2013 by the numbers

Even though 2013 sucked worse than the worse sucky year ever, and I was happy to see it die in the fiery depths of a thousand burning suns, I think I'm constitutionally incapable of ending the year without making a note of the various inconsequential crap I keep track of over the course of the year.

So here's my 2013 by the numbers:

• In 2013, I knitted 50 scarves, 15 lap robes, and 400 hats for charity. Next year the numbers are likely to be significantly lower, since I won't be out on disability for five weeks due to organ removal. At least I hope that's the case, because DAMN. 
• In 2013, I read 107 books, including audiobooks, traditional books on my Kindle/iPad, and textbooks. I don't have the exact breakdown on genre, etc., because I don't really care that much about this particular obsession, but the big winners are Literature and Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Generic Non-Fiction. Again, it seems unlikely that I'll read this much next year, since I'm back in student mode and hope to remain healthy, as well.
• In 2013, I took two college courses, bringing my total earned credits to 188. No, I still don't have a degree. Yes, I suspect I will have to graduate eventually. BUT NOT UNTIL I'M GOOD AND READY, STOP PRESSURING ME.
• In 2013, I spent 87 days away from home. A small percentage of those days was for pleasure, most were for business travel and family emergencies. I suspect my 2014 will be comparable, with (hopefully) fewer days for family emergencies and more days for pleasure.
• In 2013, I bought one car. I've been driving "family cars" since 1990, and honestly - to start the new year I felt like I wanted to get something that was fun to drive and suited me down to my toes, without having to take into consideration such things as "back seats" and "cargo space." So at the end of December I bought a 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth, 160 horses of turbo-charged impracticality and fun.* Go, me.

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*We kept the Jeep, as well. Because there's no way a full-grown Giant Schnauzer or a half-grown human being will fit into the back of my sweet new ride. So the Jeep's been relegated to being parked on the street rather than in the garage, like the orange-headed step-child that it is.

My Celebrity Boyfriend Makes Good

In case you live under a big rock, I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you that my celebrity boyfriend*, Phil Plait, has a very exciting new project out! That's right - the Bad Astronomer is hosting a new mini-series on the Discovery Channel called "Phil Plait's Bad Universe." Check out this fabu trailer:

I especially like the part where giganto cartoon Phil zaps the hostile spaceships with his LazerEyes™.  

Now I want LazerEyes™, too.

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*As distinguished from my celebrity seraglio. I've actually met Phil, you see. So I can't put him into the seraglio without moving into creepy, creepy stalker territory. Being my celebrity boyfriend, however, is a more platonic imaginary relationship.

Let's Visit the Celebrity Seraglio

I'm completely uninspired today when it comes to blog fodder, so I asked for suggestions on Twitter. My non-despicable minions responded with a request that we revisit our celebrity seraglio, since really, what's more fun that pretending you actually have a chance with some famous hawtie who is probably already involved with some other famous hawtie?

Here's how it works - I give you the top five members of my celebrity seraglio, and the peanut gallery can either approve, disapprove, throw rotten vegetables, or otherwise make unwise, perverse and witty suggestions - double entendre optional.

Ready?

Number 5: Dwayne Johnson, aka "The Rock." I have no earthly idea if Mr. Johnson has a brain in his head, or if he's just pleasant to look at, and really - for the number 5 spot, who gives a good goddamn? Pool Boy...oh Pool Boy...*

Number 4: Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology and author of From Eternity to Here. Once he referred to certain sections of the universe as "lumpy," he was a shoe-in.

Number 3: Brian Cox, particle physicist at the University of Manchester, author, and black hole creator at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. He used the word "bullox" to describe the LHC doomsayers on The Colbert Report, which made me shoot Pepsi out of my nose.

Number 2: Jon Stewart. He pwned Walter Wagner on national television, plus he's smart, funny and rich. Who could ask for more? No, really - what more could you possibly want?

And the Number 1 member of my celebrity seraglio? That's right - astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, head of the Hayden Planetarium, author, and media geek extraordinaire.

Be still, my heart. 

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*Why, yes, I did just totally objectify Mr. Johnson there. Totally.

