Monthly Archives: August 2012

Almost a year ago, I first wrote about my needle phobia. Since then, I’ve gotten an IV, which was a major milestone (I wrote about that before and after). It isn’t the pain that bothers me – that’s minor anyway. For reasons I don’t understand, my phobia is a mental reaction to the idea of the needle itself. The symptoms – mostly nausea and lightheadedness – have been triggered in the past just by looking at pictures of needles, or even talking about them.

Since that first post, I’ve embarked on a campaign of systematic desensitization to lessen my horror of needles. First, I set my screen saver to a slideshow of needle-related images, which it still is to this day. (That does get some interesting reactions from guests.) The pictures used to bother me so much I couldn’t even look at them, but they’re no big deal anymore. Then, I upped the ante to videos. Every day, I watch a YouTube clip of someone having blood drawn. Again, this used to make me so sick I had to look away after a few seconds, but now I have almost no reaction at all.

That’s the great thing about systematic desensitization. With remarkable consistency, it just works.

My ultimate goal is for the experience itself to be mundane. I want to have routine medical procedures without fear. I want to donate blood – my last major milestone, my Everest. I’m not there yet. But if the videos don’t bother me anymore, what’s next?

I’ve decided to start volunteering at blood drives. In keeping with the systematic desensitization plan, I’m starting small. Last week I sat at a desk for an hour and a half, in the waiting room outside where the procedures were happening, and registered donors. When I had downtime, I read through the donor guidebook. Minimal exposure to the phobia triggers, no big deal. Next time maybe I’ll volunteer to be a donor escort, and go into the room with them.

Already, the idea of donating blood has changed in my mind. It’s gone from being a personal vision of hell to a personal objective, a target to which strategies and tactics may be applied. I call that pretty exciting.

What are you frightened of?

I told you this was my lucky year, right? Check out the sweet birthday present that my wife, in her epic-ness, got me:

Behold: the Celestron Amoeba Dual Purpose Digital Microscope!

Yes, that’s a USB cable sticking out the back, which means I can throw the images up on my computer. Actually, this guy goes a step further: there’s no eyepiece, no way I can physically look into the microscope. It’s digital only. Which is a little weird, but works pretty well as long as the thing’s hardware never keels over (fingers crossed). The software shows you a live feed of whatever’s under the lens, and you can take screenshots anytime. You can even take video, though I haven’t tried that yet.

Let’s try this bad boy out! The specimen? Good ol’ Number Five (“the Cinco”).

The Celestron has three different zoom powers: 10x, 60x, and 200x. We’ll start with 10x on the upper left hand corner:

Even at that zoom you can see some of the anti-counterfeiting features. There’s the tiny “FIVE DOLLARS” text printed inside each of the loops, all but illegible to the naked eye. And you can see the fine-structured curves and swirls of the background.

On to 60x!

The miniature text in all its glory.

Ok, 200x, whatcha got?

At this level, you can see the individual fibers of the bill’s fabric. Righteous!

So far, my wife and I have looked at a circuit board, human hair, chicken meat, a dead spider, pepper grains, an olive, a slice of onion, her engagement ring, a penny, the screen of a Kindle, and a dozen other items. We could see the individual plant cell nuclei in a slice of strawberry, the structural differences from one grain of salt to the next.

I’d be hard-pressed to call it science (unless we’re testing the hypothesis that “the microscopic world is hella sweet”) but it’s a pretty good time anyway.

Any requests for things you’d like to see up close?

Whereas our trip to Ireland saw us staying in a single city (Dublin) for the most part, we were able to get a broader view of Scotland during our week there. We flew into Glasgow (the largest city), stayed several nights in Edinburgh (the capital), took a train up north to Inverness and stayed there a few days, did a day trip to the Isle of Skye, and finally came back. Overall, a better mix of city, town, and country.

The Scottish Highlands have a distinctive beauty, mixing high hills and rocky terrain with grasslands and shallow waters. The pictures show it better than I can describe. And, like Ireland, sheep are everywhere in the countryside:

As I mentioned last week, our time in Edinburgh was the highlight of the trip. We spent much of our three days there exploring the Royal Mile, a street that stretches from the high and massive Edinburgh Castle down to the modern, metallic Scottish Parliament. The path takes you right through the heart of Old Town, where cathedrals and other centuries-old buildings dwarf you on all sides.

