244267830062009-01-08T23:30:00.001-08:002009-01-08T23:30:44.520-08:00

So a couple of days ago I had a bit of a problem with my laptop. I'd just finished reading some emails at my desk at home and decided to move to the couch to continue. Now there's nothing special about this, except that when I opened the lid again nothing happened. The screen was black. It took me a couple of hard restarts to realize that the computer was working fine at the CPU level; the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-81619489142557439272009-01-04T17:45:00.001-08:002009-01-04T18:09:03.465-08:00

Well, it's done with, tomorrow I head back to work. I really probably should have gone back in sooner but I felt I needed to take some time off to recover from last semester. As I'm sure I mentioned on here, I was put in a position to teach a grad level course only three weeks before the start of the semester; so I was playing catchup with that course the whole semester. On top of that I was

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-87777835553312226742008-12-12T20:13:00.000-08:002008-12-12T22:07:48.170-08:00

So part of my research involves, or at least will involve the use of lasers. Yeah, I know, it's freaking cool! Ok, it's not sharks with freaking lasers, but at least they are still cool, they're lasers after all. Well up until this point I was unable to do anything significant with this part of my research because I didn't have a dark room. Despite the inherent coolness of lasers, to use them

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-78160462145212164452008-12-04T20:55:00.000-08:002008-12-04T21:24:29.874-08:00

So part of my teaching theory is to treat my students as adults, sure I know that it's a gross assumption, most of them are probably only adults in years. But just the same, it makes my life easier to treat them as though they are responsible enough to know what to do in their own best interest, this includes allowing them to chose to come to class or not. I post all the slides I use in my

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-14717326912099638672008-12-03T23:32:00.000-08:002008-12-04T00:10:53.937-08:00

Well what do you know, it's been over a month since I last posted, I think that's a new record for me, not that I was trying for one. It just seems that lately I'm too buys, yet to boring, to have anything to write about. Maybe it's just a matter of perspective, but somehow I doubt that the minutia of my days, preparing lectures, grading homework and trying to keep a lab running are all that

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-7916739392361157062008-10-19T23:11:00.000-07:002008-10-20T00:17:01.596-07:00

This weekend I've had the unfortunate pleasure of spending large amount of my time trying to decipher the most uninterpretable form of human communication ever devised, college student homework. It seems that along with not being taught how to do basic math, read properly or even how to use a textbook to find information they are apparently not taught how to right write in any clear form.The

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-76926795586671504972008-10-17T21:31:00.000-07:002008-10-17T21:54:34.454-07:00

Something interesting has been happening at work for me lately. In the past couple of weeks I've had five or six undergrads ask me about the research that I'm doing in my lab and inquire about the possibility of working for me next semester. Now this clearly has no correlation to the course that I'm teaching, unless for some reason students like scoring below their expectations on an

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-40459695520916261212008-10-08T22:19:00.000-07:002008-10-08T22:43:15.235-07:00

So I figure I should probably write something on here to let people know that I haven't been in more bike versus car fights. Actually the riding has been pretty good, I haven't been out with the club ride in a while but at least I'm feeling strong on the rides to and from work. Otherwise life has been kind of boring lately, there gas been plenty if work to do, but nothing horribly exciting.

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-10928221538578647672008-09-27T11:28:00.000-07:002008-09-27T12:04:01.295-07:00

Sure, it's been well more than a week since I posted anything on here but that's just the way things go, they get busy but rarely interesting enough to take the time to blog. But this week was a bit different.First off it was the most hectic week of the semester, thus far. I'm sure things will get busier later on but this one stands out so far. The two classes have me constantly occupied with

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-80965123757796795872008-09-02T09:29:00.001-07:002008-09-02T09:37:31.083-07:00

So it's the first day of classes here. I'll be teaching my usual 200 level class around noon today, followed by my first grad course this evening. But my teaching doesn't end there.Just this morning as I was entering the bathroom I witnessed one of the wonderful undergrads throw his used paper towel into the urinal, because that's just how smart they are here. Fortunately I was there to point

