My diatribe for Apple…so far…
By klstano | April 24, 2008
Dear Apple:
I’ve recently had to take my computer into my local Apple store in Cambridge because of problems with my display. I noticed a while ago that the corners of my screen were darkening, and I also recently noticed that as I left my computer on during the workday, the darkness crept throughout the entire bottom of my screen and up towards the center. Not being satisfied with my relatively new computer’s performance, I took it to the Apple Store to see what my options were as my computer is still under warranty.
The Manager at this particular branch informed me that there wasn’t much he could do to rectify the situation. He said that this is a problem with all MacBooks and is generally a problem with LCD screens. He told me that even if he were to install a new screen, I would likely have the same problem, and that he would have to sit there and install new screens all day until I found one that I would be happy with.
My first problem with this is the fact that I was blatantly told that there is a serious, unfixable issue with ALL MacBooks. I do not find it acceptable that the darkening of my screen is condoned by the Apple support staff and store managers. The manager communicated to me that he was severely under-staffed, which I completely understand as this Apple Store is a new branch in Cambridge, but the fact that he told me that it was a problem that could not be fixed is extremely irritating to me.
Additionally, in the Manager’s attempt to explain the screen-issue with me, he told me that my computer was experiencing LCD burn-in, a common problem with LCD screens. As I understand it, LCD burn-in is caused by a bright image that has been displayed too long on the computer screen without a screen saver or decrease in brightness. If I had LCD burn-in, I would expect to see the shadow of an image on my desktop. I do not have LCD burn-in however, because the issue is not with the shadow of an underlying image, but that the actual pixels of my computer screen have started to darken, and it is aggravated further by prolonged use of my computer.
This pathetic excuse for technical support has left me extremely irritated. I would like to think that if I have an issue with my primary computer that makes it difficult for me to read text on my screen, that the company would be willing to fix it. I would also like to think that the manager of a branch of Apple would have a little more technical knowledge, and would not merely make excuses so that he didn’t have to take on another computer because his store is swamped. I think it would be in the best interest of most that a managerial representative of Apple be a little more competent rather than flat out tell his customer that “There is nothing he can do…” and “All the screens are like that…”
To be continued…
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Change of Plans
By klstano | April 22, 2008
I will again apologize for the lack in posts - but research has been eating up so much of my time lately that I haven’t really done anything else worth posting about. However, I finally do have a bit of an update that I can actually talk about!
I found out this week that my summer is turning out a little differently than I first expected. Right now, I have a plane ticket to return home on May 28th. The plan was to come back and attend Mark’s (Greg’s brother’s) high school graduation in Virginia, head home for a bit and then move all of my stuff back to Raleigh (again). I was going to work back at my old lab, continue where I left off - all that good stuff. Last week, Alan (my research advisor) told me that he wanted me to come to NT ‘08 (NT = nanotube) and that he was going to pay for me to go. NT ‘08 is the single largest conference in the world for researchers in carbon nanotubes (Ijima, the man who ‘discovered the carbon nanotube is going to be there), and the opportunity to go to it with one of the premier nanotube research groups is enormous. Unfortunately, NT ‘08 is the first week in July. For a little while, I actually thought about not attending, but then I realized I would be throwing away a really great opportunity to wrap up my research this summer in Cambridge. So, I am going to be in Montpelier, France from June 29th - July 4th. The weekend before, Greg and I will be in Paris to do some sightseeing with members of my lab group - as Paris is conveniently located en route to Montpelier when traveling by train.
More news: Originally, the idea was for me to present a poster at NT ‘08. Last Thursday, we had a group meeting to discuss poster topics, and it was ultimately decided that the area I have been researching might be a little too hot to present as a poster. He decided to save my work for possible release in a high profile journal (wow!), and he proposed that I present some of my work from sub-projects at the Polymer Fibers conference in Manchester on July 9th. I had already heard of this conference because of its relevance to my research back at State. There is an entire part of the day devoted to electrospinning, which is amazing because I am used to presenting my research to groups of people who think I make clothes. So, on top of the two posters that I am doing for my work in Cambridge, I am also going to be presenting research based on my co-axial electrospinning at State. wow wow wow!!
I will undoubtedly be busy the next couple of months. Luckily, I just submitted a paper to Alan last week detailing the progress of my work, so I have already had to do the necessary evil of summarizing my data and displaying it in an easy-to-follow format…so I can keep chugging at the fun stuff. I also have to give a talk for my group’s seminar series at the end of May, so that will be good practice as well.
