December 2013 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Painted Redstart

Posted on December 29, 2013 by geek

Painted Redstart

I haven’t even had time to build the warbler section of my bird page. It is going to take a long time to get it fully built. However, I photographed a bird today that I wanted to get the photos posted quickly though. While driving back from a birding trip in south Texas, we stopped at a rest area on 281 near Falfurrias. I walked around with my camera thinking I might photograph a few titmice or something. I did get them, but I was stunned to see two beautiful birds that I have never seen before. I saw painted redstarts! They are not supposed to be in that area or even Texas, especially this time of year. I saw a life bird at a nice little roadside rest area. You just never know what kind of bird you are going to see when you look.

Painted Redstart

Weird Sign

Posted on December 29, 2013 by geek

I saw this weird sign today that I am hoping someone can explain to me. I know it is a joke, but I am fairly sure I am not fully grasping the joke. I know Agapanthus is derived from Greek to mean love flower, and I know it is a genus of flowers that includes what is commonly called the lily of the Nile. Thus clearly, Agapanthus is not going to be attacking anyone. I still feel like I am not fully getting this joke. Can anyone elaborate on it?

Edited to add: This has been proposed as a possible explanation. If anyone can confirm or knows something different, I would love to hear it.

South Texas Birding

Posted on December 29, 2013 by geek

I spent the day birding in south Texas. The area around the Rio Grande has some amazing birds to see, birds that you won’t see anywhere else in the United States. Below are a few highlights of what I saw, including some pretty plants.

White-tipped Dove

Red-winged blackbird

Prickly pear

Northern cardinal and Great kiskadee

Green jay

Plain chachalaca

Northern cardinal and green jay

Cactus

Altamira Oriole

Agave

Guard Snakes

Posted on December 27, 2013 by geek

While traveling through south Texas today, we stopped at a rest area, and I saw these signs. One more reason not to mess with Texas. We have guard snakes. We don’t bother with the police for those defacing public property; we send snakes.

Finding New Friends

Posted on December 21, 2013 by geek

Three years ago today, I had just gotten back from a very short trip to Washington, DC to have an in-person interview for the job I now have. It was a whirlwind trip. I had had a phone interview less than a week before, and then they called me the next day to ask me to come up for an in-person interview. Three days later I was driving up to DC from North Carolina for the interview. I was about to leave to visit family for Christmas, and they needed to finalize interviews and get someone to accept the position rather quickly. I was formally, unofficially offered the position a few days later. I had to finish some paperwork before it could become completely official. Then the stress and insanity of moving started: packing my house, finding a place to live in DC, opening and closing bank accounts and utilities, etc.

I had graduated with my Ph.D. back in May. I had started applying for jobs even before I graduated. The job market was tight. However, there certain places where I did not apply for a job. I’m a Southern girl, and I simply would not survive in a climate that was too cold. I don’t drive in the snow; four year of college in Colorado taught me that fact. I wanted to to live in a city with things to do. I love going to museums, performing arts, some sporting events, and whatever. I wanted to be someplace where there were things to do, so when I got a job in DC, I was excited. There would be tons of things to do. I love nature and hiking, so the fact that DC has so many parks and is so close to mountains and beaches was just an absolute bonus.

The only downside to moving to DC was that I knew only one person there, a good friend from college. That was it. I was a little worried about moving to a place where I knew virtually no one, but I had done it before for college, graduate school for my Master’s, my first real job (where luckily my sister was then living), and then graduate school again for my Ph.D. I’m really a shy person, and I’m a total introvert. Moving where I don’t know anyone scares the crap out of me, but I do it when I need to. I worry about meeting people, making friends, and fitting in.

