So, I said yes and was seated next to the apheresis machine and, after much whining and cowardice on the author’s part, I am now two red blood cell units down. Eep. All in all, not a bad experience for two reasons. One, I decided to use my right arm this time. Sure, it’s my dominant arm, so it’s annoying to be bandaged up right now, but it also has a beautiful vein.  The second reason was the amazing Ama (perhaps Amma?). She was my vampire today and she was patient with scaredy-cat Matt and just great all around. And, I got a cool sticker:

After that, did some errands, hit the library, and got some Ethiopian. Figured some lentils and collard greens would help restore some lost iron (which I need to do).

Of course, it didn’t help last time that I had a blood taker that was, well, not quite as good as one would hope. (I’m being *very* diplomatic.) That was also my first time doing double red blood cells. Not sure I’ll do that again.

Well, maybe if blood taker lady isn’t there.

No matter what, though, GIVE BLOOD EVERYONE!

I hope everyone likes them…because they are staying! (Read, pricey.)

For many moons, I’ve been a member of both the ACS (American Chemical Society) and APS (American Physical Society), the former for ten or more, the latter for a few.  As a theoretical chemist, having a membership to these societies was quite useful. You get a subscription to a very good “popular” magazine, Chemical and Engineering News and Physics Today, discounted registration at conferences, and, perhaps most importantly, access to the respective job banks.

All this, though, comes at a cost. When you are a grad student and recent postdoc, the membership cost isn’t too expensive and the benefits well outweigh the costs.  But once you are a “professional member” the costs double–I think–at least to $140 and $118 per annum.

Okay, that’s not bad, not great, but not horrible. *But*, I am no longer a practicing chemist/physicist. I’m a code monkey. A membership to IEEE or ACM would make more sense, really. Heck, I’m kind of attending SC09, the supercomputing conference, next weekend.

But, but, but. I am a chemist. I am a physicist (according to Feynman, no less). I still think of myself as such and I suppose a part of me thinks one day I might be a practicing chemist/physicist again.

I’m not sure what to do.

Okay, that’s redundant.

Sometimes, when I’m in my apartment…

…

…

…I make car noises as I walk around.

Vroooooom! as I move forward.

Vreeeewww! as I turn a corner.

Skreeeeee! as I stop.

Sometimes I sound like an F1 car, sometimes a Cup car, sometimes a World Rally Car.

Yup.

See what you are missing, ladies?!

Yours in you know you do it too,

Matt

Last night after getting home from seeing Zombieland with a friend (so fun, go see it now!), I check my email and see a message from someone I never expected to hear from again. Why? Well, she was the most recent of women from whom I received The Look. Thus, getting that message was surprising.

So, I start reading it and it’s like I’m in the middle of a conversation. Eventually, I realize that I wasn’t the “Matt” she’d meant to write. How did I realize that? Well, she talked about a “fat bore” she went out with a while back and how “at least I got a free meal out of it. ha ha.”

A-Yup. That’s me!

I sent her a note saying she had the wrong Matt (and how!). My only guess as to why she’d sent this to me-Matt and not real-recipient-Matt is that she’s using Gmail and so she started typing in “Matt” in the To: field and the autocomplete picked me first due to our previously having emailed each other. I know I’ve done that (though the message was a “Look at this link” sort of email).

You know, it kinda hurt last night getting that. Hearing someone’s unvarnished truth about yourself usually does. But, this morning, I’m more laughing about it. If nothing else, I can hope she’s learned the lesson of making sure autocomplete is giving you what you want. Hee.

ETA: In case you’re thinking it, it really is me she was talking about. She mentioned both the restaurant for the “free dinner” and the general date of the date as well. I’m pretty damn certain it’s me she is referring to.

This weekend is SPX, the famed Small Press Expo, where independent comic artists (and a few super-famous webcomickers) gather to show their wares.  As an admirer and consumer such art, I say: “Woo hoo!”