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-56878551497064879782008-08-29T22:53:00.000-07:002008-08-29T23:29:56.083-07:00

So for the past couple of days my lower back has been really sore. Strangely enough I cannot figure out why this is, normally I'm obsessive about my body and I know the reason or cause for even the most minor aliment. So it is somewhat surprising that my back is sore enough for me to feel as though I'm an 80 year-old with severe arthritis when I try to get up from a seated position.Even once

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-84720665568986694982008-08-24T19:13:00.000-07:002008-08-24T23:35:25.097-07:00

So yesterday was my birthday, I'm now officially 31. I can't say I'm really old as all my colleagues are older than me... and possibly a few of the grad students; but I still feel as though I am getting old. But to make the celebration special my wonderful wife was kind enough to buy me the latest iPhone! So its needless to say that I'm really stoked about it, the phone really just is the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-43417019434958377622008-08-22T22:34:00.000-07:002008-08-22T23:13:24.773-07:00

So in the past couple of weeks my job has undergone a bit of change, and I can't say that it's one that I'm really happy to be going through. That's right, the undergrads are coming back soon! As a grad student this annual event obviously had an impact on the day to day routine that we had become accustomed to during the summer months. The campus gets crowded once again, at first it seems that

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-37879756517973831942008-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:002008-08-18T22:42:53.849-07:00

So I don't know about you but I tend to be skeptical of places that have certain declarative adjectives in their names. There is just something about the need to identify a place in such a fashion that makes me feel as though someone is trying to lie to me. But then again maybe I'm just a bit bitter for having grown up in a place called Franklin Centre, which can only be the centre of nowhere

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-91483146223651892142008-07-31T20:23:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:56.939-08:00

So a few days ago I noticed that on the course schedule for the upcoming semester I was listed as only teach the intro analytical chem course. I taught this one the past two semesters and expected to be doing that this fall as well, but I was also half expecting to have to teach another course.See the faculty have to teach a certain number of "credits" per semester. The first year we get a

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-59390353189983163102008-07-29T22:43:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:57.329-08:00

So we all know that there are things that need to be taken care of from time to time with everything in life. Of course we never really want to do those little cleaning and maintenance things don't we. After all, there is usually something better (more entertaining/pressing) that we could be doing with that time. Well in today I learned a pretty good lesson on why I really should just take the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-74744603416631669462008-07-18T22:22:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:57.468-08:00

So my best intentions of posting more regularly have been shot to hell already. Though in my defense the reason is primarily a desire to get outside and check out the neighbourghood after work, something that never happened at the last place. So far Deirdre and I have checked out a few restaurants in the area and I'm happy to report that they are all quite good.As for the commuting by bicycle,

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-431191063868436902008-07-06T18:50:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:57.676-08:00

Wow! I hadn't realized that it had been over a month since I posted to this blog. Good thing people are using the RSS feed, otherwise I'm sure nobody would be reading this now.So a lot has changed in the past month. Of note on the work front, I fired the student who wasn't putting in the hours. It happened about a week after I posted about his lack of effort in the lab. After having a

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-56022245406806567732008-06-05T22:14:00.000-07:002008-06-05T22:16:46.658-07:00

So now that the summer is here I’m able to shift from teaching classes to teaching students how to do the research I want done in my lab. After a couple of weeks I’m not sure yet which is the worse situation. Teaching the classes sucked in a lot of ways, but trying to get undergrads to do research is turning out to be much more challenging than I had hoped.Part of it is my fault. I have four

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-54228428682232105682008-05-21T21:14:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:57.869-08:00

So the semester is finally over. I may have mentioned that in the last post but now it’s official, all exams have been marked and the grades have been submitted. But of course that doesn’t mean anything to my students.In this modern age I can submit my students grades and within minutes they can access them online. Worse still, I was dumb enough to email them after I had finished, which I’m

