Wandering through E-Space

D.W.Q.M.: "I hate computers, and I refuse to be bullied by them." -the Second Doctor Just a quick note-I'm not sure when I'll be updating my site again-I've been really busy at work (no time for lunchtime posts!) and my ppp connection at home has been acting up for a couple of days now. They're trying to fix it, but I don't know when they'll be successful! So, until then, adieu! (i'll try to sneak in a post at least once a week, somehow-even if it's just a small one.) :)

D.W.Q.M.: the First Doctor: "Pretty soon we shall be having visitors." Ben: "Vistors? What, 'ere? Well, who do you think's bringing them? Father Christmas on his sledge?" We are being walloped by Mother Nature-we're not quite as bad as those farther along on the east coast, but it's bad enough that they are showing pictures of us on the nation news. No, I'm not complaining-as my friends would probably say, I asked for it. ;) I wasn't really planning on writing about it, except that something amusing happened early this afternoon. I was standing at the bus stop, all bundled up with snow falling around me-waiting for the bus patiently when this total stranger walks up to me and says, 'Did you order all this? You look like you're enjoying yourself entirely too much.' LOL-am I that obvious? ------------------------------ A few more winter-minded random thoughts: Explain to me this: Why on earth do 4 snow plows need...

D.W.Q.M.: "Didn't you find two angry men stuck to my car?" -the Third Doctor This is a story in two parts: part 2 can be found on Persephone's blog just as soon as she has time to write it. ;) I promised that I'd have my part written by today...so, here goes! This is a story about a man and his truck...so what better way to start than to talk about another man and his car? wait for it... Okay, so it's 6pm on January 7th (actually, Jerm will argue that it's after 6pm) Anyhoo, he picks me up for our usual outing to McDs on a Friday night. As I get in the car, he begins to tell me about how he started to back out of P^2's driveway, realized he wasn't straight, and then realized that he couldn't fix it because he was starting to slide. (Oh, for the audience who may not know-P^2's driveway is on an incline, and has retaining walls on both sides). Lucky for him, he was on a straighter path than he originally thought, so he mad...

D.W.Q.M.: "If you could touch the alien sand, and hear the cry of strange birds, and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" -the First Doctor I know this post is extremely late-I even considered skipping it for this month-but I really want to post one of these every month, so this particular post is really just highlights from the month, plus a couple of things to lookout for. ;) Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope Interesting days (nights) of note: January 2nd: Earth at perihelion (Earth is closest to the Sun) January 3rd: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks. January 13th: Saturn reaches opposition to the sun. And now for some notes for events that still have potential this month ;) : Comet Machholz Due to cloudy skies here in Cleveland on the 7th, we were unable to find the comet when it was near the Pleiades. Friday night, Jerm, Adam and I braved the cold wind chill and attempted to locate the...

D.W.Q.M.: "You may be a doctor, but I'm The Doctor. The definite article, you might say." -the Fourth Doctor Just a quick note-today is an anniversary for my mom. The anniversary of...becoming a mommy!!!! To my Mom: Happy anniversary, MOMMY! ;) Guess what happened *cough,cough* years ago today? :) LOVE YA!

D.W.Q.M.: "You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delight and satisfaction of the arts... the gentle art of fisticuffs." -the First Doctor Since it's the beggining of a new semester here at CWRU, and the playoffs are now in full swing, I thought I would offer a class in chosing the proper team to root for during the playoffs. Examples will be in reference to my personal choices and will be in parentheses and bold, (like so) . :) Please pay attention and feel free to ask questions if something is unclear. We will be using the 5-point system: 1. First of all, always root for your favorite team, if they make it into the playoffs. (Green Bay Packers) (well, duh.) 2. If your team loses early in the playoffs, especially to your arch enemies, root for the next team your enemies will play (Philedephia Eagles) 3. In addition, root for a friend's team who also happened to be rooting for your team, and consoled you in yo...

