"Repelled, held by the Church" (March, 2013)

I sent the following letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published).

Gale Holland ("Repelled, held by the Church", March 1, 2013) asks herself why she remains a Catholic. She implies, but avoids confronting the biggest answer: brainwashing since birth. Religion drilled into children amounts to one more type of child abuse.

My broken fibula

My broken fibula

During our tour of Chiapas, while in San Cristobal, I had a touch of diarrhea. One night, in a strange hotel room, where it was too cold, and where I didn't turn on any light because I didn't want to wake Victor, I got up to go to the bathroom, and apparently fell down.

The next thing I remember is coming to in the hospital hours later! According to Victor, I was non-responsive after I fell. I don't know if I was knocked out from the fall or from pain, or just went back to sleep, or what. With help from the hotel staff, Victor called an ambulance and got me to a hospital.

The hospital said I had no apparent head injury, but my blood tests showed a bit of salmonella, which probably explains the diarrhea.

I felt fine except for a sore lower right leg. (Since I had been out nearly the whole time, no one even knew my leg hurt, and the hospital never looked at it.) Victor said that my leg was in a very awkward position when he found me. I found that I could stand and walk. I figured it was some sort of sprain.

For the remaining days in Chiapas and then back in Yucatán, I couldn't walk more than ten minutes without stopping to sit down and massaging my shin. After holding up our tour group that way one day, I gave up most walking for the rest of the time in Chiapas.

Back in L.A., whenever it was warm enough, I tried to return to a reduced version of my exercise walks. My leg started to feel a bit better, but a week later, I was concerned because it was still damn sore. I decided to get it looked at, and found that I had broken my fibula! I haven't had a broken bone since I broke my collarbone when I was a toddler. (Hmmm. That was (apparently) also falling out of bed. Maybe I should never leave my bed!)

The radiologist who looked at the X-rays (the image above) wrote, "There is some periosteal suggesting healing." The orthopedic surgeon said that because of the healing that was underway and since I had been walking for two weeks since the injury, I didn't need crutches or a cast (whew!). He said I should stop whenever I felt pain, and we made a follow-up appointment in six weeks. That was this past week, and new X-rays showed more new bone growth, and the doctor said I was doing fine and didn't need to come in again.

I'm pretty much back to normal now, including my hiking. And just in time for warmer weather, too.

Chiapas, Jan. 2013

Victor and Rodney trying on traditional native clothes in Zinacantan.

Sumidero Canyon

Victor and I spent a week in Chiapas. (More photos here.) Most of this was a tour that included Sumidero Canyon, San Cristobal, Agua Azul, Palenque, and more. Neither of us had been there before. Other than deep fog one morning that made the lakes nearly invisible, the weather mostly cooperated.

The only real problem was my accident that kept me from seeing much of Palenque!

Yucatán, Winter 2012-2013

Colorful houses in Merida. (More here.)

This winter, I spent 6½ weeks in Mexico with Victor. Of course, he had to work most days, so I was on my own a lot. As last year, I spent the time on the computer, reading, and walking. While walking, I started taking snapshots of some of the colorful houses.

I love staying drier and warmer in Yucatán than in L.A. in December and January. I love exploring the city on foot. I love that Animaya is about a 20-minute walk away. And, of course, I love spending time with Victor.

On Sundays, we would head toward Progreso and visit Victor's family.

We also spent one week in Chiapas.

Popular voting and same-sex marriage (Nov. '12)

I sent the following letter to the Washington Post, hoping that if it was printed, Supreme Court justices would see it (not published):

The statewide approvals of same-sex marriage are a welcome breakthrough, but civil rights should still never be subject to a popular vote.

A childhood memory

Explorer 1

Late one night when I was 7 years old, my father took me out in our front yard. It was a clear night, and we could see lots of stars. He showed me the Big Dipper and the North Star.

Then he paused, found what he had been looking for, and pointed out one "star" that was slowly moving. I wasn't quite sure I saw the right one.

He told me it was America's first satellite (Explorer 1), and he said I should remember the date: January 31, 1958.

I did remember the "January 31" but I forgot the year until I looked it up much later.

I'm sorry my dad didn't live to see me working at JPL! Today would have been his 87^th birthday.

Keep religion behind closed doors ('12)

I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times in August 2012 (not published):

Re: "An eruv in the Hamptons? Why not?" (Opinion, Aug. 15)

Helfand writes, "Even the most adamant belief in the separation of church and state should not spill over into the notion that religion belongs only behind closed doors."

He's wrong. That's precisely where I believe religion belongs. Keep it to yourself and out of my face. What's wrong with that?

Yellowstone (July 2012)

Link to more photos.

I made a short trip to Yellowstone National Park and vicinity a few weeks ago. I'd always wanted to see the park, and it didn't disappoint. The weather cooperated, too; no rain and mostly around 80 by the afternoon every day.

The geological features were amazing, and we had good luck viewing animals as well. I've never managed to see the bison on Catalina Island, but we had lots of excellent, close views of them in Yellowstone. We also saw elk, two grizzlies, and a glimpse of a wolf.

Fairbanks and Denali (1990s)

Rodney with salmon (see below) My first project at JPL was the Alaska SAR Facility, a receiving station for radar data from Earth-orbiting satellites at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

JPL sent me to Fairbanks nine times in the 1990s. Because of my teaching schedule, almost all the trips were in the summer. What a deal!

On my first trip in 1993, I went a day early to do some sight-seeing. At a scenic overlook, a small dog came scampering up to me and wanted to jump in my rental car. No one else was there. The dog had tags with a phone number, and when I called, they had just realized the dog was missing. As a reward for returning the dog, they gave me a salmon they had caught the day before. I brought it to the B&B where I was staying, and we enjoyed it that night.

Alaska Range (Denali N.P.)
Fox with Arctic ground squirrel lunch (Denali N.P.) I extended my second trip in 1994 to spend two days in Denali National Park, where I saw bears and moose and Dall sheep and caribou (from a distance), marmots, foxes, and lots of mosquitoes.

I always enjoyed the Alaska Salmon Bake, with all-you-can-eat salmon and halibut. (It seems they've swapped out the halibut in favor of cod.)

Cincinnati (Spring 2012)

The Ohio River seen from the Overlook in Eden Park.

Link to more photos

I've graded Advanced Placement Computer Science exams for the Educational Testing Service for many years. I began in 1987, but was out for 1993-1997. It's 7 to 12 days of work (depending on my position) each year in late May / early June.

The APCS Reading has moved around during those years. First, Trenton State College (NJ), then Clemson University (SC), then back to Trenton (where the same school has a new name, The College of New Jersey), then to convention centers instead of college campuses, in Louisville (KY), and finally, the last few years, in Cincinnati (OH).

I haven't previously written these up as travel. For one thing, since work is 8 am to 5 pm every day including weekends, we don't get a lot of time to sightsee. Also, I only have a few photos from earlier years.

This year, since I'm still trying to lose weight, I did do a little hiking in central Cincinnati a few times after dinner, and, since it was my last APCS Reading, I did take a few photos. The link is above.