So I’ll be back in July. I am still planning on going to Raleigh to continue my work there (unfinished business with regards to a paper) and hopefully Meg will be able to stay with me for a few weeks while she works in Raleigh as well. I plan to go see the family in Florida before I head back to school and hopefully work at the 3rd Annual Summer Science Olympiad Camp at the end of July. Already my summer has been whittled away, but I think it will be well worth it!
Greg and I just got back from Prague this morning, so more on that soon!
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Playing Catch-Up
By klstano | March 15, 2008
It’s time for me to stop slacking and start posting.
First: Bumps.
They were fun. I was in the 2nd Women’s boat for Trinity Hall and to be completely honest, I didn’t think there was any way we were going to actually race. People kinda showed up to practice whenever they wanted, came to RACES whenever they wanted. If you know me…that’s not how I roll. It was actually quite a stressful experience now that I look back on it, just because I don’t go into anything with the presumption of ‘taking it easy’. Anyway, we got bumped 3 times and rowed over once. Rowing over is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do. When you are racing, you have no idea whatsoever how close you are to the boat in front of you…all you can see is the boat chasing you. The only thing we have to live on is what our cox is yelling at us (which of course is to row harder) and what the people are yelling on the side of the river. All I could hear the entire time was Ian yelling, “You’re catching up, you’re almost there, nearly there.” That went on for 2 kilometers. Eesh. Nonetheless, it is done and I loved it. I’m not sure how, but I want to keep rowing. I don’t think I could handle the time commitment back at State, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out. More than anything, it got me over my fear of playing sports again.
As a lot of you may know from Greg’s blog, we recently took a trip to London to go see the Terracotta Army exhibit at the British Museum. Honestly, I was a little bit creeped out by the whole idea to begin with, but I am really glad we went. The Terracotta Army is a group of thousands of clay statues that the First Emperor of China (back in 700 BC or so I think) had buried with him to keep him company in the afterlife. Quite the social butterfly. The Chinese people had stories and legends about the tomb, but until the 1970’s it had remained unseen. So now a small group of the army and a bunch of artifacts are on tour (they are going to the US next!) and if you like that sorta thing, I highly recommend it.
We ended up spending HOURS at the museum that day. I think they have over 7 million items and they are all laid out by country. We saw about half of the Parthenon…the other half is back in Athens (where it probably should be). There is a lot of controversy over that exhibit because the details of the situation in which the artifacts were actually removed from Greece are a bit shady, and now they want their Parthenon back. I think that is logical…what good is two halves of one Parthenon?
We went through the Egypt exhibit and I got to see mummies. I remember being really fascinated with them when I was younger, but again, I was just a bit creeped out to see them for real. It’s very conflicting because obviously we want to learn about their culture and understand as much as possible about them, but I don’t think they were planning on being displayed in a museum.
All in all, I had a great time. Everything there is OLD. You can go to the Smithsonian and see things that are not young…but these artifacts are ancient…some nearly 3000 years old…absolutely amazing. What’s even better is that since a lot of them are granite, marble and other stone is that they are just in the open air and you can touch them and look closely without pressing your face on glass. More things should be made out of stone. I did find some coins to add to Mom’s collection:
And a cool box to put them in:
Afterwards we went to a pub and got fish and chips (duh) and meandered around town for awhile until 5 so we could go to the Evensong service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The style was very different from the other cathedrals I have seen while in Europe…not gothic, but very classical-palladianish. It was really bright and colorful on the inside too which was a nice change (so much gray in England).
It was late when we got out but we got to walk along the Thames and see the Tower Bridge lit up.
The Boat Race is in a couple of weeks and I dread it for them if the water is as choppy as it was that night. The waves were so big. We walked back to the train station and caught our normal 11pm train and I definitely passed out before I hit the bed. Being a tourist is such hard work.
Today, Greg and I volunteered (actually Greg got pushed into it by his advisor and it’s generally a two-for-one deal with us) to help with the children’s Science Festival that has been taking place the past several days here at Cambridge. We did a hydrogen fuel cell car demonstration and I think it was a moderate success. It was difficult because it was an absolute mad house when they let the kids in. They were all ages, parents tagging along and they all were hyper from the ice cream that was being served earlier in the day. It proved to be very interesting to demonstrate and explain how a fuel cell works to a 5 year old…at that point I just pointed and said, “Look no batteries!” and it seemed to work. What was really annoying was when parents would basically shove their kids to the side and give you THEIR viewpoint on how the energy crisis should be solved and how they think fuel cells should work. Good times.
During all of this, I realized that this is the first time since I was in 7th grade that I haven’t attended the State Science Olympiad Tournament…whether as a competitor, volunteer or event leader. I’ll be back next year though. Good news though - this is the 3rd year we will be holding Summer Camps for middle school students, and this year instead of only one camp, we are having three. Not only that, but they are being placed in strategic areas to tap into students who might not have the science TLC that they deserve. Yay! Needless to say, I am working at all three.
