life on the wand

Book Review: God's Equation : Einstein, Relativity, and the Expanding Universe by Amir D. Aczel

After reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time I was just a little apprehensive about taking on this book: would I be able to understand it? would it be interesting? Much to my relief, I was very pleasantly surprised by how accessible and interesting it was. This is the closest thing to a "page turner" I have ever read in an informative science book. I found the author's explanations of incredibly complex equations and concepts easy to understand though I was a little surprised about how much of the book focused on the life of Albert Einstein. In many ways the book is a biography of his life, but always relating the experiences of Einstein and the world around him to the discoveries of the time. If you are interested in an understanding of curved space, the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein, or the beginning of time, then I highly recommend this book.
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This morning on the way to work the car started flashing "STOP!!" in great big red letters on the instrument cluster. The little radiator light was flashing, too. Seeing the flashing "STOP!!" sign was a bit unnerving -- I haven't had a car be so demanding that way before. After a block of thinking about it I decided I would give in to the car and stop because in theory a freeze plug or hose could have failed and all the coolant leaked out, though as I hadn't seen a puddly anywhere, I thought this very unlikely. I pulled over and popped the hood. Sure enough, the coolant level was two or three inches below the minimum line, but obviously there was plenty of water in the radiator and no risk the car was going to overheat. So, I drove on to the petrol station (funny enough, no lights came on after I stopped) and put some water in so the light wouldn't come on any more. The car only has 800 miles on it, so I wonder if is there a leak, or if the person who prepped the car made a mistake?
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Yesterday was a full day in London. First thing in the morning (10:00) I made a quick trip to find an IATA approved kennel for the rats. They don't actually have any in stock, so I had to have one built. It will be ready next Saturday. After I got back home we took a train into London with the idea we might try to see a matinee of the Queen musical "We Will Rock You." We checked out the various options at the discount ticket places in Leicester Square, and ended up with evening tickets to see the "Elvis" musical Jailhouse Rock. We then went to the London Apple Store (first time I have been there), and then went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. We didn't get to the museum until about 4 PM so we had to rush through. It was moderately interesting, and not quite what I expected. We walked up the hill to the Royal Observatory but it was closed by the time we arrived. I suspect that the observatory probably was more what I had expected, but I may never find out. We did manage to get some pictures made standing on the Prime Meridian.

The show was very entertaining, and Joyce and I were happy that one recalcitrant teen changed opinions about going to a musical about five minutes into the show. So, I think I can safely say a good time was had by all.
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I am very glad to report that the fuel oil tank at the church building was topped up, and that there was heat at choir practice last night! Yes!
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Going to work on Tuesday after spending Monday night on the plane was not fun, though it wasn't as difficult as some other trips have been. Joyce needed the car on Tuesday so she took me to work. On the way there we stopped by Timpson in Windsor and picked up my Birkenstock dress shoes that had just been repaired -- new half soles and heels. I had worn holes in the soles and the heels were down through the rubber to whatever the next layer is -- wood? leather? I don't think they sell dress shoes like this in the US -- I couldn't find any on the Birkenstock page. While I am very happy to have my favorite shoes back, I am disappointed that they crushed the shape of the toe a little bit -- more on the left shoe than the right -- while repairing the soles.
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I made a very quick trip to Grand Rapids this weekend, leaving Saturday and returning Monday night/Tuesday morning. The primary purpose of the trip was to have the permanent overlay put on my tooth. I am so happy that the temporary crown is GONE! At times I felt like the temporary overlay was going to be permanent! However, the side benefit of being in the US was the opportunity to purchase a few Apple products at a significantly reduced price. I purchased an iPod Mini (pink, 6 GB) and two iPod Shuffles (1 GB). I am a bit partial to the iPods, but I did not really by all three for me: one of the Shuffles and the Mini were for a friend at work. It was £50 ($95) cheaper buying those two items in the US than in the UK. That gives you an idea of the general cost of things here. However, one of the iPod Shuffles was for me. Why did I buy one? Well, they are so cute... Really, I have always wished for something smaller, lighter, and with flash memory to use for jogging, and the Shuffle certainly is that. (When I first started jogging with my first generation iPod I had to stop after 20 - 25 minutes and let the hard drive spin back up to put more music in the buffer. Annoying! Plus, it is just a bit too big and heavy to slip in a sweat band or in a pocket while jogging, so I had to carry it in my hand to be comfortable.) I also like that I can use it as a 1 GB USB drive. There are two things I do not like about the Shuffle (or, iTunes, as the case may be), however:
1. It can only be synced with one computer (I regularly use four different computers, and being able to select a song or audio book from different computers and putting them onto the Shuffle without disturbing the other songs/books on there is impossible),
2. There isn't any way (that I can find) to order the songs on the Shuffle so that the first one is the audio book I am listening to (if I could make the audio book the first title on the Shuffle, I think I could make it the first track, and then find it easily when I want to listen to a book).
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Ah! It was snowing this morning. And last night, actually. The snow can be so pretty. But, now it is hailing. It sounds quite loud here in my construction trailer office. Here are a couple of Palm-quality shots of my office and the hail stones.

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Tonight was choir practice at the church building. Cara and I walked. I wore silk long johns, trousers, t-shirt (vest), shirt, suit jacket, overcoat, scarf, and gloves. Was it really cold outside? Well, not too bad -- about 1C (34F). No, the reason to bundle up so warmly is because last week at choir practice I nearly froze -- the heat didn't seem to be working. Sunday morning I decided to be safe and dressed warmly in anticipation that the heat might not be fixed (it wasn't) and was still cold. However, on Sunday we learned that the fuel oil tank is empty. That shouldn't be too hard to solve!

I took a thermometer with me to Evensong on Sunday night -- it was about 10C (50F). Now, why does it feel colder in the church building at 10C than outside at 2C? I don't know, but it does! Probably because you can't walk quickly during the church service or choir practice. So, since the weather has stayed between -3 and 4C (26 - 40F) for the past week, I am guessing that the building has lost some more heat -- maybe another two or three degrees. So, that is why I dressed so warmly last night. I still froze, especially my hands.

The ever service-minded fuel oil supplier said that he didn't have a scheduled run to Datchet until next Tuesday, so we can just freeze until then. Obviously, much harder to solve than I anticipated. Should be quite frosty for Mothering Sunday service. Glad I will be out of town!
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It is time for the monthly hair update. Not much to report -- just another half inch or so (heh heh). Click on the image to go to the Hair Growth Project page.
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