This past Thursday, I was out with friends at happy hour. The group meets about once a month and is mainly science nerds. People come when they can, and we always welcome new people. I can’t describe how great a group it is, how fun the people are, how welcoming and accepting everyone is. The best I can say is that I have felt welcome since the first time I came to one of the events almost 2.5 years ago. Thursday my friends were making me laugh so hard I could barely breathe at one point, at several points actually. I was laughing so hard no sound was coming out of me. It is entirely possible I am the nerdiest of my nerd friends, but they accept me for who I am and how nerdy I am, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. There are other events I go to, other friends I have made, and they are all fun and wonderful. I found the friends I was so worried about finding three years ago. I have found a home in DC, both in the physical sense of a house I love and a place where I find fun things to do, but I have also found a home in the emotional sense of community where I am accepted and find joy and laughter. I can’t thank my new friends enough. I love you all, and you are all wonderful and bring so much joy to my life.

Totes McGotes

Posted on December 17, 2013 by geek

There is a series of Sprint commercials that have been running recently that I really enjoy. They star James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell, and they are essentially acting out completely ridiculous telephone or texting conversations or social media interactions. I think they are completely hilarious, partially due to the gravitas these two skilled actors bring to the goofiest of scripts. Then again, I would probably watch either of them, but in particular James Earl Jones, whom I adore, read my grocery list.

Anyway one of the commercial has them acting out the telephone conversation of what can only be teenage girls using language that probably only teenage girls can understand. I was once a teenage girl, but I honestly don’t think I ever talked like that, and I certainly don’t understand fully what the conversation means now that I am older. The conversation revolves around them talking about a particular boy and how hot he is. He being the “hottest hottie that ever hottied.” He evidently is that hot. It is not clear if they achieved statistical significance on verifying just how hot he is. They further agree that he is Totes McGotes, which is let’s be honest, a completely ridiculous but very fun to say phrase. Now while I have never been hip, I know that men are sometimes referred to as McDreamy, McSteamy, and such, all of which I think originated with the tv show Grey’s Anatomy. However what exactly is a McGotes? In Gaelic, the Mc or Mac prefix of a family name means “son of”, so McGotes would seem to mean that he is the son of a goat, with goat spelled incorrectly (although the only way I know that is how it is spelled is because that is the name of the commercial). This honestly doesn’t seem like much of a compliment to me, although I personally think goats are cute. I have never seen a goat that I would call hot. Now on a few occasion I have used the word totes in jest of sorts, and I think it is always used as a slang for totally. Thus it would seem that both of these girls agree that the “hottest hottie that ever hottied” is totally the son of a goat. Again, is that a compliment? They seem to believe it is. Is being Totes McGotes only a compliment if you are a teenager? Or do you simply have to be hip to know that being Totes McGotes is a compliment? I’m curious how far spread this phrase is.

The scientist in me now wants to flirt with a guy and call him Totes McGotes and see how he reacts. Call it a social science experiment of sorts. Is calling a girl Totes McGotes a compliment, or is it only for guys? Is it only appropriate to use the phrase if you are young? To any guys reading this, how would you react if a girl called you Totes McGotes? Ladies, would you call a guy Totes McGotes? If I find a guy to call Totes McGotes at a bar or wherever, I shall run my experiment and see what happens. We will have to see if he buys me a drink or throws a drink at me.

Christmas Wreaths at the Vietnam Memorial

Posted on December 15, 2013 by geek

On December 14, I photographed volunteers laying Christmas wreaths at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It was quite nice to see the wreaths placed there to remember those who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. The wreath laying is organized through Wreaths Across America. It is not listed as a place where they are laying wreaths, but I’ve been told by one of their volunteers that their website only lists cemeteries for organizing and fundraising, but they also lay the wreaths here.

Modern Child Meets Renaissance Art of Biblical Times

Posted on December 14, 2013 by geek

Today I toured a gallery of Renaissance art at the National Gallery of Art with a group from my church. A member of my church is a docent at the Gallery, and she graciously agreed to give us a tour of some art depicting the Nativity as a nice Advent activity. Most of the time, she gives tours for school groups. She told a funny story about when a six year old child was viewing a particular piece of art, “The Adoration of the Shepherds” by Giorgione.

“The Adoration of the Shepherds” by Giorgione

Here is a zoomed-in view of the lower right portion of the painting.

“The Adoration of the Shepherds” by Giorgione

The story we were told by our wonderful guide is that a six year old, while viewing the painting, innocently asked “what is Joseph texting?”

