Below are the 16 most recent journal entries recorded in sjaparna's LiveJournal:

Monday, June 1st, 2009
7:24 am	India, Land of Many Mangoes First there was the box of mangoes at the airport, brought by my awesome family. Then we went to a mango show where they had over a hundred different varieties of mangoes on display. And I suspect there may be more mangoes coming. Fun facts about mangoes! 1) They're the national fruit of India. I find my Indian patriotism stirring. 2) They're also the national fruit of the Phillipines but I don't have any Phillipino patriotism to stir. 3) They're superfruits! ("Superfruit" is apparently a made-up-by-marketers-in-2005 term but we don't have to pay attention to that.) In sum, I am having a wonderfully mango-filled trip! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
2:54 am	Square Dancing I had my third MIT graduation recently, this time from Tech Squares, MIT's square dancing club. Growing up in India, I missed my opportunity to be traumatized by American elementary school gym classes' compulsory Western square dancing, so I'm glad I didn't have that emotional baggage preventing me from thoroughly enjoying this wonderful modern dance and super-nice social community. Interested in trying it out? Come to upcoming Fun Night -- a try-before-you-buy evening of introducing the dance to the curious. Fun! Free! Dancing! Requires no coordination! Intellectually challenging! When: Tuesday, January 27 @ 8pm Where: Lobdell (2nd floor of the MIT Student Center) If you miss Fun Night, or if you come and get hooked, then try the first night of the spring class (also free, and also fun), on Tuesday, February 10 at 8pm. (Check out more details closer to then at http://www.mit.edu/activities/tech-squares/ ). All you have to bring is a pair of comfy sneakers. You know you've always wanted to learn how to dosido and allemande left... And if *you* were traumatized by elementary school exposure, I especially encourage you to give it another chance. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
6:19 pm	Cats! (And jobs, and moves, and other life updates) I have two cats! Well, actually, it's more like two cats have me. Emma is shy and Dante is not. But they're both awesome. As in, super-awesome. Even though they are very insistent about being fed at the crack of dawn. I'm happily back in the Boston area now, living now in Watertown, a town on the water. I work at a cool medical device company and get to take apart (and put back together again) exciting medical devices. I have a outstandingly wonderful office mate (who happens to be the totally unbiased author of this entry*). Our office whiteboard is filled with non-English symbols, and people walk by and say in awe: "Oooh, are those complicated math equations?" But actually they're Hindi and Hebrew. Alex and I enjoy going biking pretty often but this is really an excuse to get ice cream. Sometimes we just get ice cream without biking. ET rush is going well and it's fun to be a Helpful Alum and see all the great actives and future actives. I'm learning to play a really pretty piano piece by Schumann. Maybe telling people about it on LiveJournal will inspire me to practice more. Have I mentioned the cats are super-awesome? * All entry content has been approved by official Aparna representatives, like herself. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
5:40 pm	Caucus Report The caucus was interesting ... and disturbing. I'm not very involved in politics, I only went because the Democratic Party in Washington completely ignores Presidential Primary votes and I was unhappy about that and curious about the system they apparently feel is better. The caucus for four adjacent precincts was held in a middle-school hall. It was run entirely by volunteers, and the lack of professionalism showed. For example, there were no mikes, and so the guy shouting out the rules in the middle of the hall kept getting interrupted by people who couldn't hear him. I think it would have worked much better if they had a separate room for each precinct rather than crowding everyone together in a big room. Anyway, there was a table for each precinct with a bunch of forms lying on it and members of that precinct sitting around it. I found my precinct table and filled out a form, signing an oath that I am a registered voter in that precinct, consider myself a democrat, and agree that my participation in the caucus would be a matter of public record. The form also asked for my name, full address, date of birth, email, telephone number, presidential candidate preference, and under "optional" categories, ethnicity and LGBT status. Once we were all signed in we chose a precinct Chair and Secretary - Someone said, I nominate this guy to be Chair because he looks like he cares, are there any objections, and there were none; the guy, being an Obama supporter, then picked someone who was wearing Hillary buttons to be the Secretary. Then the Chair and Secretary counted the presidential preferences as filled in on the forms (people who had left the box blank were called on to fill it in) and announced the count: 18 for Hillary, 28 for Obama. The Chair then asked if anyone had changed their mind after hearing the results; not surprisingly, he got no response. He asked whether anyone would like to say anything (a person from each side spoke up, each arguing that their preferred candidate was more likely to win against McCain), and again whether anyone had changed their mind. No one had, and our precinct had been alloted ten delegates, so it ended up being 4 for Hillary and 6 for Obama. Then we had to "choose" the actual delegates, which turned out to be a call for volunteers and the lists being written up on a first-come first-served basis. When enough people were signed up, we went home. Disturbing factor #1: The amount of information the form asked for and the careless treatment of the forms. I didn't fill in an email address or phone number and no-one called me on it, but a couple