Outta here for Christmas

Tomorrow I take off to return home for Christmas. I will only be gone for a little over a week, but am looking forward to it very much. I leave you with Sting sporting a natty beard (I know that sounds like a possible insult, but it is not) and singing my favorite Christmas song about boats.

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Tacos

From the far Northwest the Christmas Tacos made the trek from Seattle to San Diego this year. While San Diego is far more accustomed to tacos than Seattle, it seems that San Diego also appreciated the miracle of Christmas Tacos.

Yes that is basically the same picture of folks, but from different parts of my apartment! It creates the illusion that my apartment was filled to the brim with people enjoying tacos. I tried some new shredded chicken tacos this year along with the ol' reliable pork ones. My man Bobby Flay recommended some chicken ones that were easy and quite good. I was very happy with them. This year was lacking in the mistletoe and the impromptu dance parties (although we did practice some sweet dance moves), but on the plus side I made so much food that I ate tacos every day for the next 5 or 6 days. All and all, I am glad that the tradition continues and thanks to all who joined in for the festivities!

Better than Google Reader

Google Reader is a handy way to check out the internets. I use it for all the blogs I follow and to find cool stuff to share. It also allowed me to see the cool stuff my friends found. Friends like Tex. When Google tried to get into the Facebook game they changed Google Reader and got rid of this feature. That left me not having any idea about the cool stuff Tex was finding or thinking. Tex being such a solid friend went above and beyond and started this. Catchy name and its off to a good start too. Can't wait to see what happens next. Thanks Tex!

Sing "Come Fly With Me"! Sing it!

I don't know how to dance. Never really have and never have really bothered to learn. Even though I don't know how to dance I can understand that people like dancing. As in actually dancing and maybe one day I'll learn to do that a bit. I have a harder time understanding why people might enjoy watching other people dance, but clearly they do. The exception here is the many sorts of break dancing, like this totally boss gold robot, I like watching that and would love to be able to do it. Nevertheless, there are all sorts of watching people dance shows on TV these days to suggest that I am in the minority (or the Y chromosome possessing) group here. In my mind an enjoyable dance number (both to actually perform or to watch) is much more dependent on the music or song and less so on the actual dance itself. Take this show I saw. The whole thing was dancing. No narrative or spoken word. Just dancing. But it was all to the tune of ol' blue eyes himself so as long as you like Frank Sinatra I think you can enjoy this show. I can't help but wonder if Frank himself would really enjoy this show or not. Of course, I never knew Mr. Sinatra so I can't really answer that. Pretty much everything I know about him is based on parodies of him from SNL like this:

With that in mind I believe that Frank is like me and probably doesn't get too much of a kick out of watching people dance, but hey, maybe he really likes listening to his own songs. If so, he'd probably enjoy this show just fine like I did.

Just one guitar to make it any way you want it

Because of sporting events and karaoke bars everywhere just about everyone is familiar with the band Journey. Well thanks to a 5'3" dude from the Philippines, Journey is still taking that sound to the people including me.

That little fella sounds uncannily like the real thing. Really amazing. Double encore of "Any Way You Want It" and "Don't Stop Believin" was pretty tops. As if that wasn't enough, Journey came a touring with Foreigner in tow.

Now Journey has some real big hits. Real big hits, but I was surprised to learn that I am more familiar with Foreigner than Journey. Seriously every song out of Foreigner. I mean I knew I'd get some "Double Vision", "Cold as Ice", and obviously "Hot Blooded", but I was surprised that I had forgotten about "Feels like the First Time", "I Want to Know What Love Is" and the super hit "Juke Box Hero". Honestly I am a little ashamed I forgot about all those. If that wasn't good enough, Night Ranger came along with them too, but apparently the girls I went with didn't know that they were the stars behind "Sister Christian" and so we didn't get there in time. I was a little let down by that, but they were a good group to be at the concert with so no biggie.

Still had a good time. Better than I expected. From what I can tell Journey and Foreigner are both out there touring all the time (and together too) so you might consider taking the chance to see them if you get the chance.

Visit from Mom and dad

Mom and Dad came to visit me a few weeks ago. It was great to have them here. I took them to all my favorite places so far in San Diego. That mostly meant places to eat including Phil's BBQ, Hodad's and the Hash House. All choice places I would happily take anyone to. We also passed by the La Jolla Cove and saw (and smelled) the Sea Lions. Or maybe they were seals, but I think they were Sea Lions. I can't remember the difference even if Sea Lions were once one of my favorite animals.

I was asked to speak at the Spanish branch so I brought them along to hear me speak. I am sure I sounded impressive to them, but my Spanish felt awfully messy to me.