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-21689415598997225132008-05-12T09:12:00.000-07:002008-05-12T09:12:01.566-07:00

So I’m almost at the end of the semester. It’s rather nice to be nearly done with a year of teaching and at a point where I’ll be able to put more focus on my research for a while. I’ve enjoyed the teaching for the most part this year, though there have been some instances that certainly make it seem less rewarding than it could be; namely being told that I suck and that I’m a disgrace.Of

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-59178371745988445432008-05-05T22:40:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:56:58.026-08:00

So a while back I learned something rather interesting about myself, I tend to bike in my sleep. I never realized that I do this but apparently Deirdre has noticed that nights after I have been out bicycling my legs tend to pedal a little while I sleep. It really is rather odd, after all you would think that I was already tired from the ride, why would my legs want to keep pedaling?I do wonder

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-26473970223765226832008-04-13T21:37:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:58.149-08:00

So this weekend I was almost killed by a 10 year-old, but instead I got away unscathed and may have broken his shin.The weather down here this weekend was just roasting hot, easily about 30 C each day. so what better time to get out for a couple of bike rides. My ride Saturday was uneventful, a good 60 km loop down towards San Clemente and back, the hills at the end of the ride were killer, but

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-62758148561155622902008-04-06T22:35:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:58.286-08:00

So one of the blogs that I've been reading is by an “angry” professor and there is an interesting subtitle to the blog: The world needs ditch-diggers, too. It's a statement that I'm beginning to understand applies even to those do make it into institutions of higher learning.The reason this has come to have more meaning for me is because I've just managed to struggle my way through grading the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-44794412888495235972008-04-02T21:43:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:58.631-08:00

So I’m on my spring break this week. And just like pretty much every spring break I’ve ever had I’m working. Spring break always seemed like a cool idea, but I never had time or money to really get out and do anything. Most years I had research to do, even in my last year of undergrad. The year prior to that was the 1998 ice storm in Montreal, my school decided that the loss of a week of

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-74128481487207253442008-03-24T23:13:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:56:58.844-08:00

So I've got a question for you guys. Does anyone out there ever use a phone book? Seriously, when was the last time you used a phone book to look up someone's number, or the address of a restaurant, or find a plumber? It probably wasn't in last five years. Hell, for most of you the last time you used a phone book was when you needed to prop open the door of your apartment building when moving

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-9874410999955925142008-03-19T16:24:00.000-07:002008-03-19T16:27:49.623-07:00

So I think it’s about time for me to get back into doing a bit of social/political commentary on here rather than just complaining about how poorly my students are doing. And the topic of choice is going to be the second amendment to the US constitution.A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-58431486159575692822008-03-01T09:11:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:56:58.984-08:00

So it's been almost a month since I posted anything, oh well. You know the reason by now, I'm busy and boring.Recently I finished grading the first midterm for the class I'm teaching. It's the second semester teaching the course and I'm learning how to do it a bit more effectively, at least that's what I thought. The midterm average was only 52%. But I'm not really worried about that, I kind

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-45223092800319702982008-02-08T23:07:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:56:59.152-08:00

So that sore throat of mine didn't get any better after posting the last blog entry. In fact it got so bad that I had to cancel class on Thursday because I could only make sounds comparable to an electronic voice box. It kind of sucked, and really kind of hurt so I'm just glad that it's over.The title of this blog post comes from a thought I had this afternoon while sitting in my office. It

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-49097970951231210162008-01-29T20:15:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:56:59.441-08:00

So I don’t know what the hell is up with my body, but it certainly seems to be able to tell the difference between weekdays and weekends. Of course it doesn’t seem to use this ability to my advantage - like making me less tired on weekdays and letting me sleep in on weekends. No, instead my body choses to act as though the work week applies to its functions as well, the most notable participant

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-76822767565861989412008-01-20T22:09:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:56:59.649-08:00