D.W.Q.M.: "One for casual, one for best." -Romana2 Today, January 6th, marks Epiphany, the climax of the Christmas season, and the Twelve Days of Christmas (although, if you do your counting right, you'll know that the 12th day of Christmas is actually December 5th, also called the Twelfth Night.) Epiphany, or Three Kings Day as it is known in some cultures, is the celebration of the adoration of the Magi. One of my coworker's sister's family celebrates Three Kings day. Some traditions include taking down the Christmas tree (which I used to do-until I decided that I wanted to keep it up until my birthday. ;) ), and giving small gifts. My mother used to give us small gifts-one for each of the twelve days of christmas-usually they were candy or small ornaments. To all my friends who celebrate it, "Happy Three Kings Day!" :) Well, I was planning on posting my New Years resolutions just after the new year, but I've broken most of them already...

Hey everyone! While I was 'out and about' on the net, I thought I would take the time to wish everyone Happy New Year!! Everyone have fun and be safe! See you in 2005!!

Hey, everyone!!! I'm back from Minnesota!! I had a great time!! Not as much snow as I would have liked, but it certainly was cold! ;) Some of you probably already know this from reading Perseph's blog (thank you Perseph!) I have a new little niece!!! Malinda came into the world on December 17th, at 7lbs, 5oz, and 21 inches. You'll notice a slight spelling difference in the name-when I called Perseph after visiting my sister in the hospital, I thought her name was spelled 'Melinda'-I didn't find out until several days later that it's really 'Malinda'. Silly sister-she knows if it's an unusual spelling, that she needs to tell me-I made the same mistake with the spelling of Boo's middle name almost 5 years ago! LOL ;) Malinda is so adorable!!!! (no, I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm her Auntie. ;) ) well, ok, maybe I am a bit biased, but aren't we all? I got to hold her when she was just an hour old. That...

D.W.Q.M.: "Our lives are different from anybody else's. That's the exciting thing. Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing!" -the Second Doctor Happy Santa Lucia Day A few notes about St. Lucia Day: -Santa Lucia, December 13th, is celebrated only in Sweden on a national scale. Lucia was a 4th Century Sicilian saint. No one is sure why she became so revered in Sweden. I've heard at least 2 different stories... -At dawn, on December 13th, the eldest daughter dresses in a white dress with a red sash and wears a wreath of ligonberry branches with 4 lit candles (the same number as the Advent wreath). She carries a breakfast consisting of coffee, lussekatt (sun-colored saffron buns), and gingerbread cookies on a tray to her parents, with her younger sisters and brothers in tow. They are also dressed in white-the girls carry lit candles, and the boys wear tall, pointed caps. -before the change to the Gregorian calendar, December 13th was the s...

D.W.Q.M.: "But we're still heading for the biggest bang in history." -Sarah Jane Smith author's note: I originally wrote this during my lunch hour-but blogger was acting funny, so I couldn't post it til now. Okay, okay, okay-I know this is REALLY late-I do apologize! I finally found my copy of Sky and Telescope...I didn't think there would be anything too exciting before today, but it shows how much I know. ;) Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope Planetary Alignment Starting tonight (December 10th), when Mercury passes inferior conjunction, the planets will be in their natural order outward from the Sun in Earth's sky. It will last until the 13th, when Pluto leaves the evening sky. They say such a lineup is rarer than the transit of Venus, and that they haven't been in their proper order westward from the sun since before the invention of the telescope. It's not going to happen again for at ...

Happy St. Nicholas Day, everybody!!

What happened to my post about last Monday night's game? It was here up until when I posted a few minutes ago. I didn't delete any entries. ARGGGGGGG. >:-O! didn't have a backup of that entry, either. ARRGGGGG!!! @&%$!!!

D.W.Q.M.: "Sleep is for tortoises!" -the Fourth Doctor Hello everyone! Okay, I know I've been bad about posting-I was hoping to post a little more this week, but time just seemed to slip away-I didn't even do a lunchtime post, 'cause yesterday, after a coworker and I were showing our knitting projects to a few others, a group of us decided to skip lunch and head to JoAnne's to shop for knitting supplies. ;) (I didn't get any 'cause I'm in the middle of a project-I need to finish this baby blanket! I don't need new yarn or needles to distract me from it. LOL.) Speaking of babies, my sister is having...another girl! :) Her nickname here will either be M&M or 3M, depending on the final decision of her name. ;) (loooong story). I'll be in Minnesota for her birth, so I'm really excited! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Mine was good-cooked enough food to have leftovers all weekend. My sister called me ...

