My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 20, 2011

Although my ‘supermoon’ photo from Saturday night isn’t one of the better ones from across the country, I did head outside to admire the “brightest moon since 1993.” The moon appear in its full phase just 50 minutes shy of the orbit that brings it closest to the earth … perigee. According to what I’ve been reading, this will not happen again until 2029?

One of the interesting “sailing” related influences of a full moon is its effect on the ocean tides. When the moon is full the ocean tides are their largest and when the earth, moon and sun are aligned during a lunar perigee, the tidal force is even stronger; it is at this time that we experience more extreme high and low tides … although the percentage of increase is relatively small and rarely noticed.

The name SuperMoon was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and defined as: “…a new or full moon which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit (perigee). In short, Earth, Moon and Sun are all in a line, with Moon in its nearest approach to Earth.”

What appears to be an enormous full moon begins to rise over Grand Rapids, Michigan
taken on March 19, 2011. — CREDIT: Susan Wagener

Tony Hoffman in New York City snapped this montage of photos as a plane crosses the
disk of the full moon on March 19, 2011 during"supermoon." — CREDIT: Tony Hoffman

The full moon is seen as it rises near the Lincoln Memorial, Saturday, March 19, 2011,
in Washington DC. — Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Category: Environment, Photos, Sailing, Weather | 1 Comment »
Tags: lunar, moon, photography, space, supermoon

Posted By RichC on March 19, 2011

I worked on one of the many items I brought home from the boat this past week – the Magma stern rail grill.  I took the layer of greasy grime off both the inside and outside, cleaned up the burner and gave it a good warm up … so much that the wooden lid handle charred and fell off. (I used 1/2 a tank of Propane)

It’s seemed to clean up well and should work for a few more years so there isn’t a reason to replace it just yet. I was also curious just how long this single burner grill would run on a small portable tank of propane … a long time from my testing – I’m guessing perhaps 45 minute to and hour on medium heat.

Next … the steak test!

Category: Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: boat, cooking, encore, grill, sailing

Posted By RichC on March 18, 2011

This past Thursday, March 17th, was an exciting day at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) as most in the graduating class of 2011 received their “match” for residency. Each medical school across the nation has a slightly different ceremony, but each graduating M4 senior finds out which hospital they “match” with on exactly the same day (see Match Day post) – minus those having to “scramble.” 

Thankfully the nail-biting news for our daughter Katelyn was all positive; she matched with her first choice … Nationwide Children’s Hospital/Ohio State University Pediatric Residency Program in Columbus, Ohio. New first year residents start working this summer and will finalized their formal schooling by graduation in May. The new group of graduates starting at Nationwide are coming from 14 different medical schools: Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, Case Western, Indiana University, NEOUCOM, New York University, Ohio State University, University of Louisville, University of Missouri, University of New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania, University of Toledo, Wake Forest University, West Virginia University, and Wright State University.

  
 
Katelyn receiving and opening her “match” letter

 
 
Friends gathering for a reception after the “match ceremony” at NEOUCOM.

After the reception, we went to dinner and began to think about the moving logistics and timing. Dr. Drew (already a first year resident in Columbus) offered up his warning to be prepared for a mountain of paperwork before seeing her first patient; he will hopefully will be a big help in closing in on an apartment and adjusting to work in Columbus. Thankfully Katelyn and another friend from NEOUCOM are already discussing the idea of sharing an apartment – that might work out nice?

One of the more interesting traditions is the bowl of dollars (photo above). Each person from the class puts one dollar in the bowl as they come forward to open and announce their “match.” The names are randomly drawn and the last name picked receives half the raffle money, although supposedly it is protocol to buy drinks at the evening party? The other half is given to a worthy community medical charity. The sum is tidy since attending parents, professors and doctors are encouraged (and there is some arm twisting of each other) to donate to the bowl – it is a fun tradition.

All in all … we had a good time and were very proud of our little girl. Congratulations Katelyn for all of your hard work and for matching at Nationwide in Columbus … I know that made her very happy.

Category: Education, Personal, Photos | 5 Comments »
Tags: columbus, katelyn, medical, nationwide, neoucom, ohio, school

Posted By RichC on March 16, 2011

Joe White wrote about $4/gallon gasoline this morning in the Wall Street Journal and wondered at what price Americans switch to subcompact car? While he acknowledged that we’re not quite as bad as we were during the 2008 spike, prior to domestic carmakers shifting to more fuel efficient engines and CUVs rather than SUVS, we are still driving trucks, large minivans and up-sized small cars.

