I'm an uber space nerd!

I just took this cool test that revealed that I'm an uber space nerd. I guess because I know what a neutrino is.

Speaking of art...

Here is a little art based on word usage in my blog:

Apparently "correct" is a favorite subject of mine. Who knew? And I don't even remember mentioning Italy.

The American Art Museum

Yes, I know, it's been a while. You can call off the search party now. :)

Anyway, the first place we went in Washington was the American Art Museum, home of... really good paintings. Of course, I wanted to spend the most time in the contemporary art section (obviously that didn't have anything to do with the fact that my parents think that most contemporary art is silly). I think I have never said "Philistine" more times in a ten-minute span than in that section. ;-)

But first, before we went there, we looked at many, many other paintings. I was going to bring some home, but apparently they don't let visitors take them out of the building (unless that's just some cruel trick they play on out-of-towners).

You can see some of the art on my mom's blog at http://thenatureofthings2010.blogspot.com/2010/01/american-art-museum.html. Be sure to keep an eye out for any mention of Elvis (because, you know, Elvis is the most culturally important figure that ever lived in Tennessee).

The Hope Diamond

Have you ever seen the Hope Diamond? It's one of the featured displays at the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. Just hearing about it one might think that it looks far more impressive than your average "large" diamond. I was excited to see this very valuable diamond for myself when I found myself on a trip to Washington last month.

It just so happens that it's actually more "hope" than "diamond". Walking into the room where it is held at the museum (yes, it has its very own room, so that we can all stand around it and gaze in awe), I was expecting something about the size of a small potato. Maybe bigger. It took me a minute to find the diamond. The huge bulletproof glass case helped a bit. And there it sat, on a periodically rotating platform, in all its glory: The Glorified Rock.

It was quite beautiful, but really, why not put it in the other gem exhibits with the other pretty rocks? Probably because it would be harder to find. I had a feeling that the main reason for the big glass case was so that it wouldn't get misplaced.

As if to add insult to injury (well, no I wasn't that injured, but I have to use the cliché anyway), the security guard followed me around the room as I walked. "Yes, sir, of course I'm planning to steal the world's most valuable carbon crystal right in front of all these people." Well, if there hadn't been an inch of glass between us and it, they probably wouldn't have noticed.

It was a very pretty blue rock. But I'm glad I didn't base my trip around the hope of seeing the Hope Diamond.

Washington Trip

I took a trip to Washington, D.C. at the end of December, but hadn't gotten around to blogging about it yet... so I shall be beginning that shortly.

If I forget, please email me nasty messages about my pies not browning evenly (or something equally atrocious).