Rockin’ In The Free World

Now that I have finished my dissertation, I have had the opportunity to do something that I have wanted to do for my entire life.  Learn to play the guitar!  It has only been about 4 months so far but I have already learned a few riffs and am having an amazing time sitting down and picking out songs from artists such as AC/DC and the Doors.  They still don’t sound quite like the originals yet, but that is coming! 

I am now a Doctor!

As of 3:06pm on June 6, 2009, I am officially a Doctor of Philosophy!!!  WooooooHooooooo!  It has been a long time in the making, approximately 14 years to be more specific, but the day has finally come when I finished and filed my dissertation.  It feels like my life has opened up in front of me.  There are so many projects and things that I want to do now that every extra minute is not taken up by working on, thinking about or worrying about my dissertation.

I arrived at UCLA 17 years ago as a transfer from Ventura Community College to work toward the lowest degree granted by UCLA, the Bachelor’s, and have now taken my educational road to its conclusion at the highest degree granted at UCLA, the Doctor of Philosophy.  It feels good!  I cannot wait to spend more time with both my beautiful daughter and wife, living a fairly sedate life for next bit.

I can say it loud and I can say it proud…..I have a Ph.D.!!!!!

Levi is in Form!

Today Levi Leipheimer was on fire in the pouring rain of the Tour of California!
Go Levi!!

Gigapan Photo of Inauguration

David Bergman took a Gigapan photo of Barack Obama’s Inauguration.  This photo consists of over 200 photos that have been stitched together to create a final photo that is 59,783 X 24,658 pixels or 1,474 megapixels with a final file size of almost 2 gigabytes!  It really is an impressive photo in which you can focus in on individual faces in the crowd behind Obama!

Enjoy it on David Bergman’s site:

http://www.davidbergman.net/blog/2009/01/22/how-i-made-a-1474-megapixel-photo-during-president-obamas-inaugural-address/

Was Condi the first African-American President of the United States for One Minute?

The title of this post sounds pretty preposterous but it actually was worked out by constitutional scholars according to the timeline of the inauguration on Tuesday.  Although this will probably never make it into the history books because of the very obvious technicalities involved, I still thought that it was really interesting.

The jist:  The outgoing President and Vice-President were no longer in office as 12pm on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

That means that the next in line is the Speaker of the House and then the president pro-tem of the Senate, in that order.  However, the Speaker and the President Pro-Tem are not President until they resign their offices.

Neither of them did, therefore the succession goes down to the Secretary of State, who does not have to resign their office to become President.  So from the time that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were no  longer in office, 12pm, and the time that Joe Biden completed his oath of office, 12:01pm, the President of the United States was Condoleeza Rice, making her the first African-American President of the United States.  Heck, she was also the first woman President of the United States at that.

(Edit: Depending on the timeline of W’s inauguration, by the same reasoning, Madeline Albright may have briefly been the first woman President of the USA.)

So Joe Biden was the President from 12:01 to 12:03pm, when Barack Obama became President at the completion of his Oath.

Pretty Interesting Stuff!

Read the newspaper article here:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/01/20/remember-when-biden-was-president/

PS:  Thanks to Leo LaPorte for pointing me to this article and topic in his blog at
http://leoville.com/2009/01/21/21842/

Coming up for Air

I this the final push of my dissertation, I have now racked up a total of 163 pages that have been put through a first edit.  I still have about 60 pages already written that have to go through that same first edit, which should bring my grand total before intro, conclusion, front pages, figures and bibliographies.  That is good news since I already have to add a few points and clear up a few other things before I am done with the dissertation.  I should not have to add any other new pieces to my dissertation to make it of acceptable length!

Other than that, my daughter turned 2 back near the end of October and we celebrated her birthday with a great barbecue in the back yard.  The weather cooperated and it was about 80 degrees that afternoon and we had a wonderful celebration.

More Internet Flotsam

Not alot of time lately, but have seen a few funny things on the internet.

Veronica Belmont pointed out these 80’s music videos redone in a literal fashion on her blog:

http://www.veronicabelmont.com/2008/10/80s-videos-much-improved/

The best of the two is definitely the A-Ha Video. The best lines are the ones about the pipe wrenches!

Going to try to go to a Ghost Tour at Strathern Park tonight in Simi Valley. http://tinyurl.com/5ogykb

Sometimes, history is more scandalous than fiction. If you want to read some interesting stories of pioneer families, religious cults and hollywood stars check out some Simi Valley history.

Getting Stronger by Cycling with My Little One

I have been getting out in the evenings with Nuria wearing her pink helmet with bunnies in a child’s seat on the back of my mountain bike. I have really been enjoying having Nuria with me for the rides and she seems to really enjoy seeing all the cars and dogs that we run into along the way. She also enjoys seeing her Grandpa who joins on almost every evening ride. But let me tell you, Nuria is a little slave driver! I fell like I have a coxswain on the back of my bicycle. Every time that I stop to check and make sure that everything is OK with her, she greets me with a hearty “More, More”! She doesn’t want her Papa to ever stop pedaling!

All this riding with Nuria on the back of the bicycle has gotten me in alot better shape than I was before! I have been slowly ramping my effort up and that has avoided the knee problems that I have had in the past trying to get back into cycling shape.

Here’s to getting back in shape thanks to the drive of my little bundle of joy!

Another Mini Epic

I just had to get out this weekend and get in a good, strenuous ride in the hills above Simi Valley.  I always feel such a sense of freedom to get up above everything and look down on the rat race. 

So, in order to do that, I have to put in quite an effort.  We were celebrating Mother’s Day on Saturday with my Mom to leave the Sunday open to celebrate Claudia’s second Mother’s Day in Santa Monica at the Tudor House Tea Room.  We were slated to leave for the Simi Valley Street Fair at 10 am on Saturday so I had to leave early to get my ride in.  By early, I mean 6 am!  So I rode up Las Llajas to the Rocky Peak Fire Road and then back down the Chumash Trail home.  The ride was quite an effort that entailed a little bit of hike-a-bike on the back side of Rocky Peak!  But I made it and even had time for a shower before we headed to the Street Fair!

See you next time.

Day of German Unity Celebration

Just a quick post of a photo of Claudia and myself with LA City Councilman Tom “L.A.” LaBonge and Trudy Corell at the German Consulate’s celebration of the Day of German Unity (the German National Holiday).