And, since it was Festival season (August of every year), people were everywhere. Street performers, encircled by their own little crowds, would do their thing – magic, juggling, escape art, whatever – and then make their plea for money at the end. You’d see human statues sharing the street with bagpipers and dudes on stilts. Others had scheduled shows in indoor venues (usually comedy, sometimes drama) and when they weren’t actively performing, they were on the street handing out flyers for their show. To get your attention they’d walk around in costume, shout rehearsed lines, or even put on miniature shows right there. We took tons of flyers and sorted through them later.

I said yesterday that everywhere we went in Ireland felt touristy. Oddly enough, Edinburgh in full-on party mode was the only part of our two weeks where we didn’t feel that way. Maybe it’s because everybody was from out of town, not just us. But whatever the reason, we loved Edinburgh. The streets were clean, the people were friendly, and even aside from the Festival stuff, there’s just so much to see. We checked out the National Gallery, and for no particular reason I fell in love with this Cezanne painting, “The Big Trees”:

I didn’t get to see as much of Inverness as I would’ve liked, since I ended up staying one whole day in our room recovering from the flu. But what I did see was nice. Inverness is a very pretty, thoroughly domesticated little town. The lovely River Ness, which flows through downtown and lends the town its name, is so shallow that seagulls hang out on rockbeds in the middle of the water. Inverness Castle (it seems every village in Europe has its own castle) stands beside it like a little brother to the one in Edinburgh.

Scotland has a curious relationship to the rest of the UK. On the one hand, there’s a lot of pride in the Kingdom, as evidenced by all the local enthusiasm we saw for “Team GB” in the London Olympics. But the pride in Scotland as a nation of its own is obvious, and we heard lots of talk on the news and on the street about the Scottish independence movement. Our taxi driver brought up the subject on his own, and said “my heart says yes but my head says no” to the idea. That conflictedness seemed to be a common theme.

Speaking of conflictedness: my watch says it’s time to wrap this up and leave for work. Obviously there’s a lot I didn’t cover, but if you have any questions about what it’s like in Scotland, leave ’em in the comments!

One of the first things you notice after stepping off the plane in Dublin is that Gaelic is everywhere. Gaelic is the constitutionally-recognized “national language,” the original language of Ireland before British rule began, a source of patriotic pride. English, though, is the language everyone speaks in day-to-day life. Less than half the population is conversationally fluent in Gaelic, in spite of major government efforts to promote it.

Thus the officially recognized language, the language people love, is also the language nobody speaks. The practical result is that lots of official signs are in both languages, delegating pure, untranslated Gaelic to the realm of decorations and memorials. One sign I saw in a lot of restaurants was “Bia, caint, ceol agus craic,” which means, roughly, “Food, talk, music, and fun.”

Betsy and I spent most of our week-long Irish sojourn in Dublin. The guidebooks describe it as a walking city, and this is very true. It’s easy to get around on foot, and there’s a lot to see. It’s also an international city. We were constantly overhearing conversations in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and other languages we couldn’t place. And, to be honest, it’s a pretty dirty place as well. A lot of trash on the streets. It reminded us of Paris that way.

Some of the best things I saw in Dublin were indoors. The ancient and marvelously intricate Book of Kells; an original handwritten copy of Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” which I love; and some stunning engravings by medieval artist Albrecht Dürer. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see as much of the Irish countryside as we would’ve liked, just because of our limited time. We did take a day trip to Howth, where we got to hike some high, rocky terrain next to the ocean, and that was gorgeous. If and when we go back to Ireland, I’d like to spend more time hiking and less time in the cities.

Like so many tourists, I came to in search of the real Ireland. I wanted to break through the veneer of tourist attractions and leprechaun costumes, and see what daily life was really like there. I don’t think I ever succeeded. Walking around Dublin, Howth, and Kilkenny, we found lots of gift shops and restaurants, lots of signs promising “authentic” Irish experiences, but very little that didn’t seem custom-built to cater to foreign money-spenders. That’s to be expected, I guess. When you pick your destinations by reading a travel book, you’re going to end up in the same places that everyone else goes. Still, it was a little disappointing.

Nevertheless, we had a great time overall, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who’s remotely interested. As usual this morning I’m running out of time, so I have to skip a lot of details: the friendly people, the wide assortment of bookstores, the eye-catching street art. The pictures tell half the story anyway.