So the new semester is finally about to begin. Classes start on Tuesday, I teach on Tuesdays, I'm not quite ready yet, so nothing is new this time around. The past couple of weeks I've been busting my ass to fix what may have been one of the worse constructed lab manuals I have ever read, sadly it was the one I gave my class last semester. Now I can't be blamed for that, I was only given it,

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-61949850534796199512008-01-15T12:53:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:56:59.941-08:00

So being the big geek that I am it's no real surprise that I'm familiar with the web page ThinkGeek.com. And though I've looked at all kinds of their stuff and even wondered "Why shouldn't I get a remote controlled missile launcher for my desk?" I've never actually had anything from there, until now. See a while back I spotted one item that I thought could be kind of cool to have on my office

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-62638062621425921062008-01-05T01:23:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:00.624-08:00

So the other day I learned something that was rather revolutionary to me. And seeing as I'm not a complete idiot I'm pretty sure that there are a few of you out there who would have been surprised as well. It turns out that I really didn't know much about shaving. Now once again, I want to remind you all that I'm not a complete idiot, I know enough about shaving not to go against the grain and

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-6281525285353857132008-01-02T17:11:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:00.942-08:00

So every now and then I get a bit of surprise living out here. I see something so unusual and seemingly out of place that I'm left wondering if it was there all along and I just never noticed it before. I had just such an incident this morning while driving to the post office. On the horizon in front of me was something new, a chain of mountains!It's so odd to suddenly be reminded that I'm

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-82965245990692799762007-12-29T23:03:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:01.197-08:00

So how many candy canes have you eaten this Christmas? I think I'm up to about three or four, which is a lot more than normal. As a kid I used to eat them all the time. I recall my parents limiting my brother and I to a single candy cane each per day in the days before Christmas. As a kid a candy cane was fun, though I'm sure my parents thought that they were just a sticky mess, then again

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-65741942360995944682007-12-23T22:43:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:01.328-08:00

So it's been a while since I wrote anything on here, what can I say, I'm busy and life is rather boring at times. Plus I don't know how interested you are in hearing that I have students who almost failed my class because they just didn't bother to submit their results for labs that they did. But that would just be mean to the little twits.What I do what to talk about is a very odd tattoo I saw

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-3595280272692630622007-12-11T21:05:00.001-08:002007-12-11T21:05:59.507-08:00

So I’m feeling as though I’ve begun adapting rather well to life down in California. I now find temperatures below 12 C feel cold. It really kind of sucks, because I know that most of the people who read this blog are living somewhere that 12 C would seem like a hot day right about now. And in the past I would have agreed, but now that I no longer need to rely on massive amounts of internal

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-8573058816205765972007-11-16T09:55:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:01.491-08:00

So like many cyclists out there I have on occasion classified bicycles as sexy. Given the aesthetics of their designs, high quality paint jobs and styling it’s not hard to see why they can come to be viewed as sexy. Of course I am limiting this description to the higher end bicycles. I’ll admit it, the bicycles that you can pick up from Walmart or any general sporting good store are just a bit

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-43829937838101908562007-11-13T22:41:00.000-08:002007-11-14T06:10:11.837-08:00

So this whole teaching thing really is taking over my life. It’s stunning how much time you need to put into getting the material ready for what turns out to be all of one hour and fifteen minutes of class. It’s also really interesting to see how the enthusiasm I show for a subject changes the students reception of the material.This past week has been exemplary in that regard. I’ve been

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-8808050769083048982007-11-05T16:33:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:01.521-08:00

So last night Deirdre and I rented the new Transformers movie. Yeah, I’m sure most of you saw it in theaters, but we were rather busy moving across the country this summer so give us a break. Anyway, we decided to pick it up because it would be an entertaining movie and to be honest, rather brainless. At least that’s what I expected. I really need to learn how to turn my brain off when

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-61381125302666150032007-11-04T09:26:00.000-08:002008-12-09T15:57:01.788-08:00

