news update

I've been so busy that I completely forgot about this thing. I was just reading Sarah's blog when I realized that maybe I should post something on mine.

Newsflash

• We moved into the new house 3 months ago. Plenty of space, good layout, nice yard for Sedona. Everybody (me, Kristen, Vlad and Zeb) is happy.
  
• I've torn my ACL a few months ago. The surgery is scheduled for Oct 25th. I putting in a "new" ligament from a cadaver.
  
• Research started to cooperate, so work is keeping me very busy. I went to a conference in San Diego back in April, and I am presenting another paper in Seattle on Oct 16th.
  
• Because of my injury the only cardio activity I can do is biking. I recently bought a sweet older road bike. It's a Piranello, steel frame, built initially for cyclo-cross, so it has very light mountain bike components on it. I've done a couple of rides so far and I love it.
• I am building a Home Theater PC using MythTV for the living room. So far it cost me in the neighborhood of $400. What is a MythTV good for? You can set it to record one or two episodes of "Law and Order", "CSI" or any other favorite show everyday. If you only have time to watch TV once a week, you go to MythTV select the recorded show that you want to watch and click play. The best part is that it automatically cuts out the commercials for you (suck it Tivo). I hate commercials with a passion, and being able to watch the whole Daily Show in 15 minutes without the stupid ads is awesome.
  

Boulder renters pay the big bucks - News

I am in the process of looking for a place to live and the rent prices are just ridiculous. Boulder is apparently the eighth most expensive campus in the nation, according to this research: Boulder renters pay the big bucks - News

What to do in the Denver / Boulder area

My parents are coming from Romania on May 15th. They're visiting me for a week and then go to my brother's graduation in Baltimore. I am trying to put together a list of things that would keep them entertained. I hope to update the list as soon as I come up with more ideas.

Boulder

• sip some tasty tea at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
  
• hit the Boulder Farmer's Market on Saturday
  
• drive to Estes Park, and do a little hike: Gem Lake Trail, or Bear Lake or Mary's lake, if we want something super easy.
• come back from Estes via Highway 7 and stop in Nederland for a bite
• go back to Boulder via Boulder Canyon and stop at Boulder falls or continue to I70
• visit the Celestial Seasonings factory
• bike along the many beautiful bike paths available in Boulder
• walk, eat, shop on Pearl Street
• go to Skinny Jay's on Friday night for some truly American food and music
• watch me (or others, if my leg doesn't feel better) play frisbee on Sunday
• have breakfast at the Village for some authentic morning grease
• Southern Sun for some hippie infusion
• do a short hike on Mount Sanitas for an aerial view of Boulder
  

Denver/out of Boulder

• walk around 16th street Mall
• go the Denver Art Museum, acclaimed mainly for its green architecture
• eat at Sushi Den, the best sushi ever
• drive up Pike's peak or take the cog train
  
• go to a Rockies baseball game

Fear of change

Here's an excellent summary of the clash between the anglo-saxon and latin-romantic mentalities. Sometimes I feel we need a combination of both. Vive la France!

Lista cu lucruri din Romania

-crema naturala pentru genunchi (versiunea naturista a BenGay)
-pulover pt Kristen (L)
-ceva pentru Zeb (orice)
-ciocolata (gramada)
-saprosan si triferment
-adidasi / ghete - ceva de incaltat bun de mers pe munte sau prin padure

va urma ...

Frisbee partay

Here's some pictures from the frisbee party taken with the new phone camera. Pretty bad quality in the low light environment, but at least I don't have to carry another brick with me.


Kristen is probably the only person who hates being photographed more than I do. The ceiling at the "Dark Horse" is adorned with carriages, sleds, road signs, stuffed buffaloes !??, and other crap that makes it very surreal (or should I say kitsch?).

Jason is not very happy with the bright light on my camera either.

Everybody danced hippie-style, that is throwing various limbs in the air at random intervals, regardless of the beat of the song played at the time.

New phone

So I finally gave in and bought a new phone with a real plan. My "pay as you go" didn't cut it anymore. I couldn't help getting a gadget, of course, since most of them are free after rebates anyway. I got the Sony Ericsson W810i. It comes with an iPod-like mp3 player and after a 4Gb flash card update it serves that purpose very well.

I've got the basic monthly Cingular plan, which I think is a little overpriced. In numbers that is:

• 450 min / month
• 5000 min nights (after 9pm) and weekends
• free roaming, long distance, blah blah
• free Cingular to Cingular
• 10c a text message and 1c/Kb for internet browsing
  TOTAL = $39.99 / month plus fees and taxes
  

Halloween

Disco vibes and Rasta-Man vibrations.

My red devil.

You can run, but you can't hide ...

Have you ever seriously asked yourself how racist, misogynistic or homophobic you are? Do you think there might be some incongruence between what you think about yourself and your subconscious beliefs?

Here's a test to answer all those questions: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/
It's brilliantly designed so as more aware you are of your bias and try to correct for it, the more biased you end up being.

I took a few of the tests and here's what I got:

• slight bias towards African Americans vs. European Americans
• slight bias towards men in science vs. women in science
• automatic (strong) bias towards gay couples vs. straight couples
• moderate bias towards Judaism vs. other religions
• automatic bias for other nationalities/religions vs. Arab/Muslim

No references will be made here about someone's roommate's biases ...

LateX

Great way to start with LateX for newbs like me.

http://math.auc.dk/~dethlef/Tips/introduction.html

Morning commute

Even the vertical Flatirons have a thin layer of white powder on them.

Red, white, blue, and the necessary "axis mundi"

The buses are always full when the weather worsens.

first snow

I bet these poor flowers didn't get the weather forecast on time.


Sedona and Kristen. I didn't know that Australian shepherds love snow so much.

Chinese killing Tibetans in "self-defense"

The footage was shot by a Romanian journalist on a mountaneering expedition in the Himalayas.

New blogging friends

Jason and Sarah have lost their blogging virginity. Thanks for making me feel less dorky.

Romanian soccer

It's been a while since I've posted here. A lot of things have happened since, but today's momentous event is that the Romanian soccer team Steaua Bucuresti is playing the infamous Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid is Beckham, Ronaldo, Canavarro, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Van Nistelrooy, etc... The game is shown by ESPN Deportes and I am going to take an extended lunch break to see it at the Lazy Dog down on Pearl Street at 12:30. This is the first soccer game involving a Romanian team I've watched in a few years.

There is already a rumor on the "internets" that Steaua's owner signed a deal to sell one of the Romanian players to Real Madrid in exchange for the Romanian team losing both of the games. It sounds very ... Romanian already.

ROYGBIV

The first time I had to stop and dig out the camera from my pack. ROYGBIV

New webpage

I am back in this game. I updated my ancient webpage. I used googlepages and it literally took me an hour to get it where it is now.

P.S. Poison ivy takes a long time to heal. Long time = more than a month. Very annoying.

Adios

I seem to have abandoned this blog. There's so much to do for fun in the summer in Boulder and I don't have enough time to do it. I don't know when I'll feel like blabbing again on here, but until then check out my new photo page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragos

what do you eat?

One of the best NPR stories this year. I am so proud that my grandparents live such a simple and meaningful life. How many people can claim to know somebody that lives happily in total harmony with nature, instead of destroying it?

happiness

After a heated debate with my roommate about happiness and science - don't ask me how they're connected - I found this on NPR. "Positive psychology" is the most popular course at Harvard, but it sounds more like a Dr. Phil show, rather than a Ivy League class. I didn't make my mind about it yet. Should I be dissapointed or excited about this? Sometimes I feel like simplification is a great idea, but other times I want to be hardcore and change the world.