Apparently there were some Comcast technicians at my apartment complex yesterday, which is exactly when my cable was shut off unexpectedly. Now Comcast can’t send out another technician until Monday. Jerks.
Archive for September, 2007
At the end of last week, Moesha sadly started getting old. It was time to start looking for Moesha Jr.
I found about five used cars that looked great, but they were a few years old, and I am paranoid about used cars. When my mom came to look at the used car, she immediately moved me over to the new car lot for a lease. That’s when we saw Moishe: a dark blue 2008 Ford Taurus. It still has the name of Taurus but is actually a Volvo S80 by design. Now my family can kind of say that we only drive Volvos.
Moishe, which is a Yiddish name for the Hebrew name Moshe which is the same thing as Moses, is a huge car with tons of audio options and comfortable seats. He drives well! Family and friends: Give me a holler and I’ll drive you around a bit.
So far, I’m not regretting the leasing instead of the buying. Pictures to come soon.
Moesha is dying. After I got the oil and radiator fluid change, she started shaking and sometimes overheating. I’d make a menopause joke here, but this is serious. Her head gasket is broken and to replace it, it costs $1,800. Ouch.
It’s time to replace her. I’m pretty sure her successor’s name will be Moishe. Is it wrong to give your car a masculine name instead of a feminine name?
I’m in scoring position with publishing two of my papers, and so I searched for my name on Pubmed to make sure my name was unique.
The first duplicate name was easy to find. Lee D Katz is that guy whose emails I receive at times. That Radiologist at Yale who publishes in high-quality journals such as Clin Sports Medicine.
The next person was an anomaly. Katz LS publishes in journals such as J Anim Sci. and Horm. Behavior. The titles that he/she writes include “Intravaginal impedance and sexual behavior of ovariectomized goats given estrogen alone or in combination with progesterone” and “Female-female mounting among goats stimulates sexual performance in males.” Awesome.
I’m making sure that I publish only as “Lee S Katz”
I just got off the phone with my Aunt, Lev’s mom. This is what she said after we talked about her kids for a second: “Carly’s an extrovert, Sarah’s an introvert, and Lev’s a pervert.”
I already ordered my free coffee. And I don’t even have a coffee maker. Or drink coffee. Hm…
I took the real Jung Typology personality test the other day and found myself looking at the ESTP profile. By definition, the ESTP has apparent sociopathic qualities.
Almost unconsciously the ESTP looks for nonverbal, nearly subliminal cues as to what makes her quarry “tick.” Once she knows, she waits for just the right time to trump the unsuspecting victim’s ace and glory in her conquest. Oddly enough, the ESTP seems to admire and respect anyone who can beat her at her own game.
… and I didn’t think that was very accurate when I read it. In response, Master Pearl used her powers of psychology to find the profile that most closely matches me.
When I saw the INTP profile, it fit me to a T, as in “Thinker.” INTPs are thinkers and are emotionally weak. They include the smartest people, such as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. However now that I have found this out, every time someone calls me smart it reminds me of my weaknesses. Sad.
INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. ….
…. INTPs have been known to defer judgement and to allow decisions about interpersonal matters to be left hanging lest someone be offended or somehow injured.
[another site's description] ….If they need to say something unpleasant to someone close to them, they would prefer to avoid this task for fear of the disharmony that may result. This results from the INTP’s fear that he does not have the emotional competence to deal with disharmony. INTPs never like doing something until they know they can do it. The best cure for this reticence is experience: to express his feelings, to live through disharmony and come out the other side with greater experience of his emotional side. ….
I went to google yesterday and found an image of what I thought was an apple, which would make sense because on Rosh Hashannah you are supposed to have apples and honey.
However, it turned out to be a peach on Google’s doodle, as in Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. Roald Dahl was considered very anti-Israel, and it’s a huge slap in the face. I think I was actually appalled that it was an image of anything but Rosh Hashannah.
The New York Sun reported that Google took it down by 2pm because of the speedy criticism from the Jewish community. Awesome. But where is the Rosh Hashannah image, Google? 
I was out on a retreat with a group of people back when I went to Oxford, and on one particular morning, I was eating cereal and milk with my friend Sunmi. She had a peculiar way of eating cereal and milk. The bowl was filled only with milk, but she would take a handful of Fruit Loops and let them float on the surface of the milk like a bunch of lifesavers. When she finished those few, she would take another handful of cereal and repeat. When I asked why she didn’t just pour a lot more into her bowl milk like the rest of us, she replied that it kept the cereal more crunchy.
Well, it’s been about six years since that happened, and I’ve finally seen the light. I pour cereal into my milk instead of the other way around. It says so crunchy!
A few people always ask me where to get ink for their printers. Why am I the printer guy? I don’t know.
Anyway, I got this advert and I thought I’d share it this time: printpal.com/card15
This was the best movie EVAR!!
I totally predict that this movie will turn cult soon. All you blog readers out there should get together like four friends and watch this movie.
Also, I’m getting a copy of it so that I can share this treasure 
The beginning text of the movie:
In 1957, the bomb dropped, and the Russians took over what was America.
The last bastion of freedom became a place called Lost Vegas and Elvis was crowned King.
After forty rockin’ years, The King is dead.
Every guitar picking, sword swinging opportunist, including Death himself, hears the call echoing across the wastelands.
Vegas needs a new King.
Huh. I didn’t notice that it said “Lost Vegas” the first time around. I bet this is one of those movies where you see something new every time you see it.
1. We always laugh in a group!
2. Six String Samurai.
3. When can we watch the last episode of Voyager?
4. Hobbling on some crutches, eating at a restaurant along with Tara, Pearl, and me.
5. Only we know how truely awesome the text message game will become.
6. You “My dog’s got no nose?”
Me “How does he smell?”
You “Terrible!”
I die laughing
7. you have to do this when you get a journal!
Speaking of inspiration and my huge ego, I went down to create a smooshed icon because I had read this article the other day.
I went down to the scanner and tried for a smooshed picture myself. Didn’t turn out as I hoped, but it’s still cool.
I haven’t written in a while, and my brother inspired me to write at least something because he himself wrote an update for the family from college.
Since everyone left town, I’ve been keeping myself busy with work to take my mind off of things, and it’s pretty much worked in my favor. The CDC project that I’ve been working on has gone silver. My adviser has complemented me over and over again; the CDC is beginning to use it; and most recently on my collaborator’s trip to South Africa, some South Africans made a request to use it. We’ve bought a dedicated server just for my project with 8 processors, each with 1 GB of memory.
In the meantime, we’re about to send a paper to Science about my Spring/Summer semester’s project. I’m second author on it because my advisor wasn’t the PI for the project, but still… SCIENCE! It’s probably one of the most read scientific magazines, alongside Nature. I’ll be famous 
Take that, the other-Lee-Katz!
I’m really trying to keep the ego down but I’m not sure how long it can last.
The batchelor pad is still going well. I need to have my grand opening sometime soon. I keep on putting off my taco and poker night, which will also be my excuse to meet the neighbors. hmmm