It was a very nice visit. Mom and Dad brought me things and left me lots of leftovers. This also marked the first time I have actually seen my Dad with a beard with my own two eyes. He has definitely been an inspiration for my own beard so this was very welcomed. I can't wait for my beard to get some white in it like his. They, and anyone, are always welcome to visit.

I went to LA a while ago

A little while ago I went on up to LA to visit my friend, Jarvis.

I was there to go with him to see the Utes here, in the very first PAC-12 game ever.

Things didn't turn out exactly as we wanted them to, but it wasn't all bad. I did get to eat this steak.

And I hung out with his totally kickin son.

I am not around kids that much so I did what came most naturally and had a lightsaber fight with him.

And he won.

Good times for sure! Thanks Jarv!

Movie Review "Real Steel"

Somewhere and sometime, someone was watching one of the Rocky movies and thought "This is ok, but it sure would be better with robots instead of humans boxing each other." This is probably one of the best explanations for this movie (or nostalgia for Rock'em Sock'em Robots). Seriously, this is not only the best example of a crazy Hollywood pitch for a new movie, but it actually was turned into a real movie! When I first heard about this movie I honestly thought it was a joke. Is it any wonder then that it is also the best movie I have ever seen? Well it is...at least as far as movies about boxing robots are concerned.

Movie Review "Midnight in Paris"

The Woody Allen character of this Woody Allen movie dreams of living in Paris in the 1920s. This seems to be mostly because of the artists, writers, and performers of that time, but it actually might be one of the better periods of time to dream about living in. Almost every other decade in the 1900s is known for wars, depressions, and political unrest and before the 1900s you're just looking at lack of running water and rampant disease (along with wars, depressions, and political unrest). The 20s though are known for roaring good times as the main character discovers when he is somehow transported to them during a trip to Paris. All things considered, if the same were to happen to me I think I might still pick the 60s or 70s. It just would be really cool to go to a Led Zep concert, not to mention all the other rockers that today is missing so much. Of course if Ernest Hemingway really is as brave and true as portrayed in this movie then maybe I would go hang out with him. I've never read any Hemingway, but if I ever do, it will be because of this movie.

54-10!!!

I am very happy that the Utes moved into the Pac-12 conference. Happy for the new opportunities. Happy for the new revenue. Happy that they play in a conference I sort of live in. And happy to leave the team down south behind. One question going into this change was what would happen to this rivalry? We still play, but now we play early in the season with nothing but bragging rights on the line. Well now one year in and I would say there was nearly no build up whatsoever for this game. No special excitement. Maybe the rivalry has lost some of its specialness. Having said that, I can still say...I love beating those guys!

And everything continues to be right in the universe! I tell ya what, I expected an ugly and close game. I thought for sure that whoever had the ball last would probably win. Even after Heaps gave us 7 free points to begin the game, I still expected a close one. One that we would lose in fact.

Never did I expect things to turn out quite like they did, but thank heavens that they did! I don't watch the team down south play all that often, but I have never seen them play like this. Not this bad. I mean a few years ago when Max Hall caused 6 turnovers for the cougars I thought that was incredible, but Heaps is all ready surpassing his predecessor in that category. Actually he had some help, but 7 turnovers! Really? I couldn't believe it, but I also couldn't believe how improved the Utes' line looked and just how well they responded overall. The rivalry may have diminished some, but this is still one of my favorite things.

It is always a good time to be a Ute, but right now it is once again particularly sweet!

GO UTES!!!

Backpacking in Yosemite

Last month I made a trip out to Yosemite. I had never been before and hadn't been backpacking since before my mission I think. We hiked to a place called Lake Ostrander.

It was a very nice spot. Not so far in that we spent the whole day hiking, but far enough that you earned it. Our campground was large and as comfortable as the ground can be for someone without a sleeping pad. Someone like me.

Actually the camp was surrounded by large rocks that I found to be oddly comfortable, at least I did after spending the night laying on the ground. Here is the view from my favorite rock.

The scenery was very nice and provided for nice sunsets and evenings.

While there we hiked a nearby small peak that gave us this view of the lake:

And this view:

We had bear canisters that we had to store all our perishables in so that when the bears came they would only be puzzled as to why we stored our food like that and would leave. Because bears hate puzzles. To my knowledge there were no bear sightings, but we did see this highly salacious animal at the lake.

Backpacking is a funny thing. It involves lots of prep, lots of tiring hiking, not great food, no sleep if you are sleeping on the ground or in a crowded tent or both, and lots of getting dirty. Despite all of that I always have good memories from going out camping and I would do it again. It was nice to go backpacking again. I had a great time.

Back off man...I'm a scientist!