Other than that, research is grinding on. Health and Safety is giving my entire lab group unwarranted headaches due to their own stupidity and ignorance…that’s all I will say about that. I am currently writing a report on what I have been doing for the past couple of months so I can regroup and start the next set of experiments. I hate writing.
Greg and I booked some plane tickets this week. One of my Christmas presents to him was a trip to Prague - we will be going April 19-21. We are also going to Venice and Florence on May 2-5. Not sure if we are going to fit anymore trips in or not, but we’ll see.
I’ve finally caught up…now let’s see if I actually add pictures.
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Bumps Photos
By klstano | February 29, 2008
I’m really bad at keeping up with this thing…but here are the pictures so far from Bumps. Greg and I are both halfway done - 2 races to go each. To help identify, I am in either the 3rd or 7th seat counting from the back in the women’s pictures, and Greg is in the 7th.
More to come!
http://g-amor.smugmug.com/gallery/4423531_KTfEt#259909089
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Espana!
By klstano | February 19, 2008
Day 1: Arrive in Seville
Greg and I were frantic trying to get everything taken care of before we had to leave Cambridge on Thursday. We both had practice that morning…a very cold practice at that. Afterwards, he had to rush off to West Cambridge to do SEM and I biked back to my place to finish packing. I wheeled my suitcase to work with me…got lots of funny looks and comments walking into my office with my suitcase. After my Group Meeting at 2:30, we rushed off to catch our bus.
After a 45 minute bus ride, we arrived at Stanstead Airport near London. We checked in and got through security without too much hassle and waited in line to board (we flew with RyanAir). All in all, the RyanAir experience wasn’t terrible, but I think we decided that we are going to try to use EasyJet if possible. The flight was a couple hours long. Greg slept and I read through a magazine. Before we knew it we had landed in Seville. It was dark when we got there, but it was still warm…about 30 degrees (F) warmer than the foggy town of Cambridge that we left. Paradise.
Because both of us were very groggy and felt pretty rusty on our Spanish, we decided to just take a cab to our hotel in Seville. Looking back on it, we should have taken a bus, but we know better now. The hotel was great, and the staff spoke English as well as Greg and I spoke Spanish – so communication wasn’t too mangled. We dropped off our stuff and immediately went downstairs to eat. I was famished…I don’t think I ate lunch that day and rowing has ramped up my metabolism quite a bit. I ordered an hamburguesa and Greg got something with pork I think. Granted, I didn’t quite dive into the authentic Spanish cuisine, but hamburguesa was one of the first Spanish words I learned so I guess I latched to it. Nevertheless…it kicked the butt of every other hamburguesa that I have ever eaten. Paradise +.
I was not long for this world after having woken up before 6am, rowing, working, traveling, eating and really just getting adjusted to being in a place where I didn’t understand everything going on around me. I think I was asleep before I even got to my room…
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Pictures
By klstano | February 18, 2008
Just a quick post for now:
I just set up a Picasa account so I can post my pictures from Spain and such:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/kelly.stano
More later…
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My first outing…
By klstano | February 7, 2008
What an experience! I have to say that I have been discouraged about rowing lately…all erging and no water. I am on the Women’s 2nd Boat for Trinity Hall, and due to inexperience on the water - 2nd Boats aren’t allowed to go out unless the flag is green. The flag has been either yellow or red every day we were supposed to go out for the past 2 weeks; but today was the day!
I haven’t decided if I like this technique or not, but our Coach didn’t really seem to care that I had never been in a boat before, so I just did what the other girls were doing. I didn’t flip the boat, so I think it was a success. I’m just going to go ahead and say that girls are not very athletic here. Female teams are always struggling for numbers and participation. So, having a bit of athletic history under my belt is a huge advantage for me, just because I know how to push myself and I can play the mental game. That being said, I am very, very, tired - very, very, blistered - and unfortunately, my right hand got pretty cut up. My seat was rigged for a person much shorter than I, so unless our boat was perfectly balanced, my life was made a lot harder than it needed to be. Anyway, I know that I can fix it now so hopefully tomorrow morning will be better.
In other news, I got to visit Oxford last weekend. I’ll go ahead and put it out there - I like Cambridge better. When thinking about universities and their relationships with the surrounding city: Chapel Hill is to Cambridge as NC State is to Oxford. Raleigh can survive without NC State, and Oxford can survive without…Oxford. The fact that the students actually make up the community of Cambridge creates a very different atmosphere, and I like it.