The child is observant. It does look like he is texting. Then again, maybe he tweeting, “today Christ is born.” Just think how much faster the Wise Men would have gotten there if social media had been around. Mary and Joseph could have checked in on Facebook or FourSquare. Think of all the Instagram images! As they say, from the mouths of babes, in this instance, about babes.

Universal Blood Donor

Posted on December 12, 2013 by geek

I previously wrote how I decided to donate blood for the first time and live tweeted the hilarity of my nervousness during the event. Several weeks after that, I got my blood donor card. I was curious to see it because I wanted to know what my blood type is. When I got the card, I found out that I am O-negative (O-). I am a universal blood donor. I assume I have now been put on that blood donor hit list when the blood bank gets low. My blood donor card came complete with a photo of an infant’s foot to take home the fact that O- blood is often used to help newborns as well as trauma victims before their blood can be typed.

Why am I a universal blood donor? There are eight major blood types. The type refers to antigens present on the red blood cells. I say eight major blood types because there are actually more blood types than that based on various antigens found on the red blood cells, but when you donate blood, they type you based on ABO antigens and the Rh factor. With ABO antigens, there is O, A, B, and AB with O meaning the absence of A or B. You can only accept blood from someone who has antigens that you have on your own red blood cells or to say it another way, someone who does not have antigens that you don’t have. With Rh factor, you have that antigen or you don’t, so if you have it, you are Rh+ or Rh-. If you are +, then you can accept from people who have it or those who don’t. If you are -, then you can only accept from that who don’t have it. You can’t receive blood from someone with an antigen on their red blood cells that you don’t have or your immune system will quickly react very badly to that foreign antigen being in your body. If you still find this confusing, it works out like this.

Blood Type	US Population*	Can donate to:	Can receive from:
O-	9%	Everyone (O-, O+, A-, A+, B-, B+, AB-, AB+)	O-
O+	39%	O+, A+, B+, AB+	O-, O+
A-	6%	A-, A+, AB-, AB+	O-, A-
A+	31%	A+, AB+	O-, O+, A-, A+
B-	2%	B-, B+, AB-, AB+	O-, B-
B+	9%	B+, AB+	O-, O+, B-, B+
AB-	1%	AB-, AB+	O-, A-, B-
AB+	3%	AB+	Everyone (O-, O+, A-, A+, B-, B+, AB-, AB+)

*The population data is based on information from AABB.

Thus, as someone who is O-, I am a universal blood donor, but I only can receive blood from other O- people. AB+ people are universal blood recipients and can receive blood from anyone. All of this shows the importance of blood typing people before they know they will need blood. It also shows why on tv and the movies, whenever someone is rushed into an emergency room and needs blood, the medical staff scream for O- blood (plus it makes for drama). Until they have time to type the patient’s blood, they can safely give the patient O-. Thus the information on my O- blood donor card that informs me it is particularly important for me to donate blood for those emergency room patients and of course the babies whose feet are on my card. It’s a nice little guilt trip to get me to keep donating.

The guilt trip worked. I gave blood again yesterday. It went a little better than last time because I wasn’t quite as nervous, but I admit I was still nervous. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite as well as it could. Last time, I used my left arm, but because I use the computer mouse with my left hand but write with my right hand, I decided to have them use my right arm this time. Evidently I have better veins in my left arm. The phlebotomist poked my right arm and couldn’t get the needle in well or something. He asked if he could take it out, which I readily agreed to because it was causing me pain. I switched chairs. He poked my left arm and found a good vein. I guess I need to find out how to build better veins in my arms. I survived. I felt fine afterwards, and I saved another life. That’s what really important.

USBG Holiday Exhibit

Posted on December 7, 2013 by geek

The United States Botanical Garden has an annual holiday exhibit that consists of fantasy model trains running through, by, and over various bridges, tunnels, and model structures. They also have models of numerous DC structures and buildings. All the models except the trains are made of natural materials and are built with amazing detail. They are simply gorgeous and the use of natural material is just genius. The model train exhibit also smells wonderful due to all the cedar in the room. Definitely worth the visit.