Just before I left UW last December I submitted my last paper from graduate school. Now several months later it has finally been published, thus bringing to a close my graduate work. Its an ok paper in which we identified hundreds of genetic variants called copy number variants (CNVs) and then looked at how they are distributed among a panel of diverse dog breeds. We identified certain patterns that may actually contribute to breed specific traits. Here's my favorite figure from the paper:

It pretty well sums up my graduate work. It is messy and not easily understandable, but if you step back it sort of looks neat and impressive even though it is mostly just for show and in fact rather meaningless. Thats science baby! I miss working on dog genetics and perhaps one day I will return to it, but for now I have plenty of other meaningless, but hopefully impressive looking figures to make for other science things.

Movie Review "Captain America: The First Avenger"

Summertime blockbusters are all about superheroes these days. This year alone there were 4 movies based on superheroes and that doesn't even count the one featuring Optimus Prime, perhaps one of our greatest heroes. Summertime is also the time we celebrate our independence as a nation on the 4th of July. This year we got a special treat that could merge these summer occurrences into one. He's called Captain America and he loves the red, white, and blue. This guy was made by America, for America to go and fight supercharged nazis with his America shield that can do everything...just like America. This guy is a super patriot so naturally his movie came out during our super patriotic week right? Wait it came out weeks after the 4th had all ready passed? You're kidding right? Seriously? I think if a movie all about Captain America beating up nazis is coming out, especially in the summer, it is required that this movie be released on the 4th of July or at least the ensuing weekend. If there are other movies in line, then they just have to get out of the way for our greatest fictional veteran. This movie was released weeks after the 4th of July. Somebody really dropped the ball here. How was this not an obvious detail to take care of when releasing a movie called "Captain America" during the summertime? Without a doubt this is the biggest problem for this movie. Otherwise it is a good superhero flick that gives hopes to all us weak nerds that with a little science, we too can become hunky dreamboats who save the day and win the hearts of all nearby women.

This is the dawning of a new age for the Utes...GO UTES!!!

Here we go! The start of a whole new world for the Utes as we enter the PAC-12.

This is a great time to be a Ute even though I could see us going either way in most of these games, and really in just about any other sport I think we are gonna struggle. Nevertheless I am excited and happy for this. The PAC-12 is like a nice new playground full of awesome kids who want to play with you. Waaaay better than sitting in a sandbox by yourself trying to convince other kids that you're still cool.

Every time I watch that I end up punching a hole in the wall. There are lots of holes in the wall now.

GO UTES!!!

Nerdy Rockers at the Track

Went up to Del Mar the other day to see some horse races. Its a nice place, fun races and all, but not nearly enough silly hats. I was actually there so I could hang around for these guys after the races were over:

By seeing the races first, I was able to see Weezer for the low, low price of $6. Not bad! And neither is Weezer.

They have plenty of catchy songs and they all last about 3 or 4 minutes. Good times for everyone. Plus their lead man, Rivers Cuomo, is the perfect example of what would happen if that nerdy white guy in your class formed a little rock and roll band, made it super big, but remained the same ol' nerdy white guy throughout it all even when he was on stage...and especially when he dances. So basically its like staring into some sort of alternate future mirror for myself. Like if I had learned to played the guitar and be über successful. Ah, what might have been.

Google's #1

It has recently come to my attention that if you go to Google and search for Jerkolas, the very first thing you find is yours truly. This wasn't always the case, but thanks to you we made it! If you look a little bit more at the search results you might see the second hit and think "Oh boy! Jerkolas is on Twitter now too! I can get all sorts of random 140 characters long thoughts from him now. God bless the internet!" Well sorry to burst that bubble. Whoever this dude is calling himself Jerkolas on Twitter is not me. I cannot stress that enough. Thats not my personal brand and after a quick glance, I can't recommend it either. For now continue to come here for all my witty remarks.

On some famous boats

Went on down to the San Diego maritime museum the other night for a group dinner. Found myself on a replica of the HMS Rose, but you might know it better as the HMS Surprise from the very long and rather slow Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. That doesn't do anything for ya? Well it was also in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I never saw it, but it is possible I was walking precisely where Jack Sparrow stood and sauntered.

Also squeezed aboard an old diesel electric Soviet sub and walked the deck and hold of the world's oldest active sailing ship, the Star of India.

If you would like to see how cool this ships look with proper lighting, by all means go here.

Being aboard such great ships awakened the sailor spirit that resides deep within my Greek blood...

...and I fit right in.