The highlights of our trip:
Me, Greg, Will and Jackie got the pleasure of sitting next to a very interesting old man for about 45 mins on the train from London to Oxford. He was really skinny, scarred and tatooed and after sitting down next to us, he started explaining how he had been released from the hospital that morning on account of psychiatric issues. I’ve never met a man who wanted someone to listen to him so badly. Most of the time we just sat there, smiled and nodded when we felt it appropriate. He talked about how crappy social housing in Europe was, how Princess Di had been axed because she was doing to much good and making other people look bad and how it was no wonder that William and Harry were turning out the way that they are. He didn’t like Americans, or educated people (yikes!), but he was so caught up in all of his talking that he didn’t realize we were American or educated. Hmmmm…at one point in the conversation when we were riding through the English countryside, I saw a fox (it was so cute!) and I pointed at it, and then he went into a diatribe about dogs and foxes and who knows what else. Long story short…well medium length…he was interesting.
We got to see all of the usual Cambridge sights…colleges, famous buildings and such. You can see Greg’s Blog for pictures. I really enjoyed the History of Science Museum. It was divided up into several areas - a lot of math and astronomy, but there was a whole floor for chemistry and medicine. There were old surgical set (gross!) and all kinds of old glassware and chemistry sets, it was so cool! The main highlight was a preserved section of chalkboard that Albert Einstein proved one of his theories on in a guest lecture at Oxford. There was even a spot on it where he messed up, and wiped it out with his hand. Einstein apparently had trouble with his shoelaces AND negative signs. 
We ate pretty much all day long. It was suuuuuuuuuper chilly so we were always looking for the next place to warm up and get something hot to munch or sip. We went to a famous pub called Eagle and Child which is where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to ‘chill’. I’m not sure if this beats Cambridge’s pub where Pink Floyd came to be…the jury is still out.
In the real world - research is research. Making progress and actually getting my hands into a new area which relates a bit more to my degree. I think they like having a Textile student around. We have also started making samples for the Space Elevator which are to be tested soon - pretty exciting! Speaking of work, I should probably try to get some done before afternoon tea. Back to the grind…
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I almost got hit in the head with a bus today…
By klstano | February 1, 2008
Actually - It was the other day, but I am serious when I say that it nearly hit me in the head. I was walking on the sidewalk, where pedestrians belong, minding my own business - when I feel a sudden rush of air at the side of my head. I look up quickly to see the side mirror of a bus mere centimeters from my head. These Cambridge roads were not meant for buses.
To play catch up:
Burn’s Night was…interesting. I did try Greg’s real Haggis, but mainly stuck to my vegetarian version. Wasn’t bad - wasn’t great. It really reminded me of peppery wild rice. There were mashed potatoes and turnips on the side and those were good. Dessert was OK. It was a slightly less sweet and more heavy version of whipped cream, flavored with scotch whiskey (ew) with some raspberries in the bottom. I’ll stick to my Redi-Whip in a can I think.
Things in the lab are going incredibly well (yay!!). At the beginning of the week, I got some great results a few times over, so towards the end of the week - not wanting to end on a bad note - I slowed things down and did some positively excruciating data entry on the computer, but at least I didn’t screw anything up on Friday. I’ve hit two very important milestones in my work about 6 months early, so next week I am going to figure out what I want to do next. I realize this is all kinda vague, but I want to avoid broadcasting the goings-on of the lab to the entire world. I am beginning to see how sensitive new technology is I think. Anyway, if anyone wants to know more, just email me!
Greg and I went to London with our friends Will and Jackie (married couple from Virginia) for Jackie’s birthday last weekend. Beforehand, I got to go see my high school friend Amy who is in London studying this semester. She lives in a little suburb called Chalk Farm. It is actually the perfect place to study in London. King’s Cross is a mere two stops away via the Underground - but it is a bit smaller and more quaint…and evidently Jude Law has a house there. Who can complain about that?? Anywho, after we visited Amy for a while, Greg and I left to meet Will and Jackie at Her Majesty’s Theater to go see Phantom of the Opera. It was great, and I am actually still humming the music to myself I’ve noticed. I decided that Andrew Lloyd Webber really just went all out when he was writing Phantom. It’s at least 3 musicals within a musical - including dancers, musicians, singers, comedians, etc. Think of all the costumes it takes to put on a musical that contains 3 musicals! Webber created a high demand for the people that it takes to design a set and make a musical come to life.