The hyped vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt have had lackluster sales and acceptance so far, but are just getting out of the gate. Hybrids like the Prius have been successful, but pretty much fall into a niche group of owners not unlike Volkswagen TDI diesel buyers.

One of the difficulties in the U.S. compared with Europe is that the price for fuel rises and falls drastically; this make it much more difficult for consumers to know what they want … or in many cases what they want to “settle for.” Why buy a low powered sardine can if in 6 months the price of gasoline drops 50%.

What gives car makers fits—and makes it tough on car buyers—are gas prices that ride a roller coaster the way they’ve done in the U.S. since early 2008. With crude prices recently surging above $100 a barrel, the $4-a-gallon level has already been breached in parts of California. Yet on Tuesday, oil prices lurched down again on concerns that the economic impact of the Japanese earthquake would slow global petroleum demand.

"Volatility paralyzes customers," says Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford, adding they can be left wondering: "Am I making a decision today that I am going to regret six months from now?"

In the summer of 2008, when regular gasoline prices shot up, industry analysts declared the death of gas-guzzling SUVs. Motorists reacted by driving less and turning toward smaller cars and hybrids. Dealers, saddled with fleets of SUVs and large pickups ordered when gas was cheap, held fire sales to clear their lots and restock with more efficient models.

Then, gas prices collapsed, along with the economy. Consumers started driving more, and they went back to buying larger, less fuel-efficient models.

Category: Automotive | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, fuel efficiency, gasoline, wsj

Posted By RichC on March 16, 2011

While waiting for the HP Palm Pre3, I’m keeping my eyes on the QWERTY keyboard Android phones. One of the anticipated models from HTC was demoed at SXSW 2011 and it will be available on several carriers — the Merge. It has a 3.7 inch touchscreen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and Android 2.2 with HTC Sense on board. Some analysts believe that it will be priced aggressively making it an affordable smartphone. Although the slide-out keyboard full sized phone seems a little clunky compared to the easy to pocket Palm Pre, there are times I wouldn’t mind a bigger screen and keys that fit my thumbs.

Category: Cellphone, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: android, htc, merge, smarphone

Posted By RichC on March 15, 2011

This week is an important one for my daughter as she anxiously awaits her residency match for next year. For those unfamiliar with a medical student’s M4 (4th year), one of the big events prior to graduation is “Match Day.” This is the day when those graduating with an MD degree find out where they will be working as resident doctors for the next few years.

The process begins earlier in the academic year through a process of interviews with residency programs at hospitals around the nation (calendar). Both the hospital and the medical student “rank” each other as to their fit and the National Residency Matching Program tabulates the results with a “matching algorithm.” Those students who do match, are given notice on the Monday preceding Match Day (March 14 this year) … and will be notified as to where they matched on March 17th this year. It should be an interesting announcement ceremony. Those receiving their matching notification on Monday can breathe somewhat a sign of relief as at least have matched with a hospital and will not have to participate in “The scramble.”

If they have not secured a position through the Match, the locations of remaining unfilled residency positions are released to unmatched applicants the following day. These applicants are given the opportunity to contact the programs about the open positions. This is what is known as "The scramble." This frantic, loosely structured system forces soon-to-be medical school graduates to choose programs not on their original Match list. Occasionally and unfortunately, this sometimes requires students to choose entirely new specialties. The scramble is widely considered to be an unfavorable and highly stressful way of obtaining a residency position.

Fortunately Katelyn received notification that she matched – now we’ll wait until Thursday to find out just where she will be. Congratulations!

Category: Education, Personal | 2 Comments »
Tags: doctor, hospital, medical, nrmp, residency, school

Posted By RichC on March 14, 2011

As FoxNews anchor Bret Baier commented, “This is perhaps the most chilling video yet – to see how quickly the tsunami came in.”

Category: News, Video | 1 Comment »
Tags: earthquake, japan, tsunami

Posted By RichC on March 14, 2011

Category: Misc | 2 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on March 13, 2011

It was a slow trip driving back from Florida this past weekend especially through Atlanta; it took an hour just to inch the miles it took to get through downtown (photo left).

With the unrest in the middle east and recent revolt in Libya, the prices at the pump were up significantly. Besides seeing $5.29 for regular unleaded in Orlando (near airport) the prices ranged from $3.17 to $3.63/gal – painfully high considering my fuel economy has not improved all that much since replacing belts, plugs and waterpump – I need a TDI.

Great trip … here’s a final photo of Taylor steering Encore down the intercoastal waterway on Friday.

Category: Personal, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: encore, florida, sailing

Posted By RichC on March 13, 2011

Category: Automotive, Volkswagen | No Comments »
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