So things got back to normal this week. The fires are still burning of course, they are simply contained. That's always been one of those things that just kind of surprises me. With a forest fire you don't even try to put the whole thing out, just let it burn and make sure it doesn't spread. But then again I guess it really isn't practical, or even feasible, to put out a fire that's hundreds

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-68593912866154115992007-10-24T09:54:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:02.083-08:00

So it turns out that I'm getting the whole week off of work. The university decided to shut down for the week, it's not currently threatened by any fires, but there is also no logical reason to have people driving in and worsening traffic and risking more lives just for a couple of classes. The ironic part about all this is that being the faculty member who lives the furthest from the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-83194918457593982192007-10-22T22:23:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:02.252-08:00

So it's like a chinook eh?At least that's what I thought when I decided to look up what a Santa Ana wind was on Sunday. See, I'd hearing about them in the news all day Saturday and it seemed like these winds were something special. Well, it turns out that they are. Technically they are the same things as a chinook, just really warm dry air that comes out of the mountains. Unlike chinooks, the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-83593215875206967252007-10-18T20:27:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:02.655-08:00

So in terms of riding schedule not much has changed, still only seem to find time for the one ride a week. It’s really quite sad seeing as I used to be able to get in up to 15 hours or more a week. But that was in the summer in Edmonton so there was much more daylight then. But the riding is good and I’m learning to ride smarter than I ever have before, not pushing my heart rate through the

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-50906447370047941392007-10-13T17:59:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:02.839-08:00

So I've been living in Southern California for a few months now and I'd never really had a quintessential moment that defined this place as truly different. Sure the fact that I was riding today and looking at flowering hibiscus and birds of paradise as well as other flowers I don't recognize, but that's all environmental, it's not cultural. You could probably find the same thing in Mississippi

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-14597513050106430752007-10-13T09:12:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:03.063-08:00

So you would think that by now I would be at least slightly smart...well you’re wrong. As I was sitting on the train the other morning, going over the presentation for the class I had to teach, I was hit by a sudden realization: I shouldn’t worry about filling the time in my class, but making sure I use the time to teach them what they need to know.Stunning isn’t it? You would think that

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-27912232943341839682007-10-11T14:59:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:03.204-08:00

So one of the drawbacks that I’ve found to my long-distance commuting, beyond the lack of time to ride my bikes, is that I’m really quite hungry shortly after getting to work; I eat breakfast in the morning, but that’s before 6:00, so by about 10:00 I’m starting to get hungry. And that has led me to notice something, there’s nowhere to get a donut on campus!Once I realized that I started to

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-57047217386693579302007-10-07T23:05:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:03.480-08:00

So I haven't really complained about all that much lately, so here goes. These are three of the things that have been really pissing me off lately:1) My office so fucking cold? This is southern California, it's the perfect weather, it's not too hot, frankly the outdoor temperature is almost the ideal room temperature. So why then is the building I work in so overly air-conditioned? On top of

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-69223983161695128642007-10-05T09:19:00.000-07:002007-10-05T09:23:27.552-07:00

So this is a bit odd. Here I am sitting on the train on my way home and I don’t have any work to do. Ok, maybe that’s not entirely true, there is ALWAYS something I could/should be doing for my work these days. But tonight I have nothing planned, for what seems like the first time in weeks! Ok, that’s not really true either, I just realized that there was no way I was going to get the grant

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-87254646506992560192007-09-28T14:46:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:04.243-08:00

So I suppose some of you are wondering what’s up with my teaching. Clearly I was having some issues when I started out things weren’t going as well as I had hoped. Hell, it took me up until last week to calm down enough not to show up to class 20 minutes early just to make sure that I could get the projector working. Now things are a bit more relaxed, though that in no way means that I’m

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-58069928935362410552007-09-27T14:57:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:04.500-08:00

So over the years that I've lived down in the US I've tried to explain why Canadians in general make fun of Newfies (people from Newfoundland. I've never really had much success, and for some reason saying that they are like the dumb kid in the family just doesn't work. Probably because most Americans think Canadians are a bit "slow", I'm blaming that perception on The Simpson's and South