Any questions? Ask ’em in the comments! Impressions of Scotland coming tomorrow.

I still remember the day I turned four. Not the whole day, just this one image: jumping up and down, arms in the air, shouting “I’m four, I’m four!”

Birthdays change as you get older.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still excited. But the arms-in-the-air excitement has become more like, “Hey, cool, it’s my birthday.” The craving for a giant party with people and balloons and cake and presents has waned a little. Not that I’ve stopped liking presents or cake (or balloons!). It’s just…different, now. The birthday celebrations become A Good Thing, rather than The Greatest Thing I Can Possibly Imagine, Ever™.

Part of it, I guess, is the presents. My wife tells me every year that I’m impossible to buy for, and she’s right. I already have everything I want. My bookshelves are crammed with books I love, my computer has an Internet connection, my roof doesn’t leak, and I’m married to a woman who’s excited about buying me presents. What more could a man want?

There are things I want, of course. I want to be a better writer and a better programmer (and a better person). I want a functioning artificial intelligence. I want an extra six hours in every day to work on my projects. Zen enlightenment would be, in the words of Master Bodhidharma, “hella sweet.”

Last time I went to Walmart they were fresh out of Zen enlightenment. I’m hoping they start stocking it on ThinkGeek.

Birthdays are changing in another way, too. I get more and more “happy birthdays” from corporations. This morning I got a birthday e-mail from ING – you know, the bank. (It even linked to a YouTube video, which, surprisingly, was pretty excellent.) And because Facebook knows my birthday too, I get lots of kind wishes from people who don’t necessarily talk to me any other time of the year. None of this is bad, but it is slightly surreal.

Still, there is one way this birthday trumps anything I had as a kid. As it happens, 27 is my lucky number. I don’t know why. There’s no special reason. But for as long as I can remember, 27 just felt right to me.

Starting today, I am my lucky number.

It’s going to be a good year.

Click any photo to enlarge.

Edinburgh Castle rises up over the whole city, dominating the skyline. This was one of our first views after stepping off the bus. Below is the Festival bandstand.

Olympic pride in Edinburgh.

Crowds for the International Fringe Festival filled the streets downtown.

Closeup of a T-shirt I paid way too much for in Edinburgh. Super Mario meets Dr. Strangelove.

The Scott Monument, Edinburgh’s tribute to the great Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, author of Ivanhoe.

The streets of Edinburgh’s “Old Town.”

Part of the hike up to Arthur’s Seat.

From the summit of Arthur’s Seat, you can see all of Edinburgh, stretching out toward the coast.

The summit.

Beautiful scenery, and no sunlight ever. Welcome to Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, completed in 2004.

Luke, Ah’m yer da.

All the Festival flyers we received walking around the streets of Edinburgh.

A church in Inverness, Scotland. The three statues represent Faith, Hope, and Charity. Inverness is much smaller and farther north than Edinburgh.

Inverness takes these things very seriously.

Inverness Castle, standing tall over the River Ness.

The legendary Loch Ness, just a few miles from Inverness. Loch Ness contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

Out in the countryside of the Scottish Highlands.

Eilean Donan Castle, near the Isle of Skye.

The view from inside the castle.

Exploring the Isle of Skye.

A house near the coast on the Isle of Skye.

Back in Inverness. A church graveyard. Some of the tombstones were centuries old.

Evening on the River Ness.

Click any photo to enlarge.

Dublin. The Temple Bar area, near our hotel, is where all the tourists go at night. Lots of music, lots of people, lots of signs proclaiming “authentic” Irish food, beer, etc.

Dublin. Grafton Street, a major shopping area. Some of that “authentic” Irishness on display.

Dublin. A Celtic cross in a graveyard. I believe this was near St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

A closeup of the knots on the cross above.

Sand sculpture in the courtyard of Dublin Castle. Part of a series of five sculptures, one for each of the five senses. This is “sight.”

Who knew the Vikings of Dublin were so friendly?

My wife, Betsy, classing up the Liffey River, which flows through the heart of the capital.

Viking tours. What better way to experience Dublin than to put on a horn hat and maraud around in a banana-colored boat? We saw these on the streets with surprising regularity.

Who says Dublin is all Celtic knots and Yeats poetry? How ’bout a game of Space Invaders ON YOUR BODY?