I am a bit concerned, though, about what Saturday morning will be like when I get there. No advanced tickets sales…eek.  I know from previous visits that SPX is not unpopular so my mind is filled with images of terror. Plus, I think a one-day is ten bucks, so I hope they bring a *lot* of tens because they’ll end the day will many, many twenties.

I’m also debating in my head on the best way to get there: Metro or car. By car, the trip is, oh, 30-40 minutes if there isn’t a big traffic incident. Plus, if I buy a lot of swag, I’ll be able to bring it home rather easily. Cons: parking, though I think I know a way to beat that, and, well, it is the Beltway. Traffic will happen as will asses in BMWs (always Beamers, always) weaving in and out of traffic that is already moving about 15 MPH over the speed limit.

Metro isn’t a bad choice either, though. SPX is held at the Marriott pretty much adjacent to the White Flint Metro station. Traveling by Metro isn’t as stressful as by car either, so, nice. But, but, but: the trip from my place in Alexandria to White Flint? Try, oh, 75 minutes. Yup. One end of the system to the other with a transfer in the middle.

I can’t quite decide yet which to do. The Metro option depends on where WMATA is doing their track work this weekend. If it’s on my route, that can add a good 30-40 minutes on that time, so that’ll dissuade me.

And now for the ennui portion of our post. I know what you are thinking, it’s a freaking trip to White Flint for a comic expo…ennui? Well, you see, I haven’t been up White Flint/Rockville way for many months. Part of that is because there hasn’t been a great need, but I’ll admit there is another reason. The fact is, the last time I headed up toward Rockville was during my happy days. Before the break-up.

See, back then, a trip up to Rockville was one where each mile traveled made me that much happier. I was either driving up to see her or drop her off which meant it was one extra mile sitting beside her. I never knew before then the joy that a bit of a drive could be. I miss that, you know. Miss her, miss those feelings, miss being happy like that.

After the end, I suppose I just didn’t have much motivation to make that trip again, by car or Metro. And, I suppose now I’m afraid that by either mode I’ll spend my time getting more and more depressing because, well, I am me.

I guess it is a good thing, though, to go to SPX. If nothing else, I’ll break that rather-ridiculous psychological barrier that, yeah, I know, shouldn’t be there.

Still, I hope that no matter what happens, I have and *you* have a great weekend.

Yes, this morning, as I was shaving with my (admittedly old) Braun shaver, that weird cutter bar thing in the middle of the foils decided that the best course of action was to grab onto some beard hairs. Too many hairs. At once.

This was…painful, shall we say. Apparently, when pain is greater than a stubbed toe, but less than a kidney stone, I swear. A lot. Voluminously.

After swearing and blinking away the tears the pain brought to my eyes, I groped around and finally groped for and found some scissors, I was able to extricate shaver from beard. At this point my beard was suddenly and severely lop-sided, so, after clearing out the shaver, the rest went away as well.

Au revoir, mon barbe!

ETA: As asked, a pic of the shavéd Matt:

…but I also have some low-fat cream cheese in the fridge which is keening for a cheesecake.  Maybe a Key Lime Cheesecake? Marble Chocolate? Hmm…

Any ideas from internetland?

First, the itching is back. Now, all beards itch and, for me, it usually comes and goes in waves. We’ll it’s back now and annoys the crap out of me.

Second, there is the occasional beard dandruff. Despite shampoo and conditioner, it seems as if the skin under the beard just wants to dry out.  It’s annoying, especially with dark shirts. (I know there are all sorts of treatments for this, but I’m not spending $10-20 on tea tree oil that might not work to fix it.)

Third, it’s getting all tangly and I’m too cheap to buy one of those beard trimmer kits. And if you’ve priced those, that means I’m pretty cheap.  Maybe a sale will happen soon…

Finally, maybe I just want a change? I dunno. My (almost-) Daily Mugshot is getting pretty boring.  Perhaps the appearance of Matt No-Chin Potato-Face will spice things up, eh?

Hmm…

Well, what say you my readers and Russian spammers? Keep the beard or lose it?

Matt