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-29242173647707806412007-09-23T12:35:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:04.728-08:00

So this sucks, I’m feeling sick. I’ve got a headache, my sinuses are stuffed and my throat itches; in short I feel like crap. I really hate feeling sick, thankfully I’m not one of those people who gets constantly sick. I really don’t understand how some people always manage to get sick all the time, but I suppose that that’s the reward for taking care of myself.Unfortunately Deirdre’s

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-49174431145071625062007-09-18T09:44:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:04.910-08:00

So not many of you are likely to know this but I’m not really a morning person. I’ll admit that I’m able to go from a deep sleep to nearly completely alert state in an instant, something which seems to astound Deirdre. But this in no way means that I actually like mornings, truthfully I’m a night person; I do all my best work after 11:00 pm. But with reluctance and a routine I’m able to get

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-50269050328577890342007-09-12T16:10:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:05.012-08:00

So this afternoon a colleague told me about a seminar that was going to be held at 3:30, it would apparently be a good one for me to attend. So I kind of panicked, I had a lot of work to finish off for the lecture tomorrow, I needed to get back to a vendor about a quote on an instrument and a half dozen other little things that I need to take care of. But I rushed through as much of that stuff

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-51691096155640708052007-09-10T14:12:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:05.188-08:00

So I’m starting to get a hang of living out here and I’m slowly getting more familiar with my surroundings. Saturday I was able to get out for another bike ride, it’s really kind of sad to realize that I used to easily ride 15 hours a week, now I’m lucky to ride for 3 hours. Though I’m also starting to wonder if I could even ride that many hours in a week at this point, my fitness seems to be

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-41758344707558262212007-09-04T11:04:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:05.378-08:00

So I finally got out for another bike ride this weekend. I really need to get my schedule in order and start riding more regularly. But seeing as I get home most nights just after 7:00 and the sun goes down within a half hour of then there isn’t much riding time to be found. Consequently I’ve been left with weekend riding, which coupled with a desire to sleep in for a change isn’t the best

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-45909541002388252342007-08-31T21:09:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:05.621-08:00

First of all I want to thank and congratulate you. The sight of so many of you using the trolley to get to and from football and baseball games is inspiring. Normally I would expect your stupid redneck asses to be in the seats of pickup trucks, polluting the environment, clogging up traffic and drunkenly ruining lives. So thank you for evolving beyond that.Unfortunately you still haven’t quite

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-80874118261651671482007-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:05.642-08:00

So in preparation for the second class of the semester I decided that it would be a good idea to try out the projection system a couple of times to make sure that I had been able to work out all the bugs. Sure enough I was able to clear things up. I even figured out how to display the slide on the projector while keeping the speakers view on my laptop screen. Having managed to accomplish this

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-18637465753665784412007-08-29T11:40:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:05.780-08:00

So yesterday was the first time that I got to teach my class. All through my grad studies and beyond I’ve been told by people that I’d make a great teacher, and to a point I’ve started to believe them. Then I tried to really teach for the first time...let’s just say that the bar has been set sufficiently low that so long as I show up wearing pants in the next class they will be happy.I should

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-58481997356365617582007-08-24T20:50:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:06.139-08:00

So I knew when I moved out here that I was in for a bit of a cultural change, particularly in the realm of everyday chitchat. This may not be all that obvious at first but just think about it for a second, when you bump into someone what is one of the first things that you most often talk about: the weather. I’m still not certain at what latitude the transition occurs, but somewhere as you move

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-21627894455054473272007-08-19T01:06:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:06.435-08:00

So Saturday was the first day that I was able to get out for a bike ride since I arrived in California. Ok, that's not quite true, there have been opportunities before now, but I hadn't been able to get up the motivation to unpack the bikes and build them back up. That and riding in a new area always kind of sucks when you're on your own; you never know which roads are good to ride and which

