Quantum Diaries: July 2005

25 done....

I visited the Chicago Field Museum yesterday... t'was my birthday. I guess finally I'm grown up.

25 is such a weird age. In some ways I feel old, well older in any case. Its a little funny to think that the world cup in India was nearly 10 years ago. Or I finished school nearly ten years ago.... I started dating my wife more than ten years ago....

But in some ways, I realise this is just the beginning. I haven't graduated yet, haven't started my career yet. I'm still in the first year of my marriage. So I can't be that much older then.

I guess I just suck it up and move on...

Well, since it was my birthday... I'd like to introduce a new blog that I have started. For most of you, it will probably not make much sense, but hopefully if you read it often enough, you will get a feel for the turf and enjoy it as much as I plan to writing it. Give it a shot, read my Research Ramblings...

Kristen's Sketch-Blog

Kristen's Sketch-Blog is really neat.

Hail Mumbai!!

My earnest prayers for each and every Mumbaikar.....
you are heroes in the truest sense of the word

A Family in Baghdad

A Family in Baghdad . REALLY, go read this blog. I couldn't agree more......

Its times like these when one questions oneself.... how selfish must I be to be living in the US, considering all the hurt they are causing in Iraq. I'm glad Saddam is gone, but at what price?

"Archi" facts

"Archi" facts has new entries about buildings at Fermilab, Illinois. Of course, its especially near and dear to me because I work there!!!

Baghdad Burning

I should have seen this a couple of years ago, but this is very very interesting. I very strongly recommend reading this blog. It is written by an Iraqi woman under a pseudonym and is a great way to hear of life in Iraq from someone there.

Here is the blog - Riverbend

Water pictures...

Some water pictures from our trip to Smoky Mountains, TN. Leave a comment if you want these pictures in larger format for wallpapers.

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South Carolina

A couple of weeks ago, I went to South Carolina with my wife. To be more precise, we went to Easley, which is right next to Greenville, SC. My uncle is a professor of bioengineering at Clemson.

Here is Shraddha holding a jar with a pig's heart valve. Bioengineering is undoubtedly fascinating.
I did notice an immense cultural difference between his lab and my lab here. Well, to be fair, my lab is not really a lab, but a national research facility. Yet the level of human interaction varies a lot. On an average day I probably interact with a few faculty members, certainly a few post-docs and some graduate students. And mostly these are people from universities across the US (UPenn, Purdue, U. New Mexico) and sometimes across the world (Liverpool University, Univ. of Udine, Italy). Indeed, the level of interaction I have is certainly not as intimate as the bio lab. The sort of relationships forged there could be lifelong. Of course, the level of interlab competition is roughly the same!

We also went to Atlanta and visited the CNN center. Apparently the CNN news across the world are beamed from Atlanta. We did a behind the scened tour of the studios and stuff.

We also went to Stone Mountain, which is a monolith outside of Atlanta.

It does have some amazing views of Atlanta and the neighbouring countryside. It was quite enjoyable. We did go to the Smoky Mountain's, but that will come later.

Here's a neat picture of the Atlanta skyline from Stone Mountain -