of people who didn't fill in their date of birth were asked to fill them in to get their preference counted. I fail to see why we needed to provide that information, and was also unhappy that the filled out forms were just lying around on the table for everyone to read. There was space for five registrations on each sheet of paper, so it wasn't even like you could fill in your form and hold onto it until it was asked for. And I have no idea what happened to these forms afterwards. Disturbing factor #2: Anyone with a basic understanding of human psychology knows that if you want to influence undecided people you don't ask them to publicly announce their opinion and then ask if they have changed their minds. I went in to the caucus willing to be convinced to change my mind; I envisioned that there would be information available for both (in fact, all, even though there are only two major contenders left) candidates and maybe speeches by their supporters before we were asked whom we supported. I definitely didn't expect that the first thing I would have to do was declare my preference and then only be able to change it very publicly (if you change your mind you have to speak up, get your form back and write in the name of the new candidate). I ended up not very happy with the way I had to make my choice; it didn't feel like an informed decision. Disturbing factor #3: The delegates chosen are supposed to go to the next tier caucus in Olympia in April, where they will go through a similar process to choose super-delegates to go to the National Convention. If they don't show up there, their votes aren't counted. It is not at all clear that they have to vote on the preference they stated today; no-one was even checking that people were signing up to be delegates for the candidate they had said they preferred on their form. This means it is ridiculously simple for a supporter of candidate A to sign up as a delegate for candidate B and then go vote for A in Olympia, or even easier, sign up to be a delegate for B and then just not go to Olympia and leave B short a vote. (I pointed this out to the person sitting next to me and he started encouraging me to do this. I didn't, but I did go up to the person with the list for the candidate I hadn't voted for and ask "Did you get enough delegates yet?" and she said "No, I'm still short, you better sign up.") I came away completely unconvinced that this was any better than using the Presidential Primary, and unconvinced that the delegates (or super-delegates at the National convention) would actually vote based on input from the people. The caucus just turned a hard decision - 'Which of these candidates that I can find some information about would I prefer as President?' into an impossible decision - 'Which of these strangers that I just met do I trust to elect another stranger such that the other stranger will vote for the candidate I would prefer as President?' (2 Comments |Comment on this)
12:38 pm	Caucusing Today's decision: Watch a movie... or Participate in Democracy. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 16th, 2007
7:13 am	Israel! ... was full of cats, camels, and ibexes. Truthfully,* I only saw one camel in real life, despite many on postcards and magnets and other tourist paraphernalia, but cats and ibexes are actually plentiful. I now speak fluent Hebrew, as long as the conversation is about how cool cats are. Chatoolim hem magnivim! So are kipodim, but for other, more chocolately reasons. * Emet [truth] in advertising. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 17th, 2007
7:33 pm	Zooooooo! There were zebras and sea otters! Alas, I did not see the elephants. But I already had in India. Where I had a beautiful wedding two weeks ago! Yay! (Also, Alex had a beautiful wedding then too.) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
8:45 am	So many news I have a new job, a new name, and a new address! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006
8:10 pm	I'm wearing argyle socks! They're like gargoyles, only different. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 14th, 2006
4:36 pm	Apartments and rings I have a new apartment! And it's beautiful. Oh, and in other news, I'm engaged. I like puzzle rings. :) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 23rd, 2006
1:35 pm	Paint by Numbers It's so addictive! I could do them all day. Way more fun than thesis! :) (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 7th, 2006
5:06 pm	Merf. I am not manipulative, really! (Comment on this)
Friday, May 5th, 2006
12:48 am	Geckos are really, really cool! ...They have these suction-cup-type feet that are cool. And I found some awesome videos: Sand on a speaker RHEX video (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 23rd, 2006
4:29 pm	I went for a walk yesterday with Kayla and got thoroughly lost in Brookline. However, some exciting consequences: we not only discovered JFK's birthplace (though there's a plaque and signs and everything, so it wasn't a truly major astonishment), but also found that there's a Gibbs Street! No Helmholtz Street nearby, alas, but that can't be helped. You can find Gibbs Street now too! (Without getting lost in Brookline first. Google Maps are much more efficient.) And I didn't even know till now that I walked past a chapter of the Anthroposophical Society in America. (Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
12:28 am	It's about time! Luckily, I needn't spend overmuch time pondering on LJ about why I don't update more often, because the answer is obvious: Kayla and Alex are really lazy. And/Or feel mildly guiltly about impersonating me. Well, obviously not guilty enough. In other news, I am a cat, although possibly becoming less so. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 9th, 2006
9:18 pm	Yay! I have a LiveJournal! And a Little! Except Alex thinks this entry should be just "Mook." And Kayla thinks it should just be "Merf." Makes you wonder why this isn't either, huh? (Comment on this)