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-72720538567775823922007-08-16T10:57:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:06.844-08:00

So before I moved out here I knew that I was in for some long hours of commuting, I mean this is SoCal, who doesn’t have a long commute? But I have to admit that I have been spoiled in the past. Though out undergrad and grad school the longest I ever had to commute to the universities was about 20 minutes. Hell, most of my post secondary life I have lived across the street from whichever

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-28370417036241171722007-08-14T09:33:00.000-07:002007-08-14T09:32:10.305-07:00

So as I mentioned in my last post I’ve gone and bought a car. It’s been a bit of an adaptation to get used to driving a lot., the biggest problem being to remember that even though I’m not feeling tired I may actually need to put fuel in the tank. Hey, years of cycling have conditioned me in many strange ways. I still recall the first time I was driving a car after a couple of years of serious

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-64392590048998398032007-08-11T22:06:00.000-07:002007-08-12T00:06:14.599-07:00

So lately I've started to feel more and more grown up. I don't think it really has all that much to do with the fact that my thirtieth birthday is right around the corner. I don't really feel that the fact that I just started a tenure track faculty position is adding to the feelings of getting older. Sadly, it seems to be all the stuff I recently got.See with the move to SoCal and the new job

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-71464214635977834172007-07-16T13:45:00.000-07:002007-07-16T13:45:27.781-07:00

Dear Olympic Moving:I don't know how to come out and say this properly, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you really need to stop sending me emails.Yes, I did contact you first, but you were offering free quotes and I wanted to see what you had to offer. You opened up the relationship as a potential one time thing, you made no mention of any kind of commitment. And if you weren't

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-58502670440636794582007-07-06T13:40:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:07.278-08:00

Wednesday was the 4th of July, for those of you without calendars, or still hiding under the couch because of all the explosions you've been hearing this week. Seriously, I don't know what gives with the people in this city but they just don't seem to ever get enough of making things go bang. I mean it's not like they are even blowing something up (like a coke bottle or a shoe) they just set of

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-10721623827672308352007-06-15T08:58:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:07.377-08:00

Now I think I can say with some fair degree of certainty that we all look at the world in slightly different ways. I'm equally sure that from time to time we have all wondered what it would be like to experience the world the way someone else does. This usually leads to stupid questions like "Do other people see the same colour when we both look at red?". Think about that for a second, we know

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-67899175920436229282007-06-09T22:12:00.000-07:002007-06-09T22:12:48.379-07:00

Every now and then when I go out riding I see something that just makes me scratch my head and wonder if there could possibly be a logical reason for what I witness. And I have yet to come up with one for what I saw the Friday night.I had decided to take a spin through a nearby mountain bike trail when I got home from work. I don't ride my mountain bike all that much, but I do find it to be a

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-17095078588515773872007-06-02T20:57:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:07.683-08:00

So I live in a pretty quiet residential neighbourhood; it's a nice little place with a bunch of one-way streets and a lot of intersections with stop signs in all directions. Now really strange trend seems to have developed of late and I really can't explain it.Normally in an area with so many stop signs I would expect that most cars would be more than likely to pull a "rolling stop", rather than

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-22638097530541289802007-05-31T06:54:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:07.901-08:00

So yesterday morning when I entered the lab I was subjected to one of the worst forms of cruelty imaginable thanks to someone's poor choice in radio programs. Thankfully it wasn't some conservative talk-show, though at least then the stupidity would have been humourous. And it wasn't one of the MANY religious radio stations that are so prolific in this country. It's really kind of scary how

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-76798681209436799292007-05-26T23:28:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:08.101-08:00

I've had enough! For far too many years now I've been helping people move and I'm now fed up with it. Sure, it was fun the first few times. It was new and exciting. I never really knew what I was getting into; was there going to be a big leather couch to carry up three flights of stairs, or maybe a fridge?. But there was usually free food and beer after it was all done, except for the one

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-63123093567077942922007-05-25T10:44:00.000-07:002007-05-25T10:44:10.416-07:00

Wow. I always new that the people that ran car companies were fucking assholes, but they are stating to seem more and more like they're Big Oil's bitches.You can follow this link to a statement put out by the Union of Concerned Scientists about a classy ad campaign that the auto industry has started. It seems that they want to prevent the government from increasing fuel efficiency standards.