Dublin, near our hotel.

The Dublin Spire, one of the city’s major landmarks: a giant metal spike stabbing the sky. This is apparently from the “Bowser’s Castle” school of architecture.

The Spire up close.

The chairs in our hotel were really trippy.

This is Howth, a coastal town not far from Dublin. Lots of fishing. Lots of fog.

Hiking through the more mountainous areas of Howth. Though you can’t see it in this photo, we’re still right next to the ocean.

Howth coastline.

The real reason people visit Dublin: the Guinness Storehouse. It’s a giant museum, a kind of shrine to the brewer, right next to the brewery itself.

Seems legit.

This is *the* place to have a pint of Guinness: in the Gravity Bar at the top of the Guinness Storehouse, with a panoramic view of Dublin. Pretty crowded, though.

The Ha’penny Bridge, Dublin. No, I don’t know why it’s called that. Maybe that was their construction budget?

The town of Kilkenny, a two-hour train ride from the capital. This is a statue, looking all statuesque beside Kilkenny Castle.

Kilkenny Castle, on a rare sunny day.

Still in Kilkenny. What better place for a Smithwick’s than the town that brews them?

Another shot of Kilkenny Castle.

Woody makes a surprise appearance in some Dublin graffiti. “Street art” like this was everywhere.

Buckley’s Golden Ale! Hm…I seem to take a lot of pictures of beer.

“Oh, you’re back, are you? Look at Mr. Two-Weeks-Lollygagging-About-On-Vacation strutting back in like he’s the Kwisatz Haderach. Well, sir, I hope you have a good excuse for your fortnight of negligence and debauchery.”

Wow, Hypothetical Reader. You’ve gotten bitter.

So, where was I? My wife and I took a two-week vacation overseas: a week in Ireland and a week in Scotland. Here’s how it went down.

Ireland

We spent most of the week in Dublin, where we saw the major attractions, including:

• Dublin Castle
• Ha’penny Bridge
• Dublin Spire
• Guinness Storehouse
• National Gallery
• National Museum
• National Library
• Chester Beatty Library
• St. Patrick’s Cathedral
• St. Stephen’s Green
• Trinity College (and the Book of Kells)

We also hit up plenty of little shops and book stores. And we took a day trip to the nearby coastal town of Howth, and another day trip to Kilkenny.

Scotland

Unlike Ireland, we split our time in Scotland between two cities: three days in the capital, Edinburgh (pronounced ED-in-burr-ah) and three days in the smaller city of Inverness, to the north.

Edinburgh was quite beautiful, the highlight of the whole two weeks. The International Fringe Festival (not to mention the International Festival and the International Book Festival) were in full swing when we got there, so the streets were packed with crowds, vendors, jugglers, magicians, escape artists, musicians, and dancers. Shows (and the flyers for shows) were everywhere, from drama to standup comedy and everything in between. But even aside from all the festivities, Edinburgh is just a wonderful city with a lot to do. In our three days, we managed to check out:

• Edinburgh Castle (not that you could miss it)
• National Gallery
• International Book Festival (a small, localized event)
• Three comedy shows
• Scottish Parliament
• Arthur’s Seat

And, of course, we tried the haggis. (It’s not bad!)

Inverness was also very pretty, but more touristy than we expected. We saw Inverness Castle and took a day trip that included:

• Loch Ness
• Eilean Donan Castle
• Isle of Skye

I’ll have photos coming soon, as well as my personal impressions of both Ireland and Scotland.

Of course, one of the great advantages of vacations, long flights, long layovers, and long train rides, is that you get lots of time to read. Just in the past two weeks I finished six books:

• The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond – nonfiction about Linux and open-source coding
• The Necklace and Other Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant
• Atonement by Ian McEwan – a novel
• Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
• Famine Diary: Journey to a New World by Gerald Keenan – a personal account of the Great Famine in Ireland
• The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley – the author takes some mescaline (a hallucinogen, similar to LSD) and describes what it feels like

Right now I’m working on Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.

Speaking of stories! While I was gone, I asked for ideas on the topic of my next forty-minute story, and Zeev suggested a story on what the Mars rover Curiosity might find. Excellent idea. I’ll probably post that next week sometime.

So, that’s me. What new stuff has happened in your world in the past two weeks?