I think the last bit of news for now is my being a member of the Trinity Hall Women’s Rowing Team. Last week, Greg forwarded me an email from the Coach, pleading for a girl in Trinity Hall to row. I guess someone had to quit, and they didn’t have enough girls to fill their 2nd boat. I emailed her, told her I have rowed twice in my life, but was willing to give it a shot. I was supposed to have two outings this week, but they were canceled on account of the wind. I did have my first erg session yesterday, and I am very sore. Our coach Steph, who rows for the University team is convinced I will be a powerful rower. She said I am tall and built right, so now I just have to develop the technique. I think I am sitting 5 seat for now, but I guess all of that is subject to change while things are getting situated. My goal is to make the 1st boat next term, so I have a lot of work to do until then. (Any tips from the rowers would be great!)
To wrap everything up for now - Greg and I are going to Oxford tomorrow with Will and Jackie. I’m not sure what we are going to do there yet, but evidently Win emailed us a list of things to do in order of their awesomeness. We basically have a tour guide! More on that soon!
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The Space Elevator
By klstano | January 21, 2008
If you haven’t heard of it…don’t feel bad. Neither had I until the past week. Here’s the gist:
NASA and The Spaceward Foundation are offering awards amounting between 1 and 2 million dollars for the engineering team who can build an operational, tethered satellite, with the main idea being that the technology will one day be used to make an elevator that can cheaply transport things or even people to space.
Until recently, there hasn’t been a viable material on the market for engineers to use to build this ‘tether’. It has to be light enough so that the sheer mass of it is not too heavy that it will fall out of geosynchronous orbit, yet strong enough to…support an elevator…a 60,000 mile tall elevator.
My lab, being the leaders in carbon nanotube fiber research, is now intrigued by the competition. I can’t tell yet how serious they are about the actual elevator part, but The Spaceward Foundation is talking about us, and other competing groups are talking about us, so it sounds like we are going to show them what we’ve got.
In other news, I am continuing to learn the ropes around the Lab and the rest of Cambridge. A couple things I’ve gathered:
1. Nanotube fibers are small. Very small. You know how cats spend hours a day watching little dust particles float around in the air - that’s what I do. I’ve learned to carry a piece of paper around with me because sometimes the stark contrast is the only thing that enables me to see what I am working with. I now know where the term ‘crazy scientist’ came from.
2. I’ve learned 2 different ways of how NOT to make a composite fiber. I’ll leave out the gory details, but suffice it to say that certain organic solvents dissolve everything in their path…like the ceramic epoxy that I use to glue down my invisible samples. Good times.
3. Not all British people hate Americans! On the same note, I can’t travel to a different continent and get away from the Presidential Election. People here have a real fascination with the idea that the United States could be run by a female, and they love probing Americans about it. Oh well.
All in all, it’s been a good two weeks. Greg and I are headed to London this weekend to see a show, and possibly meet up with Amy, a friend of mine from high school who is studying there this term. Also, the Burns Night grad hall is this Wednesday. Robert Burns is a famous Scottish poet, and on Wednesday we will celebrate with kilts, bagpipes, whiskey and sheep sausage. I am dining vegetarian. More details later.
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Prof. Windle and Friends
By klstano | January 12, 2008
On Thursday, I was to meet my group for the first time. My head advisor, Professor Alan Windle, was in India at a conference, and I was not supposed to meet him until Friday. As it turned out, he got back a day early, so I got to meet the whole gang at once. Krzysztof, one of the head PostDocs in Windle’s group had me come during Coffee (10:30-11:15) so I could meet them informally and then go talk about my project.
I don’t know how detailed I should be without boring everyone to death…but here is what I will be working on for the next 6 months. Carbon nanotubes have gained widespread interest among scientists because of their unique properties…things like thermal and electrical conductivity, high strength, and light weight. What is probably most interesting is that you can get really great properties out of a fairly small amount of these nanotubes because of the way they are shaped (they are very long compared to their extremely small diameter -> lot’s of surface area -> good). Here is a BBC News article that explains the work that this particular group does with nanotubes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7038686.stm
So now my job is to take this carbon nanotube rope that they make, and figure out how to incorporate an ideal amount of polymer filler in order to achieve even higher strength and to help eliminate brittle fracture. It’s actually really interesting how much last semester’s classes have prepared me for this project…Dr. Gorga’s Polymer Engineering class which covered composites, Dr. Rust’s class which taught fiber formation, and even Materials Science…which is helpful in every aspect. The work I will do is part of a PhD candidate’s Dissertation work, and then on top of that, I am to write my own paper to report my findings. In other words, I have my work cut out for me. I really couldn’t have asked for a better project though; I am very excited about it, and love the field – I am really looking forward to getting started. Right now though, I am studying for Safety Exams and being trained on equipment. Necessary evils I’m afraid. Now, however, it’s time for afternoon tea.
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