Tess is now an official doctor. It happened last Wednesday when she presented her thesis and then defended with her thesis committee behind closed doors. All her hard work and late nights over the past couple of months yielded a 170 page thesis and an hour long presentation to her thesis committee, coworkers, family and friends. I had never attended anything like this before so I really didn’t know what to expect.

I thought it would be in a huge, dark auditorium – a la DaVinci Code’s opening scene where Robert Langdon stands at a podium with a huge screen showing figures and data I would never ever understand. The part with heiroglyph-like figures was the only thing I was right about. The presentation was in a small conference room on the 15th floor of a Columbia building way up in Washington Heights. It seated about 40 or so people and it was pretty filled. Family and friends only took about 8 seats, so the rest were fellow classmates and scientists.

Long story short, Tess was awesome. Her presentation was solid. She was eloquent and confident. And best of all…not a single note card! It was great to see her in action. Tess and I have enough in common outside of work that we barely ever talk about what she actually does at work. (But she probably knows that all that stuff is waaaay over my head anyway) So to experience the culmination of four years of work I only had a rough idea about was exciting. It’s crazy to think that she started this project 4 years ago. Confirmed by her boss, all the experiments she planned and data she gathered and analyzed were all her.

While Tess was defending, we (her family and friends) discussed how smart that girl is. And even smarter that she chose a PhD program would <i>pay</i> her to get it!

In all seriousness, I’m super proud of her.

NOTE: Tess should graduate more often because I got to see a Yankee game, eat at Peter Luger’s, Junior’s, and Pio Pio all in a few days’ time. Wait, my wallet is still mad at me for that!

I’m blogging from my brand new 3G iPhone. This device will change my life – especially the iTrans application. (thank you Santa for the iTunes gift card I used to buy it)

Too bad I’m moving to LA at the end of the year.

I had a funny exchange with the counter person at Amy’s Bread on 9th Ave. I paid for my purchase when I hear:

COUNTER PERSON: Where in Cali are you from?

It takes me a second to realize she’s talking to me.

ME: Am I that obvious?

COUNTER PERSON: I saw your ID when you opened your wallet.

ME: Ah. Are you from Cali also?

COUNTER PERSON: No, but I lived in San Diego for six months. Didn’t like it.

ME: No?

She shakes her head.

COUNTER PERSON: It’s too slow and the people are too nice. I had to move back.

Man, “too slow and the people are too nice.” Words from a true New Yorker. So then I say:

ME: If you think Cali is slow, you should try Hawaii.

COUNTER PERSON: Couldn’t do it.

Now let me preface this by stating I’m not really a Hellboy fan. I’ve never read the comic book and don’t really know anything about the character. I even watched the first Hellboy, and while I thought it was visually cool, I was a little underwhelmed. I will say that Ron Perlman was perfect for the role. In fact, I’d argue that it’s the role he was born to play. All of this (and the fact I had nothing else to do today) was enough to make me catch a matinee (without the discount pricing) of the second installment. (more…)

I’m in a pretty good position here. After about a year, my experience and network is yielding some better paying gigs. This means I don’t have to work as many days at a crappy rate. It’s allowed me to have some extra time to do what I sent out to do in the first place – write.

Unfortunately, by neglecting to write for the past few months, I’ve gotten rusty. My writing feels like it’s the crappiest it has ever been. Everything I’m writing just sucks – stilted dialogue and forced scenes (and that’s when I can actually come up with something!). So I decided to try a different approach to writing – reading. (more…)