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-75725536088922302892007-05-23T20:58:00.000-07:002007-05-23T20:58:41.068-07:00

So being a research scientist I'm always interested in learning new things and I'm lucky enough to have a job that constantly exposes me to new things. Some of these things are neat, like the process to make nylon, you just simply pull a membrane that forms between two immissible solutions. Other things are just kind of boring, like most chemical syntheses, which result in a clear liquid or a

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-51950065910549023142007-05-09T22:01:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:08.383-08:00

Yes, I know I should probably be heading to bed right now, not writing a blog for the 7 or 8 of you even bother to read it. But this is a post about my own stupidity, so it only makes sense that I deprive myself of sleep. Anyway, I can sleep on the plane...oh yeah, I'm flying out to Pittsburgh again, but this time it's to bring Deirdre back here for good! Well, at least until we both move to

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-45358795030917754652007-05-07T16:39:00.000-07:002007-05-07T16:42:38.803-07:00

So here's a video I picked up from Richard Dawkin's web page, originally from YouTube. Either way, it's really funny and quite accurate, so I hope you enjoy it:

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-3425620870769404252007-05-03T07:55:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:08.579-08:00

I'm not sure how many of you use online banking at this point, I do and I like it. Of course there is the whole security issue to it, which may or may not be effective. I recall a story from a few months back that the latest practice, having a set image and phrase/word that you select appear to prove that the site is valid, can be pretty easily circumvented...though that was mostly due to

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-55377844487835602812007-04-30T18:37:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:08.742-08:00

Now, I'm not too sure how I've been able to do it but for years I've drank hundreds of liters of Coca Cola, literally. That's not the part that surprises me, I love the taste of it, what surprises me is that I actually managed to avoid putting on dozens of pounds (or any really) in that time. But I was lucky, because I had a near addiction to Coca Cola. Actually it was pretty close to being an

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-68543720050948807952007-04-26T07:35:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:08.894-08:00

As a scientist some time ago I came to the realization that the vast majority of the world has no clue what is going on in the sciences. I can't really blame them either, there are so many new developments all the time it's hard for anyone to keep up. Hell, since my brother got me a subscription to New Scientist for Christmas I've been struggling to understand a wide variety of things, like

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-31652754181899375602007-04-23T21:11:00.001-07:002008-12-09T15:57:09.035-08:00

Now that I'm moving to SoCal I seem to have taken a new perspective on things, particularly anything dealing with the weather. I can't stand the random temperature changes that are all too common in the northern regions that I've lived in all my life. Sure it's nice to have a summer-like day in the first weeks of spring, but that just makes the frozen shit that follows always that much

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-548938253224747842007-04-17T18:41:00.000-07:002007-04-17T18:39:46.110-07:00

Now those of you who know me are aware of how skinny I am. Those that don't, picture a guy who's 6'2" just under 170 pounds with legs that are about three times as big as my arms. But hey, I'm a cyclist, weight is an important factor in racing; the heavier you are the harder it is to go up hills. And yes, I know I'm in the Midwest and there aren't any real hills here I'm still watching my

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11275989.post-30648523244118706112007-04-12T18:15:00.000-07:002008-12-09T15:57:09.398-08:00

So a rather strange thought popped into my mind today; that being that movie stars and research profs are much more similar than I would have anticipated.I'm sure that you're probably wondering why I would have even been thinking of any of this. Well, with a wife in the entertainment industry I may end up meeting movie stars and the like... Ok, she's told me many times that it would be unlikely

Christopher Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07786465833024782197noreply@blogger.com0