Movie Review "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

There is a Calvin and Hobbes comic that proposes that some things are better simply because they are cool. There is perhaps no other Hollywood director that understands this better than Michael "Bayhem" Bay. This is the guy who watched a 60 Minutes special on "Birdmen" in wingsuits, recognized how cool it was and said "Hold the phone, I am putting some freaking dudes in wingsuits into my next movie!" Does it makes sense for soldiers to dive into a giant robot filled war zone in wingsuits? No, not at all, but it sure is cool! Bay, doesn't stop there. He can even take cool things and find ways to make them cooler. What's cooler than Optimus Prime you ask? Duh, Optimus Prime with a jetpack! The man knows cool, no doubt about it. He even found room to give the always cool Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, a role in his movie, not to mention that Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, returns to the Transformers universe and voices another robot. How cool is that? All this and more is why I had more fun at this movie than I have had at the theaters in quite some time. Shoot, who am I kidding? I'd watch this movie even if it was just Optimus Prime reading the dictionary. That would still be pretty cool.

Maybe more animals deserve a week of their own...animals like bears

Another terrific Shark Week has come to a close. Shark Week forces me to think about a lot of difficult questions. For example, knowing that great white sharks like to hang out just off the coast in Southern California do I really want to learn to surf (leading to this conversation)? Or given the chance would I really jump into a cage in the middle of the ocean to see those sharks up close? While the answers to those specific questions may very well be the affirmative, this year's Shark Week has reminded me of a much more difficult question to answer. Would I rather be killed by a shark or a bear? Just to be clear we'll specify that the shark in question is a great white and the bear is a grizzly.

There is no easy answer here. On the one hand the shark attack will probably come out of no where making for a rather instantaneous kill, but is there any honor in that? I think with the bear you could at least go down fighting. And with the bear you can at least die on dry ground (hopefully), the way man was intended to die instead of flailing around helplessly in the ocean. It's a tough call in my opinion.

Turning the tables on the question doesn't make it that much easier to answer. Would you rather kill a shark or a bear with your bare hands? Initially I thought bear, no doubt. I mean I'd rather have a stuffed bear in my den than a big ol' fish with sharp teeth. Then a friend pointed out that you don't really want to kill something as majestic and awesome as a bear. You really want to befriend one, ideally by besting it in a feats of strength or cunning gaining its respect almost like a kung fu master conceding to his pupil. I am sure at that point the two of you could hang out around town and you could ride it around like a boss. My friend honestly changed my paradigm here.

Of course such thought provoking questions made me realize that while Shark Week is pretty great, there are lots of other animals out there that could easily fill a whole week of programming too. At the top of this list has got to be bears. This guy wrote up all the reasons why, yes, Bear Week would be just as good, possibly better, than Shark Week. Be sure to sign the petition at the end too. You better believe that I did. Until next year Shark Week and here's to a world where Bear Week is not just a really good idea.

Toys make good thank yous

San Diego Comic-Con came and went. That sucker apparently sold out within hours of tickets being made available back in February or something so I was unable to attend, but I did do the next best thing and have some friends of my roommate crash on our floor at night so they could attend the Con. These were good nerds as they thanked me for the hospitality by giving me my first Batman action figure.

Pretty boss right? Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about this. It adds some much needed decoration to our otherwise plain apartment. Still haven't had any female visitors to the pad, but I am sure that the girls will just come pouring in now.

Fried foods and Good Vibrations

The entire time I lived in Seattle I went to the fair twice. I don't remember ever going as a kid to the Utah fair (though I am sure I did go at least once). I guess I am just not part of the fair going public. Well all of that is changing since I have all ready been to the San Diego fair twice! The first trip to the fair was to see the Neon Trees.

Things of note about the Neon Trees:

• They are all members of the LDS church.
• You would never know they are members of the LDS church by looking or listening to them.
• Their drummer is a girl.
• They have a song called "Animal" that everyone really likes.
• The video for that song features the Neon Trees pulling a Joker during an art show.

The show was all right, but the next time out featured the legendary Beach Boys.

I don't need to include any factoids about them as they are known and beloved all over the world. What was a nice surprise though was Uncle Jesse himself, John Stamos, took the stage with them (thats him with the red guitar). This is apparently something Stamos does from time to time and I think its all thanks to a Full House cameo by the Beach Boys so many years ago. It may in fact be the only episode of Full House that I distinctly remember. Or that one where the oldest girl was starving herself to be thin. That show tackled lots of serious issues.

The concerts were a nice touch, but for me the only thing I really want out of the fair is food cooked in a deep fat fryer. I did better than I ever imagined. I tried out the...

Corn dogs

Funnel cakes

And sampled from the following fried items: twinkie, klondike bar, snickers, nutrageous bar, kool aid (really just a doughnut hole with kool aid powder mixed in it), thin mints, and butter. Yep fried butter!

Most of them pretty much looked like this:

Of course a balanced meal includes more than just fried foods. I also added a smoked turkey leg to the mix!

At the rate I was going it is probably good that the fair has left town. As a result my consumption of fried and smoked foods has slightly decreased.