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!!! mmmmmm....turkey. Things Romana is thankful for... -That the turkey was thawed enough to cook ...and didn't burn. -That I made it through another Thanksgiving without breaking any china. -That when I did my yearly cleaning out my 'horizontal filing cabinent' (aka, the dining room table) I didn't find any outstanding bills that hadn't been paid. On a more serious note: -I am thankful that I have a roof over my head. -I am thankful for all of my friends and family. *hugs*

D.W.Q.M.: "Reincarnation can come out, but human beings can't go in." -the First Doctor Woo-hoo!! Cover art for the 1st season of Macgyver, coming to dvd on January 25th, 2005!!!!!!!!!! Yah, i'm jazzed. :-D Farscape, Doctor Who, Stargate, Firefly, Hitchhikers...it's nice to know I still have a little bit of B5 in me, too. ;) : Flying Daleks! When first introduced to the Daleks, they didn't like stairs (well, you wouldn't either if you were a huge salt shaker shaped part creature/part machine thing with no obvious way of moving about except for sliding across the floor). By Remebrance of the Daleks they could levitate up stairs, which was a nasty suprise for the 7th Doctor. Now, apparently, not only can the levitate up stairs, but they can fly and exterminate from mid-air!! SWEET. ;) It's the Monster of Peladon all over again...well, sort of. This time, the Cleveland Public Library is the culprit. Back in July, I requested ...

D.W.Q.M.: "You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delight and satisfaction of the arts... the gentle art of fisticuffs." -the First Doctor Vikings: 31 Packers: 34 Tied, with three seconds left in the game...FIELD GOAL-GREEN BAY!!!! WOO-HOO!!!

D.W.Q.M.: "If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cry of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" -the First Doctor. *sigh* To live in a place where the aurora borealis looks like this. The photographer has some pretty cool shots in her gallery-too bad I can't figure out where she is (well, I only looked at the first page of pics...) BTW, in case you live in Northeast Ohio and are wondering... this is what was seen in Akron, Ohio last night. Pretty cool, huh? :) It was a little over a year ago (November 4th, 2003) the most intense x-ray solar flare recorded in history was produced by our sun (measuring somewhere between X30-X40 levels) *sigh* I love the aurora borealis!!!

D.W.Q.M.: "Our destiny is in the stars, so lets go and search for it." -the First Doctor My sister is one lucky brat. LOL. Last night, she was standing outside her home, talking to a friend, when she looked up at the sky and screamed, "Oh, my God! I'll call you right back! Gotta call my sister!" She saw the aurora, right above her home! I figured she was far enough up north and away from any major city lights to get a good show, but this is the first time she's noticed it. Quite a display, too, from what I hear. She described it as green and red, but mostly green from her viewpoint-and pulsating quite a bit. Since the sun was setting (it was about 6:00 CST), she said it was getting brighter and more spectacular by the minute. She brought out the kiddies so they could see the display, too. Lucky ducks! From what she described, the image looks something like this. (even though this image is from Newfoundland, Canada.) She was really excited...

D.W.Q.M.: "Where in time and space am I?" -the Second Doctor Okay, so this is a few days late-I'm sorry! Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope . :) Daytime Occulation of Jupiter All times EST, for Cleveland. Okay, so this is a daytime event-so sue me! Actually, it'll be really hard to see, but I still think it's cool, so I'm posting it anyway. ;) On Novemeber 9th, beginning just before 11am, the moon will occult Jupiter. At about 11:00am, Jupiter will disappear behind the moon, and reappear again about an hour later (noon or so). Jupiter and the moon will be a little higher than the sun, and off to the right. Of course, you'll need a telescope with a solar filter to view this, and whether or not you'll be able to find Jupiter or the moon at all will depend on the transparency of the sky (how blue it is...) Like I said, probably not good for the casual viewer, but like I said- I thought it was cool so I pos...