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Edited at 3:16 p.m. to bring in the rest of my short list: Liam Neeson, Lance Reddick, Ezra Klein, Matt Taibbi and (of course!) the Incomparable Evan Newkirk,

Nerd Love, Part 3.14

I love the fact that the head of my celebrity seraglio, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, not only takes seriously his responsibility to teach people good science, but also how to think critically in a world full of bunk, superstition and nonsense.

*swoon*

H/T to The Friendly Atheist.

Adventures in Parenting, I'm So Proud Edition

My Smart Girl? The one who's in college? Yeah. She finished her first semester, and she got straight A's.

That's my girl.

My Celebrity Boyfriend and My Favorite Webcomic

Come together in one GLORIOUS CONGLOMERATION OF COOL. I just know Phil is laughing his ass off. Zach, you crack me up. 

Symphony of Science FTW!

I love Symphony of Science. Here's the latest - The Poetry of Reality, featuring comments from a dozen different scientists, including members of my celebrity seraglio.

H/T to my celebrity boyfriend The Bad Astronomer.

Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind

Via my celebrity boyfriend The Bad Astronomer, I have discovered a YouTube channel that makes my heart sing and fills me with NERD LOVE.* It's the YouTube channel of the Nobel Prize, and it's simply filled with sciencey goodness as ordinary folks ask burning questions of Nobel Laureates, who then answer in a way a layperson can understand. HOW COOL IS THIS?

As an example, here is Nobel Laureate John Mather, astronomer and the principle investigator of the soon-to-be too cool for school James Webb Space Telescope. The question he fields relates to whether or not the LHC will actually suck the world into a vortex of black holes. Long time readers of this space will know why I chose this example, and why it fills me with glee to use it. Please note that Dr. Mather is an actual scientist with an actual Ph.D in an actual scientific discipline.



::swoon::



*I also heard today on The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe that my propensity towards Nerd Love may actually have an evolutionary motivation. Because the success of our society is so wrapped up in STEM, choosing mates based on their Nerd Cred has now become a "survival of the fittest" issue. Sweet.

Happy Birthday, Carl Sagan

Today would have been Carl Sagan's 75th birthday if he hadn't succumbed to cancer in 1996, much too young.

In recognition of his incredible gift for communicating the joy and mystery of science, today is the first annual celebration of "Carl Sagan Day." As a fan of Cosmos and a huge fan of The Demon Haunted World, I'm posting this remix of Carl and Stephen Hawking, called "A Glorious Dawn." 

5...4...3...2...1...Envy!

You want to know what I'm doing this morning? I'll bet you can't guess.

I'm going to go tour the local Lockheed Martin facility where they manufacture the Atlas rocket.


That's right - the same Atlas Rocket that launched the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Squee!

Our Smart Friend has a professor who works there and has volunteered to take us. It's a secure facility, so no recording devices are permitted, but you just know the whole thing is going to be off-the-hook COOL.

5...4...3...2...1...ENVY!

Loot! Loot! LOOT for ME!

Boy, those folks over at Jared can see my SmartMan coming a mile away.

Shiny! Thanks, SmartMan.

To My Smart Man on Valentine's Day

Nerd Love - Patrick Fitzgerald

I have Nerd Love for Patrick Fitzgerald.

I thought he was the cat's pyjamas when he did his number on Scooter Libby,* but his latest professional coup against Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich is making me swoon.

The tag lines on his blog include "Fighting for truth, justice and the American way," "Think globally, prosecute locally," and "Remember kids - Just say 'No Thank You' to Graft!"

So he has a sense of humor in addition to a strong moral compass.

Plus he married a Head Start teacher who was age appropriate, in spite of being identified as one of Washington's most eligible bachelors.

*sigh*

While I recognize that everyone is human and has their own clay-flavored feet, I'm going to be devastated if Mr. Fitzgerald goes the way of Eliot Spitzer. If the Chicago Tribune breaks a story about Fitzgerald's secret love nest where he keeps a pool boy/sex slave named "Alonzo" who doesn't speak English, I'm giving up all future Nerd Love for the politically active. I'll stick with scientist and policy wonk Nerd Love, who are less likely to break my cold, cynical heart.

Patrick, I know that's a lot of pressure, but with great power comes great responsibility. And I just know you understand that.


*What the hell is up with a nickname like "Scooter" for a grown man in a position of power? Scooter? Seriously?