I got accepted to Harvard

Well, kind of…it’s an online class and everyone that wants to take it gets accepted.

The course is being run through edX and is titled: Science and Cooking From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. Each week there are about 90 minutes of lectures to watch, recommended reading out of Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, a homework assignment, and a lab to do.

I did the first homework assignment. It was real homework. Nothing too difficult, but time consuming. A lot of it was centered around a Toll House cookie recipe. Based on the questions that come up in between video lectures, I thought the homework was going to be a breeze. But instead of questions like “Do you like to drink milk while you eat chocolate chip cookies?” it was more like: Glutenin (molecular weight 75,000 amu) makes up about 60% of the protein in all-purpose flour. Assuming all purpose flour is 10% protein by weight, about how many molecules of glutenin are in this recipe? 

Certainly doable for a nerd like myself. I’ve never thought of ingredients as molecules so that aspect is interesting, but I haven’t done this kind of chemistry homework since the early 90’s. It was a little bit of a shock to the system. In case you were wondering, I came up with 130,600,000,000,000,000,000 molecules also known as a shit-ton. I hope to get to do the lab tomorrow. In the lab, you calibrate your oven using the phase change of sugar. Since the melting point of sugar is 366 deg F, when set to 350 the sugar shouldn’t melt. I’m interested to see how the new kitchen oven does.

If you are interested, you can sign up and join the course. The tuition is free and to allow people more time to join, the first assignments aren't due until mid-November.

Not a local sign

Back in August, we took a family vacation to Vermont. A more detailed post of the trip never happened because while driving to Vermont, we agreed on a purchase price for the house we are currently moving into. So basically since we got into the car on August 10, everything has been and continues to be chaotic.

I was moving some files around on the computer and I stumbled across this sign I saw at a gas station just outside Killington, VT. I've only seen the opposite of this sign locally.

To erase any doubt I was in the Capital District, the mini-mart at this gas station had a surprisingly good wine selection at reasonable prices.

And here's a picture of me trying to fly at Okemo.

 

I would describe the leap as "whiplash-y." A friend's daughter that also made the leap showed wisdom beyond her years when she told me, "I'm glad I did the jump to experience it, but I don't need to do it again." Couldn't agree more.

Ripped from the pages of an old notebook

In preparing to move a mile up the street, we are purging stuff that has been residing in the corner of our basement. Among the things being recycled are lots of old college notebooks, tests and homework assignments. I pretty much scrapped anything I did at RPI. Haven't looked at any of that stuff since I finished a grad degree about 7 years ago. I had a bunch of stuff from Northeastern and UCONN too. I started my lengthy college career (Sophomore year of college...best 3 years of my life) in Boston as a business major. It didn't take. Especially economics.

I hated economics class. Hated the professor. This guy was a jerk. Once, while I was giving a presentation, he left the room. On his way out the door, he told me to keep going. It was awkward to say the least. I didn't want to give the presentation and the class had no interest in hearing it. Everyone's presentation was a useless circus show for him.

Following the professor's "blow off the class" example, I used to write bizarre SAT style multiple choice questions where horrible things happened to horrible economists instead of taking notes or paying attention to a lecture.

So here, you go...a circa 1990 page from the only college notebook I'm keeping:

See if you can answer this...

Two Economists, A and B, decide to take skydiving lesons. Neither A nor B recognize their Skydiving Instructor, C. At one time, C was a student in A's class and B was C's TA while C was in A's class at College D which is located in the northern part of State E in Country F. A and B have finished their lessons and are ready for their first jump out of Plane G. G is now cruising at Speed H and at an Altitude I. If C pushes A and B out of G without parachutes, how long will it take A and B to make a dent in the ground of E in F?

1) A and B will survive by making a parachute out of their clothes.
2) 27.6 seconds
3) Does it really matter?

The Unofficial End

Back at the end of June, the slide went out into the Sacandaga Lake signifying the unofficial start of summer. If the local apple harvest isn't a big enough clue that summer is gone, there's this too.

Curling Open Houses

Want to give curling a try? Maybe saw it in the Olympics and thought curling could be fun? 

As I type, the ice is being made. Next weekend, all the lines and houses get painted. Hard to believe that the curling season is coming. Especially since it was so hot and humid earlier this week.

The Schenectady Curling Club is inviting anyone that want to try the sport to attend an open house. At the open you'll learn a few rules, got over how to make a shot and then head out onto the ice to give it a whirl. All you'll need to bring is clean sneakers and maybe a few layers of comfortable clothes. Even if it is warm outside, the air temperature is below 40 out on the ice.

Did I mention it's free?

Stop by the Schenectady Curling Club on Balltown Road (not too far off of Union Street) on:

Friday, October 4 between 6:30 and 9:30 PM   or
Saturday, October 5 between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM

You can check out the details at curling club website.

Duke

Earlier today, the world lost a really great dog. He will be missed.

On the Move

The past few weeks have been nuts. The night before we left for a Vermont vacation, we submitted a bid on a house. As we were packing to leave, we received an email rejecting our offer. I replied saying that this was as high as we were going to bid, think about, show the house some more, we're leaving for vacation and we'll check in when we get back.

About a hour later, my phone chimed and we received an email accepting our offer. The day we came home, we went to contract. Since then it has been meetings at the bank for a mortgage application, trying to get rid of stuff to avoid packing it, packing stuff up, an inspection, another meeting at the bank, and school started too...hectic.

During the chaos, we're preparing our current house so it can get sold once we are out (someone please buy it). Two walls of the basement have been prepped for painting (I almost did the final wall tonight, but laziness got the better of me), this past weekend we painted the deck, pictures are coming down and the holes are getting filled with joint compound. The to-do list is fairly over whelming, especially since the next month of Sundays include 5 to 6 hours centered around softball double headers.

This past Saturday afternoon, after painting the deck we attended a neighborhood block party. IT was really nice. Felt a little stupid meeting some neighbors for the first time while expecting to close on a house a mile away any day now. The event was a smaller version of one that occurred annually in the neighborhood of my youth.

Someone painted bases on the road and there was a lively kickball game going being played. One of my neighbors commented about how that brought them back. There didn't used to be nearly as much organization to after school activities for kids. This was a neighborhood full of kids playing kickball on a dead end street. Happened everyday for years and years and I can't remember the last time I saw it. One neighbor recalled SPUD. I remember playing SPUD but for the life of me can't remember what the game was. I recall a ball and lots of running as the ball got thrown up in the air. What the hell was SPUD? The event made me want to organize something similar in the new neighborhood. Maybe...talk is cheap. Writing something on a blog is even cheaper.

So as I look forward to many aspects of moving into a new space, there are many things I will miss about our current house. Trying to answer, "What if I miss our old house?" isn't easy. Hopefully the kids will handle the change well. We tried to minimize the impact on them. They'll be going to the same school, just on a different bus.

Change is coming...just as soon as the lawyers and bankers can pull it together.